THE BIRTHDAY ARTICLE

I like to think that I have had a very privileged life. Privilege of course is a relative term depending on the type of upbringing you receive and the economic status that existed as the norm.

Education was a big deal when we were kids. My dad was obsessed with all his kids getting a good education because he didn’t go to the university and he regretted daily the opportunities he had missed on. We all benefited from that obsession. My mum ensured that our life was planned out on a strict routine that we had to adhere to. Failure to adhere to this routine would be rewarded with a thundering blow on the back, a stinging slap across the cheek or numerous swooshes of the cane depending on the severity of the offense. We were stubborn nonetheless; refusing to be obedient and deciding that if we going to get whooped at the end of the day then we had to make the mischief matter!

Those were glory days… reading comics during the day while we waited for NTA to start running feeds on the television by 4pm, this was frequently interrupted by power shortages yet we didn’t mind because we didn’t have the luxury of satellite television. We tried to imitate the super heroes we saw on TV; my favorite though was Spiderman. We would try jumping a few staircases to the ground and scream I am superman! As we landed with athletic balance on the floor… unfortunately one of our peers took the charade to a whole new level when he jumped from the first floor of the building landing with a dull thud on the hard concrete charred floor. It was not pretty; he suffered a concussion, a broken jaw, some missing teeth, head injuries and other body harm. We were worried initially but used the incident to have a good laugh at his expense for a long time. My mum stopped buying us comic books after that and warned us to never go upstairs to play again.

My goals kept changing; the first goal I had for almost the entirety of my childhood was to be a nun because I was so in love with Mary that I wanted to live in purity like her.

That was until I went to boarding school and it was like if I had been thrown into a real life episodes of survivor Africa/hunger games. I was ten years old and the first lesson I learned was that you needed friends who could stick by you and you had to be the smartest and most fearless person if you wanted to be Top dog in boarding house. For a while I hated my parents and blamed them for how miserable I was in that ugly forest that seemed to be cut away from most of civilization. I was surrounded by hormonally charged angry teenagers and old people. It was such extremes that it took a long time for me to settle in. Once I did, I developed necessary survival tools and I learned how to derive pleasure from the most depressing situations. Number one rule of survival… stay out of the way of psychopathic senior students who derived pleasure from the suffering of junior students and number two… when you get on the bad side of the top dog you either cower in silenced fear or look them in the eyes and let them know you aren’t afraid. Option one was always the safest bet though. Through this all I found time to dream about the path I wanted my life to take. One time I wanted to be a lawyer, at another time I wanted to be a doctor, sometimes it was a diplomat or a scientist or a sports analyst or a journalist… it changed with my mood or the weather of the day.

I was so excited to grow up that I always lied about my age to everyone especially in Yahoo chat rooms. The internet had just become the rave in Lagos and Yahoo messenger was the in thing at the time. I lied about my age to boys who asked me out on the internet, I told the boys in my church that I was 18 when I was 15 and I just wanted the years to pass by in a flash so I could start drinking alcohol and using the internet without parental control! It seemed so important back then. I wasn’t thinking of the future… I didn’t plan my life beyond the university naively believing that everything would work out when I got to that stage.

Just when I had gotten used to being in such confined quarters I got thrown out into the university world at 17 years old and I had to learn all over again how to survive. This time it was easier because no one really cared who you were unless you had something important to offer in terms of social or academic abilities. I became an adult before I fully understood the meaning of the word. I took responsibility for myself living on my own without parental guidance but I soon discovered that while independence was bliss it was completely overrated and awfully lonely!

After NYSC at the age of 22 years I realized that life might not have been all that it was advertised. From the dependent who asked when I had needs I became sorely responsible for my upkeep in every way. I started worrying about my family and I felt the desire to help out any way I could. I started my own blog so i could write when i felt like depression over my state of under employment was going to kick in and it has helped. I do not have the luxury of a vast, limitless career opportunities but i try to stay upbeat that when the path presents itself it will be something i will enjoy doing.

I am 24 years old today and far mature beyond my age. I consider myself lucky to come from a part of the country that does not allow its people to be content with their immediate surroundings but forces you to go out and seek new experiences. My family taught me how to be independent, secondary school showed me how to look shame and fear in the eye and laugh in its face, life taught me to be patient and listen.

God has been good…I am not where I want to be but I am immensely grateful when I think of the millions of girls forced into slavery, without an education or the ability to form independent decisions for themselves… I look back and say Chimaobi drink and be merry because you have had a darn good life and that is what I celebrate today! How far I have come and the great places waiting for me to arrive…
I still wonder how i will navigate uncharted waters, i worry that i wont get to check ore than half the items on my bucket list... I am afraid of what the future holds or if time will pass me by and leave me stranded at the precipice of something great.....I worry about none of those things today..content to bask in the victory of another battle
the will to live to see another day...