The invitation said "Small get-together. Nothing serious. Just a few friends." You arrive in jeans and a t-shirt. There are 200 people. There is a DJ. There is a red carpet. Your friend is wearing an outfit that required three assistants. You are underdressed, underprepared, and overwhelmed. The Nigerian "small get-together" is never small. It is a test. If you believed "small," you failed. The real friends knew to wear their best outfit "just in case." They brought gifts "just in case." They prepared a speech "just in case." You brought yourself. You are now the background character in someone else's main event. And the transformation! You came for a quiet evening. You are now in a club disguised as a house. The music is loud enough to damage hearing. The crowd is dense enough to cause claustrophobia. The "few friends" include people you have never seen, will never see again, and who are currently judging your outfit. The host is oblivious. "I said it was small!" they will claim tomorrow, while posting 500 photos of the "intimate gathering." The photos will be curated. The angles will be flattering. The caption will be "Grateful for my circle." You are not in the photos. You were in the kitchen, trying to find water. Have you been fooled by a "small get-together"? And what's the biggest gap between invitation and reality you've experienced?
