HAPPY LIST

 

I was going through Pinterest this morning and I remembered reading in passing a line somewhere where which talks about “things that make you happy”…well, considering I was not in a state I will define as happy this morning, I skipped past that line without giving it a second glance.

Shortly after, my phone buzzed and the display showed it was a Facebook call from my brother-in-law. I walked out of my shared office space to receive the call.

While we were still exchanging pleasantries, my phone buzzed and the Facebook call was abruptly ended by the call coming through…caller ID showed “dad” calling. I received the call and we chatted some. He had dreamt about me last night and thought he should call to “check on me”…well I am fine and so the call came to an end…

I called back my brother-in-law and we continued…

When I got back to the office, I suddenly realized I felt happier and while thinking what could have caused the change in my mood, that line from the Pinterest flashed back to my mind and then it clicked…I became happy because I just spoke to family!!  Then I thought to myself why not make a note of what makes me happy so I can refer to it next time I feel the need for a boost and lift in spirit…

As I made the note, another thought came to mind…why not just make a post about it and who knows, it might put a smile on someone’s face or someone might read it and be happy/happier or better still someone will get challenged to make their own “Happy list”.

So here is my random happy list…It is by no means exhaustive. It is also not listed in any order…just a list of the first 10 things that came to my mind which makes me happy.

 

1. Family – Of course you know I had to start here right?

 

2. Companions – They are friends…but more than just friends. This is a small, crazy and tightly knitted bunch at church who meet every Wednesday for a very informal meeting. It creates a platform to open up and be vulnerable without feeling judged. I am a happy dude every Wednesday cos I am sure to get a full refill of my happy-tank.

 

3. Kitchen – (Disclaimer: I am not an excellent cook!!) I don’t cook often…I sometimes could go on for weeks without cooking a meal. But I have found out that whenever I step into the kitchen to make something – could be simple stuff like a cup of tea or a complex like a new recipe – I get a shot of ‘happy steroids’! so every now and then when I find myself in the kitchen, I am a happy Z. 🙂

 

4. Writing – I mean informal writing, I not only love writing but I get a ‘happy pill’ in my system whenever I do. I sometimes wonder why I don’t get the same thrill when I have to write my thesis and other scientific/academic stuff that I do often…topic for another day? maybe? maybe not? 🙂

 

5. Music – Music is life!! Let me just leave it at that… I love music and music loves me. Music kinda gives the bro an overdose of “Happy hormones” which hits me straight at that spot and takes me to cloud number Z! Oh and let me through you back a few years. by inviting Pharrell Williams to say it musically..HAPPY!!

 

6. Travelling – I am on an ‘adrenaline rush’ each time I start planning for a trip, it does not matter if it is to a new place or somewhere I have been to before, just the act of planning for a trip and mentally knowing I will be packing and going away for some time is all it takes to hit my “happy buttons”. I count down to the day and I am like on a sugar rush when the day finally comes. I love travelling and so glad my wife also share this love with me. We’ve got lots of happy memories we share on our trips. The happiest me is the travelling me!

 

7. Looking good – “Looking good is serious business” who said that? I don’t know but I do agree. I don’t always look good because sometimes I think it is too much work and effort, but when I take the time to try look good, it gives me a shot of happiness. One of my favorite radio personalities Pearl Modiadie is fond of saying “If you look good, you feel good” I couldn’t have said it better!

 

8. Kids – I usually walk around with a serious, sometimes scary face I have been told. If you observe me out there and all of a sudden see my face break into a wide grin…look in the direction of my eyes and you most likely to see a kid. That says it all! 

 

9. Dogs – I have written about my love for dogs before, if you missed it, you can read it here… I can live in a world of dogs and I won’t miss a lot. Not sure there is any creature that comes as close in cuteness and ‘pure-heartedness’ as a dog. Dogs, especially puppies give me what I call the ultimate super turbo-charge of happiness.

 

10. Social Media– This post started from my visit to Pinterest this morning right? need I say more? This appeals to my inquisitive side a lot more…I regularly pop into Twitter and smile away. I have gained a lot from my time on social media. I am still learning a lot though and with each day, I find out new things…one thing that has remained constant in my learning curve on social media though is it makes me happy.

