I Was Given 3 Minutes to Do The Unimaginable

A night that unlocked my hidden potential

Photo by Jay Wennington on Unsplash. We just finished having our dinner before the whole story began to unfold.

On that fateful night, as a family we just finished having our dinner. I was chattering with my siblings and my mom was sitting by the corner oblivious of what we were discussing.

She was so engrossed in what she was writing down on a jotter she placed on a table in front of her.

While gisting with my brothers, I took out time to peek into what she was writing. I came to realize that she was jotting down the names of her debtors and creditors.

At some point, she stopped writing and seemed to be thinking of something, I tried so hard not to make her notice that I've been monitoring her while in the middle of discussion with my brothers.

After a while, I thought of asking her what the problem could possibly be but before I could make out words to ask, she called out my name, “Vivian!” she called.

I answered happily not knowing the reason for the call. “How do you even start a descriptive essay?” she queried.

The question threw me off balance because that's the least of what I expected.

I rolled my eyes and stuttered “Ma”

‘How am I supposed to know that, I am just 7 years’ I murmured to myself.

She repeated the same question when she didn't get a response from me but this time in a fierce tone.

“I don't know what a descriptive essay is mom, I shouted out while crying and fidgeting.”

Photo by Marco Aurélio Conde on Unsplash. In tears, I screamed that I don't know what a descriptive essay is.

After I gave that reply, the look on my mom’s face was only depicting disappointment and shame, she wasn’t happy. She directed the same question to my brothers and each and everyone of them gave the correct and expected answer.

My face turned pale; I was so ashamed of myself. I thought I wouldn’t be the only one unable to explain what a descriptive essay is. I felt like I had been betrayed by my brothers.

My mom became infuriated, she tore a piece of book and handed it over to me alongside with a pen saying, “I'm going now to have my bathe, write a descriptive essay of not less than 200 words about me before I return.”

I started crying after she left, how do I achieve this I queried myself amidst tears. My brothers drew close to where I was and felt obliged to help.

The eldest of them gave me guidelines on to how to start it while the other one briefed me on what a descriptive essay is all about. Minutes passed and my mom came out of the bathroom and say me still battling with the essay I was given to write.

My brothers had left before she came in to avoid been seen helping me because she sternly instructed them not to assist me.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash. My paper was still quite empty, I didn't know what to write as at that time.

She looked into the paper she gave me and noticed that I’ve written nothing on it yet. My mom flogged me and set a timer for me to write one in front of her. She had set the timer to be three minutes of time interval.

The fear of being flogged again pushed me to start writing something even if it’s rubbish. I mean who would want to be flogged for the second time?

I found myself writing whatever that came across my mind. I employed the guidelines and all that my brothers told me earlier. Within the time frame of three mins, I was able to write only but 100 words.

My mom was smiling while going through what I wrote. “You tried my dear, even though you didn’t reach the exact number of words I asked you to write, am quite happy she said.”

“At least, you were able to write something and you’ve learned something new this night,” she continued.

I had little tears on my eyes, she wiped them and made me understand the reason she did what she did. My brothers were excited and happy that I was able to learn and write something good within such short time frame.

Photo by Aida L on Unsplash. A beautiful night that I will always remember.

That particularly became a red letter day to me, it's a night that unlocked a hidden part of me. After that night, I kept on practicing how to write better descriptive essays.

With time, I learned so well. I learned to write all type of essay such that writing became a part of me I love so much. That night was my limelight, it unlocked my writing potential. The more I wrote stories, the more I love myself even until this very moment.

That fateful night ignited a flame of passionate love for writing.

I'll forever be grateful to my mom and that very night. As they say, the journey of a thousand mile begins with just a little step, my journey into the realm of writing began with the quest to write a descriptive essay accurately.

It's something and an experience forever green in my heart as I will always cherish it.