WAKE-UP CALL IN THE SKIES FROM PARIS TO BOSTON.

January 14, 2025, was supposed to be just another long 6 hours 42 minutes flight across the vast Atlantic ocean waters. I boarded the plane from Charles

de Gaulle Airport(CDG) in paris, excited yet too tired after an 8 hour flight from NBO and a 5 hour layover in Paris. I was anticipating the not so comforting humming of jet engines and the tiredness that comes with long hour flying in economy class.(not interesting at all)😫 Looking around, people quickly settled in their seats after storing their carry-ons in the overhead cabin and backpacks under their seats- some immediately felt into sleep, others were scrolling on the screens, and some were having conversations (probably people they know😄- on a serious note, how do you guys create rapport more so in a plane setting to set a stage for a conversation with a person you don't know. Sometimes it gets too boring and you honestly feel like opening your mouth and talking. Leave your comment below)🤗. Next to me sat a European gentleman of middle age with a very warm smile that could belong to a father, brother, or a friend. Or so I thought.😊 

Everything seemed very normal. I scrolled through the in-flight entertainments to choose a series or documentary, but none seemed to catch my attention. I pulled my tablet to finish reading a short story that I had postponed reading for like

a week.(Procrastination at its brim 😄- not so funny though, but to my fellow procrastinators, we can do better💪) "Girls at war and other

stories by Chinua Achebe was the book." I specifically loved the short story about, "Marriage is a private Affair." The union was between Nene and Nnaemeka who all belonged to different tribes. Nnaemeka's father never wanted him to marry anyone who was not of their kind in the line of tribe that's. But since Nnaemeka had this immense love on Nene, he put away all the differences and fought all odds including his father's reluctance just to be with his beloved. Good news is that as they stayed in their marriage, they made a happy couple that was admired by people home and away. Despite this, the father did not accept her. Fast forward, later when they begot two grandsons, Nene asked her father whether he could only allow his son and grandsons to visit him while she remained in Lagos. The grandfather tried to harden his heart but it was impossible. That night when it rained, he imagined if his grandchildren were at the door begging to be let in. Would he have left them to be rained on and be cold outside? That night was hard for him. What happened next, suspense knows better but I hope he got to accept them. What triggered my mind after this read was the question about traditions standing against the warmth of love and the innocence of children. Perhaps, when the heart is weighed down by love that has been denied for a long time, even the strongest resistance may break down. But the real question still remains- how long does love have to wait until it's fully embraced? (It's not a rhetorical question, so feel free to give your opinion, Gracias.🙏)

Sorry for the shift but I was compelled to share. So the flight attendants were moving up and down the aisle, offering us late lunch and some drinks. For almost the entire flight, I was clueless that in some few rows ahead of me, someone was fighting between being alive and death. That at some time, maybe while I was napping, doctors had been called, flight attendants had rushed to help the dying heart.😔😟 Or maybe while I was busy sipping my apple juice, someone was almost breathing their last. So heartbreaking to think about it.😭 It wasn't until one hour to our landing, that's at exactly 15:35, that we heard the captain's voice. At first, I expected the usual update maybe about the estimated time of arrival in Boston, the weather, or a thank you for flying with Air France. His tone was different. Not a jovial one at all like the one that has been doing announcements throughout our journey. It was deep and heavy. But did that ring a bell in my mind that something was wrong? I will lie if I say yes. So absolutely not. 

He proceeded in a message that will leave us tearing up. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great sorrow that we inform you that one of the passengers has passed away in this flight. The medical professionals in this flight tried their best, but unfortunately we could not save the life of one of us. We appreciate your calmness and due to respect of his family, we will not share further details at this time." 

There was total silence followed by whispers and confusion. I have never cried over a stranger that much like I did on this flight. I vividly remember turning to the person seated next to me as if he will have the answers to my questions. I was in utter shock that someone had really become lifeless in the same space as I was. I have never imagined about it and never did I ever want it to happen to me or anyone else. 

I tried to imagine who this person will be. Was it the guy who seated next to me in the airbus? Was it the person who was infront of me in the boarding line? Was it the person who smiled at me when I was in the waiting area? (I'm sure some of you who have experienced moments of confusion, not knowing who has been hurt or passed away can relate. It's unsettling, isn't it? ). My mind was racing anyhowly trying to find a clue. All was in vain. Nothing seemed to add up. 

Then came another terrible thought. Somewhere in Boston, someone was waiting for him. Excited to see him again like we are always happy when we reunite even after few days of being away from one another. Maybe someone had already prepared them their favorite dish. Or maybe, someone was eagerly waiting to hear their experience about their Christmas vacation.😢 What this 'someone' was going to get instead is a message that none of us will ever want to hear. "We are sorry, but your father, husband, uncle,  brother, grandson, nephew...did not make it." How will you ever tell a wife who is used to always waking next to her husband, loved, assured, affirmed, and cherished that their husband will never make there again? To there children that their father will never walk through the arrival gates again? To a friend that their their last conversation with the one they hold close to their heart was truly their last? To a mother and father that their only son is no more?😔😟 

As we were preparing for the plane to touch down in Boston, I was looking out in the window. I saw the city filled with snow with its pretty lights as it was starting to get dark. My mind was full of thoughts with questions that I could not answer. "That man- whoever he was- had boarded the same flight as I was. He expected to land in Boston safely. Continue with his journey if he had a connecting flight like I did or get into his business and meet his family if Boston was his final destination. But did he?? He didn't. And what about me? What about all of us?

We live our lives taking everything as normal and sometimes for granted as if it's our right to have it more so LIFE. Waking up to another new day is normal. We are always planning things thinking we have all the time with us. But in reality we don't. I deeply thought about the hymn " Abide with me" Hymn 50. I deeply thought about stanza two which seemed to deeply resonate with me that moment. "Swift to its close ebb out life's little day; Earth's joys grow dim, it's glories pass away; Change and decay in all around I see- O Thou who changes not, abide with me." Today we might be here studying, having good time with friends, laughing and making jokes, planning about the future thinking its guaranteed, delaying our spiritual growth, doing even that which is not to the glory of God thinking we have time or best said thinking we have tomorrow, but about the next minute, only God knows. 

That flight to Boston rang a bell in me. It made me realize how fragile life can be- how we are just another breath away, one heartbeat to eternity. Leo tuko hapa, kesho hatupo- We are here today and tomorrow we are not. So be kind whenever you can. Love deeply even thine enemies. APPRECIATE one another while you still can as one day they will be gone forever. Be a good object lesson, best said in my native "kabe rirube rigiya rigosomeka erinde obarerie abande omobaso baonchoke." Forgive. Pray. And in all, desire to live each single day with eternity in mind. Why do I encourage this? Because on day, like that man on my flight, you will take off and never land. And many other abrupt ways that death can find us. We aren't exceptions at all. That day was that man, the next time it will be us. Will we be found ready? How often do we consider life after this? 

A flicker of hope that we have arose in me finally: the resurrection morning. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, (NKJV) says:

"16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." This gives hope about a day that will come when those who died in Christ will rise again to abide with him through eternity. May we be among those who will rise first. 

In the end all we truly have is NOW! May we live it as if eternity is just a day away. Because one day, it will be.😊🌹