 

So here are Ten random things that make me happy…I have made a note and next time I feel like in need of a happy pill, I know where to go…I will keep building the list in my journal too…it is my responsibility to keep me happy! You should do same… drop a comment of what makes you happy…I am always open to learning new stuff and I just might pick a new happy pill from you.

Beginning of…”The Conversation” RANDOM CONVOS #1 : Across Borders

Hello guys,

I am back!!! Its been a while…it was good to be away but alot better to be back. I am back and back with something new, something I am sure will excite you all.

I am one who believes in the strength of numbers…you know like my teacher of many years ago will say “two good heads are better than one”…well here is what I think is an offering of two “good heads”….for those who have been followers of this blog you will know I have a dear friend in the lady Phoenix who I call Noolz…I have written abit about her here, she also blogs among other things (talk about a jack of few trades and master of all) you can click here to check her blog and I promise you won’t regret it.

Well so as we step into a new year Phoenix and I have decided to team up and come up with seasons of conversations…Yay!! ain’t that cool? they will be made up of posts (maybe a few audio and video clips too!!) they will random and interesting.

I have here with me the very first episode of the first season of our “Random Convos”. Welcome to the world of Phoenix and Zeal… We hope you will enjoy it and hey drop your comment to let us know what you think. Feel free to make suggestions too.

Here is….

 RANDOM CONVOS #1 : Across Borders

 

Phoenix: Hi there! I’m Phoenix. I’m many other things too, but Phoenix will do, for now.  This is my friend Zingfa. Say Hi Zingfa!

Zingfa: Hello guys….Zingfa to others and Zeal to friends…since she called me Zingfa it shows who she is to me…friend or not

Phoenix: I said say hi. See all the things that came out

Zingfa: well….hi in my mother tongue means all I said and more…. you want me to continue?

Phoenix: As you can see, Zingfa AKA Zeal is undoubtedly Nigerian.

Zingfa: Naija for ever!!

Phoenix: Sigh. Back to what I was saying: I live in Lagos Nigeria, the land that never sleeps.

Zingfa: And I live in the southern-most tip of the continent…a little garden city called Cape Town

Phoenix: Cool, innit?

Zingfa: 🙂

Phoenix: I and Z are friends but we’ve never met. Have we, Z?

Zingfa: Well feels like we have met hey….I still find it hard to believe we have not met in person…

Phoenix: True that. How long have we been online friends for? Prolly 4 years, yeah?

Zingfa: More than 4 years… I think it’s closer to 6 years… I definitely remember we were already friends on facebook in 2009

Phoenix: Oh really? I can’t even remember that. ha!

Zingfa: but the point I think I got to call and relate to you as friend was around 2010/2011

Phoenix: Really?

Zingfa: yup

Phoenix: But we both went to the same university…

Zingfa: Yeah…

Phoenix: Cool stuff

Zingfa: I wonder how you looked when you were in school…

 Phoenix: I look the same as I do now. I’m just fresher, lol

Zingfa: lol! I looked a world different from what I look now. I had a massive afro and I was so skinny.

Phoenix: So how did you end up in CT anyways?

Zingfa: summary of the summarized version is I got a scholarship to cover for my education and the University of Cape Town was willing to accept me so i got onto the next flight and found myself here….today it is home to me.

Phoenix: Brainiac

Zingfa: wetin be the meaning of that word? oya break it down for us Phoenix

Phoenix:       “brainiac breɪnɪak/Submit noun : NORTH AMERICAN  informal an exceptionally                   intelligent person.”

Zingfa: errmmm…I’m not sure I’ll describe myself in that term

Phoenix: Yeah yeah. Most braniacs are also modest. Except for one guy I used to dig, was never modest about it, the creep.

Zingfa: Lol

Phoenix: I relocated to Lagos during my youth service.  I had big plans when I was coming here. 4 years in and I’m still on them. So much for the big city, lol.  I do still have some fight left in me and things are slowly taking shape so it’s just about more patience, passion and perseverance.

