As a child, I had a preference in houses I loved to visit. Usually, they were the houses of my parents’ well-off friends. Everything seemed so organised and proper. It felt like a more worthy trip.
But my parents seemed to prefer visiting their friends who were not so well-off. I couldn’t reconcile this choice.
One day, I asked my mum why she seemed to prefer going to one friend’s place over the other.
Her words woke me up.
“In whose house have you broken more things? In whose house do the children leave whatever they are doing to play with you? In whose house are you always offered a meal? In whose house do they wave as our car leaves? Who checks in on us after we get home? Who always picks up the conversation from where you left, like you never left? While one house holds things that catch eyes, the other holds people that warm hearts. I prefer to go where love abounds.”
Those words stayed with me as I grew up, and I make a deliberate effort to make my home into one that warms hearts.
– Osasu Oviawe
I identify with this school of thought.