It is no longer news on these streets that Mathematics was my biggest challenge in Secondary school.

That subject tormented me!

I wished it never existed. I wished it wasn’t compulsory. I wished I didn’t have to sit in class daily for an hour just to learn how to work with numbers.

My Dad was (and still is) a Math guru; the kind of person who would watch a soccer game and when any team scores, he would do a quick mental calculation of the distance between the striker’s position and the net! He was that passionate about the subject. My siblings took after him and they excelled in it but me? I was comfortable with any other subject that involved more words than figures.

I remember when I was preparing to write my final examinations as a high school student, my dad became my math tutor. We lived in a 3-bedroom apartment and there wasn’t enough room in the house for my Dad to create a mini-classroom but he was determined to ‘cast out’ that ‘spirit’ that had tormented me for so long.

You know what he did?

He got his chalk-board, placed it on the sink in his bathroom, while I sat by the edge of the bath-tub for my lessons. Daddy refused to give up on me!

You’re wondering where this story is going, right? Stay with me.

Long before this happened, in my third term as a new secondary school student, I had returned home for the holidays with a very poor grade in Math. Daddy couldn’t understand why I was struggling with this ‘easy-peasy’ subject that he loved so much. He said to me,

“Chinazo, what’s all this?”

I decided to use my dislike for math to work in my favour so I quickly responded,

“Daddy, it’s my eyes. They’ve been hurting me for a while. Sometimes, water comes out of them like I’m crying. I can’t see the board clearly from my desk.”

That was a lie! You see, I had this strong desire to wear glasses at that time. I thought it was cool. My close friend in school had one and I felt she looked really cute when she had them on. I wanted mine so when daddy asked the question about my Math grade, I quickly took advantage of the opportunity to ask for a pair of glasses.

My dad didn’t say anything.

A few weeks later, my mom decided to visit the optometrist to have her routine checks. Daddy asked her to take me along so that I can have my eyes checked as well.

Yessssss!!!! Finally, I will get these glasses I had wanted for so long!

We got to the clinic and as the doctor went through the regular procedures, asking me questions, I told one lie after the other just to prove to him that if I don’t get a prescription that day, I might go blind!

I forgot I was dealing with a professional!

He asked me to read the letters of the alphabet on the wall. When I got to the last two lines, I told him I couldn’t see a thing!

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

He scribbled something on paper and handed it over to my mom. I was excited! Finally! My glasses!

I was wrong! The prescription was for Mommy. It didn’t have my name on it. The doctor knew I was acting up but decided to play along. We left the clinic with just one pair of glasses – Mommy’s own! My heart sank!

A few months ago, I visited the optometrist. My eyes had been hurting so bad for over three years. Some days, I feel pressure on my right eye and on other days, the same eye becomes red and teary. After the visit, the doctor said all was well with my eyes, however, I will need a pair of glasses!

Aaaaaah! Madam why? You just said my eyes are perfect! What’s all this?

“They are reading glasses. You will need one because you spend a lot of time in front of the computer. You also need it because of your age.”

Aaaaaah! My age? Why did she connect it to my age? Am I that old? Am I at that point in my life when I have to start or stop doing some things because of my age? Aaaaaah! Alas! That which I feared has finally come upon me!

As I panicked at her report, I laughed at myself. At the age of 11, I wanted a pair of glasses so badly. 30 years later, I’m almost in tears because I’ve been told I need one!

This life, like we say in Nigeria, “e no balance”!

Children are eager to grow up and become adults while the adults wish they could turn back the hands of time.

Singles are holding vigils and praying for their life partners to show up while the married are looking forward to when they can get a few days of “me” time; some even wish they could be left alone forever!

The young man without a job is getting frustrated, wondering when his applications will be considered while the other young man with a job is frustrated because the pressure at work is overwhelming.

 The toddler-mom cannot wait for her baby to be grown and independent while the teenager-mom is almost losing her mind because of her child’s display of independence.

The list never ends.

As I thought about these things, I remembered the words of the wise king Solomon. He said,

“for everything there is a season,

a time for every activity under heaven…

…God has made everything beautiful in ITS time.”

Life is in seasons.  

Some seasons are tougher, some are easier. There is nothing any one of us can do about it. Our job is to live through each season as they come, enjoy the beautiful moments, learn from the difficult moments, appreciate where we are and what we have per time while we prepare and wait for what the next season has in store for us.

If it’s not the right time, it won’t be beautiful.

Which season of life are you going through now?

Is it rough? Tough? Hard?

Is it easy? Peaceful? Beautiful?

Are you troubled? Confused? Perplexed?

Or are you excelling? Cruising? Celebrating?

Whatever it is, make the best out of it and when the next season comes, make the best out of it too!

All will be well!