The Gift Of @Jo5h’s Friendship

This essay is about the best gift I have ever received. While many point to tangible items as the best gift they have ever received, I don’t. For me, the most treasured and valuable gift I have ever recived is the gift of friendship. Most recently, I got this gift from @jo5h.

What Friendship Means To Me

Before I go in-depth, I think I should express my thoughts on friendship. Friendship means many things to many people. For some, it’s someone to talk to. For others it’s someone they can depend on when they need help. For me, friendship involves sharing. My best friends are those with whom I share the most with.

My friendship is in levels and sharing is the elevator.

I grew up as a nerd of sorts (by many standards, I am still a nerd). My parents tried to make my life comfortable by meeting my needs. I had a lot of stuff but no one to share it with. I am also a thinker. I think a lot (which probably explains why I write a lot too). The problem I had was to get someone to share my thoughts with. Someone who would simply listen to it. Someone who believe my life was worth sharing. And I dare say that @jo5h is fast becoming one of such friends.

The Man Called @Jo4h.

Actually, his name is Joshua. We happen to be in a whatsapp group. Well, I would post my links in the group and he would often come around. Then one day, he shared a screenshot from steemreports. It turned out that I was the fourth most upvoted person within a thirty day periods. I am not a whale. I am not the best writer. That someone would give so much upvotes to me meant something. Most naturally, I began to share my questions with him. Each time I had a problem, I would simply go to him and he would try to help.

Soon, we were privileged to meet at a Steemit meet-up in Ibadan. In fact, I reached out to him for directions. And when I got to the venue, I was sited right behind him. We didn’t talk much then, but I guess that was when the connection became strong. We took a couple of pictures. In all, I was glad to see him in person; to be able to put a face to the name.

I cannot say exactly, but something made us close. Maybe it’s the fact that we are both nerds, or have similar experiences growing up or we’re both struggling Nigerians… I can’t tell. But I do know that after that meet-up, we began to share stuff - personal stuff included.

Sharing for me, isn't about just sharing tangible stuff like money and all. It is about giving each other piece of our lives, thoughts and dreams. It is allowing another person come into our world knowing that they are not going to be judgemental about us. It is giving someone your idea knowing that they are going to be behind you. I believe communication/sharing is very important to human interaction and existence. To have someone to communicate with, to know know you’ll be understood and appreciated… these are very important to me.

My friendship with @jo5h has been all of that and more.

Top Mention: @grayesque

Perhaps, to make this essay complete, I must mention one instance where his friendship has been invaluable. There are plenty but I’ll talk about this one - his continuous support for @grayesque.

I’ve been active on Steemit for about four months now (although I registered in October, I didn’t do anything until the third week of January. Throughout my time on Steemit, I have been a recipient of various assistance and support from curation projects. These include sneakyninja, @sndbox-alpha, the library, @hr1, @reachout and @curie. At a time when I was a plankton (Busy.org still calls me one) with no one to turn to, these projects help boost my self esteem, reward my work and give me the motivation to carry on. Looking back, I haven't been doing same for others so I started the @grayesque curation project.

So far, @jo5h has been so supportive of the project. He’s was there throughout the entire thinking process. Before we began running on our current model, he has been part of the project. In fact, he even takes it like his personal project too. Well, as you might expect, he’s one of the curators. Recently, I had some issues as the other curators were not available. @jo5h took it upon himself to carry out the cuartions. Sometimes, I hit him at a moment’s notice and he delivers.

I sent him a message on whatsapp only two days ago asking what I have done to deserve his friendship. He has been so wonderful to me. In fact, I dare say he’s the best gift I’ve received this month.

So there you have it. The best gift I’ve received is the gift of friendship. It’s something I appreciate and do not take lightly.

@jo5h, you mean a lot to me (no hormones bro)

This is my entry for the The Good Vibes Contest - Round 3 by @corina

Thanks for reading

Blessings

[Image source: I stole the pictures from @jo5h Facebook profile.]