The Girls I Have Admired

As the world celebrated Valentine's Day last Tuesday, I felt alone but not lonely. I was full of life, enjoying my current status as a single, footloose and fancy-free young man. And I thought back to some of the girls I have admired over the years since I was a boy in primary school to when I was a young adult at the university in JKUAT.

At Naro-Moru Primary School where I began my formal education in 1993, the girl I came to admire most was Veronica Kitmet (see photo above). She joined my class in 1998 when I was in Standard 5. I would fantasize taking her out for dates.

Sometimes over the weekends, I would trot along the road near her home, hoping to meet her. But you know what? Never at any one time did I express my feelings to her due to my shyness. Whenever we met in our hometown of Kiserian, my heart would start pounding like a tom-tom, making me too afraid to greet her.

Interestingly, Veronica and I used to worship in the same church (our hometown Catholic Church), something that should have given me an advantage over other boys in our school who also admired her. I often hoped that she would see me play the piano during Sunday masses and develop an interest in me. She must have seen me play the piano but whether she admired me for that is something I never got to know.

I will never forget the Sunday when Veronica came and stood next to me. It was during a mass (Palm Sunday, I think) when we went around Kiserian with other hundred or so congregants. But imagine in all the minutes that Veronica stood next to me, I didn't tell her anything. I just stayed put, as if I was a tree.

Another girl I admired in my primary school years was a pretty daughter of one of our neighbours. Her name was Grace Twity. I came to notice her during the evenings she would come to our home to fetch milk for her family. But as was the case with Veronica, I never disclosed to Twity how I admired her.

One evening in 2001 when Twity came for milk as usual, she found me all alone at home. That would have presented me with a golden opportunity to pour out my feelings to her. But owing to my poor social skills, I served her milk without uttering a single word to her. Poor me!

And the other girl I admired that I remembered on Valentine's Day last Tuesday was a lass I spotted at JKUAT when I was a first year engineering student at the university in 2007. The lass was the most gorgeous female I had ever laid my eyes on. It was like God had taken extra effort while coding the DNA instructions that dictated how she would grow.

Enticed by the beauty of the lass, I had a crush on her. During one chemistry lesson in 2007 for all engineering students - a lesson that was held in the university assembly hall because of the large number of students involved - I kept turning my gaze towards her as the lecturer droned on with her lecture.

Then on another night, I found the lass by herself at a table in the university canteen. I ordered a meal and sat next to her while longing to engage her in a conversation. But as you would expect of me, words failed me due to my shyness.

By the way, I didn't see that gorgeous lass again when I reported back to JKUAT in 2008 for my second year. She must have dropped out of the university. And you know what again? In all the weeks I secretly admired her, I never got to know her name and the exact engineering course she was pursuing at JKUAT.

Since 2007, I have never met another damsel who has captivated my eyes the way that lass at JKUAT did. But I have vowed that should I spot one in the future, I will screw up my courage, approach her and initiate a chat with her. I just have to overcome the shyness that has kept me from falling in love with the girls I have admired. Belated happy Valentine's Day!

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story about the girls I have admired, you might also enjoy another one on "My Naro-Moru Days" that I wrote more than three years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.