Keeping Up With Friends After College

It’s been 3 years since I graduated from university, I schooled in Delta State, which is a 7 hours drive from Lagos. Most of my friends lived in Delta state or states around Delta state like Edo state, so it was hard seeing them again after graduation. After graduation, we all dispersed to different areas in search of the next chapter in our lives. This has made us miss each other, although we talked on phone but you can’t compare that to physical socializing.

I got a call from @aghamienoghogho one day telling me that he wants us to meet at a roof top in Ikeja, Lagos state. I’m not conversant with that area so I ordered Uber to meet him there. @aghamienoghogho has been working in Lagos for the past 2 years but his work schedule doesn’t give him much time for us to hang out. He is always about the money every second, I call him the business money man. He loves making money so much, he handles so many businesses I wonder how he keeps up with all of them. So for @aghamienoghogho to say he wanted us to meet, I knew it was going to be one in a million chances and I didn’t want to miss that.

While trying to get to the location he sent me, the Uber driver and I missed our way so we started asking people around if they knew the location. @aghamienoghogho is a very tall man, 6 feet +, it was easy to spot him on the rooftop while I was asking the security guard if the place was the correct location. I saw him, he saw me too and he called my name, I paid the under man and climbed up to meet him. We had a nice chat, while we were talking, he received a call, and he told me that one of our friends was also coming. I haven’t seen this friend in 3 years also, so it was nice to see him again. He came and we all had a nice chat and good laugh, talking about the new life after school and the daily struggle of trying to succeed in life. It was nice to see that everyone in their own way is excelling.

We placed our orders, I don’t take alcohol so I ordered for Chapman. They all did the same. We asked the waitress to bring the menu, and she did. Now the thing is 3 of us all wanted to eat fried crispy chicken, chips and fish, and chicken & fried egg garnished fried rice but we couldn’t order all 3 meals for each person.

So I ordered the chicken and egg garnished fried rice, @aghamienoghogho ordered the chips and fish and Paul (who is not on Hive) ordered the fried crispy chicken. While we were eating our food, Paul wanted a part of my food and I wanted a part of his too, so we decided to share, @aghamienoghogho wanted parts of both Paul and I food and we wanted his fish and chips also, so we ended up sharing everything on the table amongst ourselves.

This is Paul
The fun part about this experience is that we didn’t care who was watching us on the rooftop because we were surrounded by a lot of people who came to also have a nice time. We acted like we were still in school and this made us so happy because we miss school so much. I don’t mean the academic part of school, but the part where you are surrounded by your friends who you eat and laugh together.

We shared a lot of good stories and did a lot of catching up. Apparently Paul was in Lagos for some academical stuff and he stayed in the island part of Lagos, so catching up again was not an option. While @aghamienoghogho stays in the mainland but works at the island part of Lagos. I’m the only one that works from home.

@onwugbenuvictor used to stay in Lagos, but after his National Youth Service Corp(NYSC) he went back to Delta State, which made it harder for me to find reasons to leave my house. If he was to be in Lagos, he would have been my go to guy for any outing. @attentionneeded is another busy guy that stays outside Lagos, he stays in Edo state, that is 5-6 hours drive from Lagos. Meeting him is a one in a million opportunity. The last time I saw him was in 2019 when he came to Lagos.

I love the fact that we are in the era where technology can allow us communicate every time. We always keep in touch and update ourselves, so the bond is still there but not fully there.

Before Hive we used to talk like may be once in 2 months or once in 6 months, but thanks to Hive we communicate everyday. We communicate through sharing ideas and guidance on Hive. Whenever they have a problem on Hive and they need guidance on how to go about it, they call me and we sort it out together. Especially @attentionneeded that loves to use zoom calls to explain his difficulties on Hive. I personally love that because it shows me a better view of his screen this way I can see what his problem is and how to solve it. But other people, I literally have to imagine what their problem is and ask them questions like a doctor asking his patients to know what their symptoms are.

So it has been a good experience so far and once again we are grateful to Hive for giving us this opportunity.