The Story of A Birthday Card

It was a Sunday evening. Sunday the 2nd of February. I was out trying to buy a gift wrapper and a birthday card for a very dear friend. Got to this supermarket, and asked for the gift wrapper, and went to where the cards are stacked to pick one. There were different sorts of cards, the ugly ones, home made ones; and I say home made because for some of them, they actually used a black pen to write some of the characters! That was just plain weird. So I tried to sort out the different ones, mostly wedding and birthday cards, till I finally saw a good one.

So I chose this one, and I made to the counter to pay for it and at some point the card flipped over and there written very boldly is ‘Selective’. It doesn’t seem like a huge deal though, because selective is just the name of the brand of the card I bought, but to me it meant so much more! at that very moment, being the person that I am and having the photographic memory that I do have, meaning that stuff tend to stick, my mind went way way back, over 12 years ago…

There was a girl… we were both in the same class and that was primary two. She had a foreign accent, but she was Nigerian. So we didn’t talk much then, I don’t even think I ever really talked to her and vice versa. Back then I really didn’t care about girls, or if you look at it she didn’t really care about me?…lol . We really used to keep it low key with girls at such innocent age back then lol. I wasn't a very social person as well, then. Not necessarily shy, or maybe a little of both. But there were still various things about this girl that I still knew. Her family wasn’t the average Nigerian family, that would give their children rice, beans and stew for lunch. Ah no! they kept it real classy; most times she would just come to school with dates, sandwiches and juice! which was pretty standard I guess. I heard her once tell the teacher that her mum said that she could eat that in school, but eat proper food when they got home.
So just incase you’re wondering where I’m going with this, and how this relates to what I was talking about earlier, relax. This is how. She did come from a very wonderful family because during the Christmas season, she would bring cards to school and give EVERYONE! addressing the cards personally, writing each person’s name on it, even though apparently, she didn't know every one personally. I don’t think it was only Christmas she sent out such cards because, as far as I can remember, she gave them out on more than one occasion. That was the first and last time since I started going to the four walls of a school that somebody gave cards to EVERYBODY. Everybody is the key word here. It turned out to be that her mum made her do it, but you gotta give her the credit for that one irregardless and her mom of course!

So let’s go back to the super market where I was about buying that card. It flipped over and ‘selective’ was boldly written behind and then suddenly it came! something clicked! DING! It was the same ‘selective’ cards that she used to give out then! The name is Ivie, Ivie Etomi! She’s the girl that I’ve been talking about. And before you begin to get all over me, I did ask her if I could write this, and she said it was okay!
So when I got back home later that day, I was so hyped, and took to my twitter:

today I bought a 'selective' brand card immediately I remembered the girl that gave the whole class cards for christmas in primary 2
— Uche Emordi (@Emordiphilip) February 2, 2014

It was the same 'selective' brand she used to give us then, the WHOLE CLASS. I'm shouting out to Ivie Etomi, she's the girl that did that
— Uche Emordi (@Emordiphilip) February 2, 2014

you know, it's doing stuff like that, that would probably make people remember you for something worthwhile later on
— Uche Emordi (@Emordiphilip) February 2, 2014

So what is the moral lesson of this? it’s all about being appreciative in retrospect, acknowledging the little kindness and the spark that it can create even years later, of what seemed like a minor gesture. I agree this could've been a bit mushy and emotional and stuff, but I tend to attach a lot of sentimental value to some little things. I told Ivie that I hoped this would make her smile and I guess that I've lived or written up to expectation in this case. So this is a tale of the ‘selective’ birthday card and a very nice person, Ivie Etomi! she's pretty too ;)…I really wanted to put her picture on here, but maybe it’s about some of you guys that would unnecessarily start ‘checking’ on her! ( I kid I kid lol).

Disclaimer: This is not a marketing tool for the 'Selective' brand, although it wouldn't have hurt for me to make a few bucks off them for this scintillating piece.

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