Zingfa: Oh…so you served in lag?

Phoenix: Yeah I did.  During that one year I wondered maybe serving in a rural village might have been better for me, haha! So what do you do besides burying your head in a book, Z?

Zingfa: Errrmmm….what I do…well…let’s say book takes a lot of my time I don’t have time for other things sadly…that has been the story of my life over the last 6years… I have however managed to feed my hunger for writing by keeping a blog afloat…not a very active blog because of time constraints but that’s it…then I hang out with friends and family over free evenings and weekends.

Phoenix: Bookworm!

Zingfa: Guilty!

Zingfa: But that will change this year…I’ll get a much needed break from full time studies/research and grow my hobbies and love for other things… 🙂 exciting times ahead, yay!

Phoenix: YAY!  Talking about doing new stuff, we’re going to publish this convo, yeah?

Zingfa: Ermmm….talk about opening up your vulnerable state to others….

Phoenix: True. I’m 70% introvert and 50% extrovert

Zingfa: Well for me I have a coconut complex as far as personality make up is concerned….lol.   I have a very introverted exterior but my core is very extroverted…maybe who get close to me are amazed when they meet this extrovert that they failed to see from afar…

Phoenix: Coconut is quite a way to describe it but yeah. I get the analogy

Zingfa: 🙂

Phoenix: Do you think people will love us?

Zingfa: Well…that’s left for us to see hey!

Phoenix: hey.

 Zingfa: But well I pride myself as irresistible so yeah…

Zingfa: 🙂

Phoenix: *rolls eyes* We’ll see about that.

WALK ME DOWN THE AISLE SERIES: Episode 10: The finale – Ringed

How time flies hey!! The last time I made a post was April 6^th…in another two days it will be a full month!! And yeah this last 4 weeks will definitely go down as one of the most if not the most dramatic, event-filled and action packed month in my life.

This post is the final in the series. It was meant to me a countdown to my wedding…I missed one post which was supposed to come one week to the wedding and I initially thought I should post that now but again I thought why hold back? The aim of the series is the wedding anyways, why waste more time talking count down while I can as well talk about the big day?

So on the 18^th of April, I walked down the aisle and got ringed to the love of my life Tendai. It was a beautiful and well attended ceremony. It held in a small town called Gindiri about 120km from the city of Jos, Nigeria. This was followed by a second event in Cape Town which mainly was organized for the family and friends here who could not make the long trip to Nigeria for the wedding. The event in Cape Town was held on the 30^th of April and it was sandwiched by our birthdays with Tendai’s birthday on the 29^th April while mine came up on the 3^rd of May. Now you see what I mean by an event-filled month! 🙂 …yes I can’t dish out all the juicy details in one post so again take a chill pill, sit back and relax as I take you through another series…this time shorter  than the 10 episode Walk me down the aisle. In the new series titled “Through the eyes of the Groom” I will tell you about the wedding days (Nigeria and South Africa) and the “after drama”.

How does it feel to be “finally” married? Is one question I have heard many ask me a lot over the past two weeks. My response has always been two fold, maybe three fold, the first is non-verbal (A Smile), the second is verbal(It feels good) and the third is a silent and secrete response which is not seen by anyone because it usually is in my mind…In my mind I wonder why “finally”? It was no prolonged battle. It was just a matter of “when” and never “if”. But how can I start explaining that to the countless people who ask the question? I know it will lead to a long essay and sermon none of which I was ready for… 🙂

I am happy, I am married to one who I love and I know love me too so dearly…at this moment in time nothing else really matters. Every time I look at her, my heart warms up and I just smile, I know that come what may everything will be fine….and this is not a feeling based on some fleeting sensation of newlyweds, it is a deep conviction. I have known Tendai for 4 and a half years now and have seen enough of her to know she is right for me and these words I speak are borne from all the experiences of these years leading up to 18^th April when we stood before God, family and friends to profess our love and exchange marital vows that will bind us for as long as we have breath in us. That is my conviction. That is my feeling. That is where I stand. I love Tendai and she loves me too.

