For Sophia ....A true Angel 1979- 2005

It’s the December again and I remember.

U looked like and angel …gosh you were an angel, how could the hands of death snatch u away from me, they say we shouldn’t question God and sometimes I know I try so hard not to, but I still cant help but wonder…Why God? What did she do to deserve this? Why do the Good ones always go so fast? Why did that plane have to crash? Y did she have to be on duty on that flight? Why …? Why?

I still remember our undergraduate years ,I still remember how much u wanted me to change my way of life and how much you disliked my friends ,you always felt I was too good for them ,you never stopped praying that id have a better relationship with God and you never stopped talking to me about it.


I remember the stories u told me about your marriage, the ills of marrying at a young age of 18, I remember all he horrible things your mother in-law did to you, (I hope she is finally happy to be rid of you), you tried to make things work then you finally got the strength to leave your husband and get a life, I remember how you got a degree and u were trying so hard to make something of yourself.

I remember when u got that job in Sosoliso …I was so happy for you and all I wanted was for you to be happy, even that day u came to my office and told me you didn’t want to do ticketing anymore and that all you wanted to do was cabin crew you so loved to fly, now I regret supporting you, I just thought I was being a friend and that the least I could do was encourage you. Then u got the jobswitch and we went out to celebrate, you enjoyed your first flight and you were finally getting a hang of it.

I remember that beautiful weekend we spent at my mans place ,you wanted us to spend some girl time together lounging and he suggested I could invite u to his place for the weekend so that he could give us a treat. I was so excited that you two got along together and I was so happy because I needed u to be happy for me, you were always asking me about him, u really wanted us to end up together, when we started having our issues all you ever did was to cajole me to make things work.

I remember our 3hour lunch outings ,how we would seat down just laugh and gossip about everything and nothing and time would just fly ,my boss even knew that whenever u come around that I don’t get around to doing any work,

Even now I remember the last time I saw u ,a week before you died ,u were sick and couldn’t fly and u came to see me, I remember all the time we spent talking about make up ,skin products and all the girl stuff. You had even gotten an apartment and you wanted me to come share it with you ,you felt bad because I had already made plans with someone else to share an apartment ,we had plans to go to the market to shop for wrought iron and curtains for your apartment, death never gave us a chance to do that…

I remember that Saturday, ooooh that black Saturday, how I wish I don’t have to remember, I was at my new apartment trying to clean it up so that I could move in then as I went to say hi to my new neighbours I saw the headline and saw sosoliso airplane had crashed ,I just ignored it and thought it was the normal crash landing that had become a frequent occurrence, then again I knew your flight route was never Ph but Enugu. My phone battery was dead so no one could reach me, I remember putting it on by 8.30pm at a barbers shop where my man went to cut his hair and a few seconds later I got that call from Chioma, the call that changed my life forever,I remember her telling me to get a grip on myself because she had some bad news for me ..then she told me you were in the crash and no one knew if u were amongst the survivors ,I remember my piercing scream and dropping my phone ,I must have fainted because I remember waking up in my man’s arm he was holding me so tight and we had a group of people surrounding us.

I remember I just couldn’t stop crying ,it was so bad my man couldn’t handle me alone ,he had to take me with him to his friends place to spend the night because he needed an extra eye on me. I remember seeing him drop a tear for the first time in our relationship; he just kept on wishing he had never met you. Everyone that met you could never forget you.


I remember your very fair face, your flawless skin and your angelic smile, how could anyone be so pretty and yet so down to earth? We always used to argue over which one of us was taller, you were so tall and striking and I almost envied you, you were so fond of me I often wondered why, even when I purposely tried to upset you ,you never got angry. I still have your number on my phone and some days I just call it hoping against hope that it will ring and you would pick up, maybe I finally need to delete it and move on.

I remember regretting never telling you how special you were, I never told you what your friendship meant to me, today again I cry because I never told you were an angel ,I never told you ….. I never told …..

December 10t would always be a horrible day for me and as I get closer to it I fret.

Sophie I miss u…..but I know you have gone to be with God ,He must know you are an angel and desperately needed you beside him …someday we would be together again….someday….I hope.