Fortune favours the loud…
Exactly a week ago was a beautiful idea. I had an amazing idea to provide a once in a lifetime trip for my aunt. Not just any aunt, but an aunt I was named after. I’m very fond of her, in a culture that is loud, she is a gentlelady. Not soft, but strong, serene. Meanwhile my mum is her younger sister, pushful, and (to me) loud. Then there is the youngest sister. She’s even louder. Friendly, dynamic, but loud. So this aunt I am fond of has 2 daughters and it was recently her birthday. I wished her happy birthday and spoke to my cousin about what she got her mum for her birthday, she said brocade (fabric), a TV and a trip to England… So I was naturally thrilled to see my aunt again. The last time I saw her was at her daughter’s wedding and before then not since I was 17. This aunt, not only is the one I am named after, but is the aunt that makes me feel like I am not adopted. We are very alike in temperaments. She unfortunately married a drunk and had a hard life. So she’s not had a chance to travel. When I met her it was due to an Obama programme where teachers from the developing world meet teachers in the USA and share best practice, she swung by the UK after her trip to the USA. That was her only time outside Sierra Leone. What is my wonderful idea you ask? A trip to Paris. I’d pay for all the expenses. The city of love and romance! She didn’t have a romantic life, so giving her the opportunity to see the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Versailles all of that would be so amazing and would lead to memories I could cherish forever. The catch? I’d need to get her a Schengen visa. Which I’d be willing to pay for. I want to spend time with her. But I went to my mum, who went not to her sister but to her daughter, and between the 2 of them decided not to talk to my aunt, but decided that the Schengen visa would be too much hassle and so the idea should be canned. My aunt was not asked. I offered my aunt a free trip to France and she was not asked. Because people decided it would be “too difficult” but these people wouldn’t be putting in the work, and obviously wouldn’t lose out by her not going.
that’s why I am upset, I thought my aunt would get into contact to talk to me about the FREE TRIP TO PARIS. Or at the very least speak to my mum. But she wasn’t asked. And so a week was wasted where I hoped my aunt would say yes, because at the end of the day it is a free trip. But if she said no I would respect it. But she wasn’t asked. Because middle men got in the way.
Today is the cousin’s 30th birthday, I will speak to my aunt tomorrow. What a ridiculous situation this is.
I want… quiet person to quiet person to see if my aunt is interested.
I’m sad because I was so happy and excited to invite my aunt that the day I thought of it I wrote the invitation letter and sent the application form over. But that was all lost… because someone else decided it wasn’t worth it.
By the way, if my aunt says no, I will respect it, but I will want to here it from her own mouth because I can’t trust the messengers.
Fortune favours the Beatrices…
Grace and Courage,
Annetta Mother Smith.