🙂 ❤

WALK ME DOWN THE AISLE SERIES : Episode 9 : New Home. 12 DAYS

Its 12 days left from today and as I type this piece my mind is singing “12 days of Christmas”. I think I can sing my own remix version of the “12 days of my wedding” today thus…for these 12 days to wedding, my true love said to me, I love you and all will be fine… 🙂

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 I moved into the new flat. Tendai still isn’t here and will only see the flat for the first time on the day she is moving into it and that will be on the 26^th of April 2015…yes in case you still haven’t caught up…we will be officially Mr and Mrs then!!! I have been in the flat for 4 days now and only about 5% of the boxes have been unpacked. I have thought about unpacking but after thinking of how much effort that will take and the high possibility that Tendai may have a different opinion with mine when she comes in so I decided I will rather wait for her so we can unpack together.

In the meantime, I have the couch and bed set up, I also have the TV and DsTV working then in the kitchen, the fridge, kettle and microwave are up and running. This means activities that I can do now includes watch my favourite TV programmes and catch up on news, sleep and yes keep my tea flowing.

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I am a believer in the scripture that says “he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favour from the Lord”. I have indeed found favour from the Lord since I started my walk down the aisle and as I approach closer and closer to the stage and alter, I look at the pew and all I see is friends and family who have stood by me and supported me and us all the way. They have been part of this very eventful walk down the aisle and I certainly will remain eternally grateful to each and every one of them. Their names are being scribbled in gold in my personal hall of fame.

In addition to these great people, I see favour and favour and favour. Indeed this scripture has come alive for me especially these last few weeks when things seem to just crowd my plate and a lot of responsibility needs attention. I still can’t tell how I have managed to meet all the datelines and catch up with all my responsibilities. I have slept less, spent more and still remain fresh and sharp as well as saved more. I keep spending by account balance does not seem to be going down in correlation with the expenditure. I can attribute it to God’s favour. I have found a wife and God has favoured me deeply. Sweet Jesus!!

So as I spend my final couple of days in Cape Town before I commence my trip to Nigeria for the wedding, I am at peace. I am excited and I know that it will be a happy day not because of what we have planned and accomplished, but more because it is a decision I have made. I have decided to be happy come what may. It is my OUR special day, God has blessed it and so long I have Tendai happy and by my side along with friends and family all else can pale into insignificance.

12 days to go and I count my blessings and name them one by one, I am surprised at what the Lord has done and still is doing for me…One week five days to go or 288 hours and I can say I am favoured by God.

WALK ME DOWN THE AISLE SERIES: Episode 8: Tired…but the Journey has begun. – 17 days

I guess I am permitted to feel tired. I have always had deep respect to all those who have planned and executed a wedding but now more than ever before my respect for them has shot right through the roof and now sits at an all time high.

It is exactly 17 days left between now and MY our wedding day. That is two weeks and three days. To make me feel better, 1,468,800 seconds or 408 hours to the day. I feel drained emotionally but my heart beats with excitement. The whole planning period leading up to the day has been a huge emotional investment on my part. It is a very special day and I am determined to make every second of the day a memorable and happy one for me but more especially for Tendai. I know it will mean a lot to her.

As my fingers softly tap on my computer’s keyboard, my mind is still contemplating on final plans and going through all that needs to be done, what has been done and what I need to check up on again. That seems to be the sequence of thoughts that my mind has had on replay recently. I know can understand why some hire wedding planners to plan and execute their plans for the big day. While I can understand why, I thought I can’t do it. I think the wedding day is such a hugely significant and special day in the lives of the couple that the least they can do is to enjoy it fully and this includes the planning phase too and all the excitement and stress that comes with it. Having some stranger or anyone else plan for your wedding robs you off this very significant and part of the wedding. I feel tired and almost spent yes but I won’t have it another way 🙂

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Our trip to Nigeria has started! Yeah…Tendai is currently in Zimbabwe, she will spend time with family while she applies for her visa to Nigeria, I will leave Cape Town to meet up with her at Johannesburg next week then we proceed to Nigeria together for the final 10 days that will lead to the big day. So Tendai is gone this means the journey truly has started…and this is only getting more real.

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Finally I am moving into the flat that is going to be home for Tendai and me. It has been physically tasking for me…so add to the guy low on emotional energy fuel the stress of moving and you have an idea of the state I am now :-). Everything is packed into boxes now thanks to Tendai who saw to it before travelling. The bit that was left unpacked I have used the last few days packing and now I am all but ready to move into the new flat…this flat will be “our home” now that’s new terminology if you get where I am coming from. We even signed the lease contract in both our names!!

Yes, this indeed is getting more real…

I am still tired….

WALK ME DOWN THE AISLE SERIES: Episode 7: It’s getting Real : god-parents and a “surprise party” – 25 days

Yeah its 3 weeks 4 days left and it’s really getting real. I now have this feeling of “can’t wait for this day to come and go” whether that is a good or bad thing I don’t know. But I think it is more as a result of having put in so much into planning for a day and now you get to the point when you are just waiting for the day to arrive…yeah that is where I am at the moment.

Two things happened this past week both pleasantly surprising. First Valo, Tendai’s cousin gave birth to a beautiful baby girl Iyvana on Friday the 20th of March.  It came as a surprise to both of us when she whatsApp Tendai to say she just gave birth, Tendai laughed and said yeah nice joke, you still have a couple of weeks to go. Then Valo sent a picture of the baby and Tendai still thought could be someone else’s baby then she send a picture of herself and then we knew it was true. The baby had come a couple of weeks earlier so took us by surprise but it was a pleasant one.

Baby Iyvana

On Saturday 21st, the happy parents made a request of Tendai and I. They want us to be the god-parents of baby Iyvana. I love the name and its meaning which a little research made me understand has Russian and Hebrew origins and means “Gift of God”(Hebrew) or “God is Gracious”(Russian). I am so specific about names…I think names do have a great influence on how the kid will turn out in life. So I was glad with the name choice by the parents…Iyvana is just an apt name for this princess. We both were so humbled by the request to be god-parents of Iyvana. It was one we could not say no to. Valo is one of Tendai’s sisters who I sort of clicked with even before we met. We connect on level higher than I do with most of Tendai’s relatives. She is also really close with Tendai. Nkulu, Valo’s husband is also very good friends with Tendai so we already had a very good relationship between us prior to now.

When I first heard the request I was quite for a while. I walked into the kitchen and found a couple of unwashed plates and proceeded to wash them…as the water run through my hands into the sink and my hands went through the motions of sponging, scrubbing, rinsing and cleaning the plates, my mind switched into processing mode and I was weighing the implication of saying yes, the responsibilities that come to saying “yes we accept”. I don’t take such responsibilities lightly. I can be that serious sometimes.

I thought of my own god-mother and how she cares for me like her biological son and doing this on a consistent basis, daily…praying ,caring for, encouraging, cautioning me. Now If I say yes then this is what I will expect Tendai and I to do same and even more to Iyvana. It was an emotional moment for me. I know I want to say yes but I had to contemplate carefully all the responsibility that comes with that and also make Tendai understand same before we give a yes. If we know we won’t be able to do that to the best of our ability then there is no point saying yes.

Tendai understood the weight of what we were considering and agreed with me it was immense but confessed her willingness to accept the new responsibility. With this, we called Valo and Nkulu to accept the responsibility. So officially guys I am now a god-father and coming at this time. 3 weeks to my big day only made me realize how real this new territory I am walking into is. Am I excited? absolutely!! I am thrilled and so is Tendai…and so is Iyvana who is so cute by the way…just like her parents and god-parents 😉 I will keep you posted on here on her development. I won’t be seeing her in person for another few months though which is sad as they are in Zimbabwe and with all the plans we have ahead of us, getting a free slot to visit Zimbabwe will take a few months.

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On Saturday the 21st, friends of Tendai in Cape Town decided to throw a surprise bridal shower for her. Since it was a surprise, they needed to rope yours truly in the plans 😀 so that is how I got involved in the plans which began a few weeks ago. My ultimate plan was to deliver Tendai at the venue and make sure up until the last second she remains completely unaware of the plans going on.

Now Tendai has always bragged that I can’t lie to her. She is certain she has known be so well to tell immediately I tell her something that is untrue and to some extent she has proved it to me and I had vowed to prove her wrong at the right time, a promise she had laughed off. So this was a perfect opportunity for me to prove my point and men o men I did a good job! I had to give myself a pat on the back. I sold her a story which she bought easily and swallowed hook, line and sinker!!

Bride to Be

The day came and it was a very successful event. Tendai is still talking about it. She had no idea that was planned and she loved every bit of it. She gave me a 10/10 score for my role too by the way so I have redeemed some of my pride in that department. I understand the friends and family in Zimbabwe are also organizing a bridal shower for her next week when she is suppose to be in Zim. Well, I will keep you posted how that goes.

But on Saturday after dropping Tendai off at the venue and left. It again got me thinking…this is getting real!! the final balls are falling in place and the final phase in this journey has started, its 24 days to go and Bridal shower down. The décor of the venue had “Future Mrs. Wala” written…when I saw pictures it made me smile. For real this thing just got real. I love Tendai and I can’t wait for that day when I shall stand before God and men to declare my love to her and take those vows that will bind us for life!!

The Creative Bloggers Award

Taking a break from the Take me down the aisle series today to talk about something else. 🙂

My friend Noolz nominated me for the “Creative Bloggers award”. Now if you have been here for a while you will know that Noolz is one friend I am so fond of. She sings, she plays the guitar and she writes…I call her a superwoman because of the sheer “Samson-like strength” she possess. She wears many caps and wears them all gorgeously with finesse and class. She refers to herself as the ‘Black rose’ in identifying with her Enigmatic and mysterious self. She also refers to herself as a ‘Phoenix’  because in her words “I feel I have lived so many lives”. That is not all…she is also Blueheartz amongst a lot more names. So you see why I tell you she wears many caps? Want to know more about her? check Writeforsanitysake and come thank me later :-). It was Noolz who also nominated me for the Liebster Blog award and here we are again.  Thank you Noolz.

There are rules to be met before I am awarded the Creative Writers blog.

• Nominate 15-20 blogs and notify all nominees via their social media/blogs
• Thank and post the link of the blog that nominated you (very important)
• Share 5 facts about yourself to your readers
• Pass these rules on to them

So here are the blogs I have nominated

1. Suitcases and Lattes
2. Confessions of an Average mum
3. Ideas for Sustainability
4. Glennzitosullivan
5. The Average South African
6. A Frame around infinity
7. Life after Abuse, a brighter tomorrow
8. RealRuth
9. A Holistic Journey
10. Lahmeet

FIVE RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME

Well, I had given 11 random facts about me in an earlier post I made last month..if you missed it, you can check it here. So now trying to think of what can qualify as a random fact about me which I have not mentioned already. Well here we go!

1. I love chatting with friends. Now I don’t mean your average talking buddy. I can’t stop talking once I have started and most times have to be stopped.
2. I have a weird 6th sense. I know what my friends and family are going through even when I am thousands of miles away.
3. I have 2 nieces aged one year and 2months+
4. I have 5 siblings. 3 boys and 2 girls.
5. I still dream of making a career in the entertainment industry.

Yeah, that’s it friends, hope you enjoyed this post? It was not so easy writing especially the 5 facts about me. Guess cos it made me thing some more and reveal details about me which I feel makes me vulnerable and that makes me uncomfortable but I am glad I did. Thanks again to Noolz who nominated me. Have a great evening and hang around for my next post on the Walk me down the aisle series…you don’t want to miss it! 😉

WALK ME DOWN THE AISLE SERIES: Episode 4: A HOME – 46 DAYS

The days are really rolling fast hey! February has gone down in my personal records as one of the fastest 28 days ever! It is already March!!! Here is to a very happy March to you all. I do hope March doesn’t roll as fast as Feb did though :-).

At the top of any couple’s marital plans especially after a wedding is to move into a nice house which they can call home. For those who have ever had to do some sort of house hunting for whatever reason, you will agree with me that this is no small deal.

Tendai and I also have as one of our wishes to move into a nice place that we can call home and we have since started a gradual hunt for such a place in November 2014. Nothing turned up and by January we turned up the heat a bit especially as the lease for where I am staying was due to run out in February 2015. The end of January came and we still had not found a place despite our spirited search.

The agent of my current flat had written to ask if I am renewing the contract and I tried to delay responding hoping to get a place first to avoid the awkward situation where I don’t renew and the contract runs out and we have not found a place. I eventually came clean and told her of our plans and she was so supportive and offered me an option of a monthly contract at the expiration of the 12 months lease I had signed last year. This was such a huge relieve and took off some pressure from our over burdened shoulders.

We kept on with the search though and prayed that God will favour us with a nice place which is affordable too. We got a few rentals advertised and most of them fell either in the category of “too expensive” or “too far” from the area we would love to settle in, those that fell within our bracket of “affordable rates had massive competition. After several hours of drive time, emails, calls and appointed viewings of several flats all ending in rejects or not meeting our specific requirements of our dream 1st flat, we were beginning to get a bit worried.
All this however changed last week Wednesday, two days before we had fixed two appointments for same day to view two different flats at two ends of the city, one in the northern suburbs and the other in the southern suburbs. We started with the Northern suburb…it was a north facing flat on the 10^th floor of a complex and had large glass windows opening to breath-taking ocean views. I fell in love with the flat immediately! It was quite far from the area we had in mind and we will have to battle heavy vehicular traffic daily if we end up there though and I thought if that is the price to pay then I will happily do so. Tendai however had issues. She just can’t handle heights and living on the 10^th floor with such massive glass doors is a nightmare she can’t live with. So we had divided opinions of the flat but agreed to put in an application anyways.

After filling the form and getting all required documents faxed to the agent we headed off to the second viewing which was at the southern suburbs. Before leaving Tendai was tired and suggested we stay back as she remembered our many other applications in the southern suburbs which all didn’t favour us. She was certain there will be a lot of competition too as the rate at which the flat was going for was almost too good to be true. I encouraged her we just go give it a try as we have nothing to lose. As our GPS announced to us “You have arrived at your destination,” Tendai said something is wrong this may be a wrong address because there is no “crowd” as expected. I also thought it is strange as we usually see at least 6 couples waiting at each of the other flats we have viewed. I parked anyways and I looked up to see an elderly looking woman smiling at us. I asked Tendai do you know her. She said no, and we said maybe she is also here to view the flat so we got out and greeted her. She asked if we are here to view as she is the agent. It was the first time we have arrived to find the agent waiting alone.

We went in and this time the flat was on the 2^nd floor and was also a lovely flat. Tendai loved it from the door…it also had a balcony which Tendai had always loved as she wants to grow her potted plants and some vegetables.  So yes we put in an application too…this time we did right there and then as the agent waited…Tendai just didn’t want to lose this flat as I could see from her eyes she would be deeply pained and disappointed to miss out on this. For the rest of that day all we spoke about is that flat and Tendai was already elaborating on her plans for when we move in. It was an older building so had lots of space and Tendai can think of a million ways to utilise all the spaces.

The following day at 12:24, my phone rang, I looked and it was a strange number, I picked and it was the agent for the 2^nd flat…she had been in touch with the owner of the building and the flat is ours if we are still keen to sign the lease contract.

WOW!! I thought so this is how it is…I smiled and said my million thanks and reminded her again how keen we were, we fixed a time and date to meet so we can sign the papers.

This afternoon at midday, we signed the lease contract so come April 2015 we will be moving in to the flat which Tendai and I will be calling home for the foreseeable future. We are both very pleased with the flat and now all the stress of emailing, calling, driving and receiving rejections seem to be a very distant memory.

With one month 15 days left to our big day, we have struck out one more item on our “to-do” list. A home is now sorted and we look forward to the next item to be accomplished.  There is this joy that comes with achieving something…anything, it does not matter the size…just that knowledge and feeling of sharing the victory of achieving something with someone you love is so exhilarating.