While growing up, many of us were lucky enough to have our parents make our birthdays memorable. Now, as adults, things have changed, and sometimes we don't even remember this big day of ours until we are reminded. I have a friend who boldly says birthdays are no achievement and not worth celebrating. I might not be an extrovert, but I have special days at least, and my birthday is one of them. Even though I am not a fan of big celebrations, a little hangout will do at least. Your birthday is not just another normal day.
designed in canva.
Many use their birthdays to check and see their progress. We all have planned and mapped out how we want to journey through life and have fixed a certain age for an achievement or two, and birthdays are used to check if we are close to achieving the goals or not. We are not yet where we want to be, but looking back to see how far we have come, there is a lot to be grateful for. Every birthday serves as a reminder that we have been given another chance to chase our dreams.
I still remember how my parents went out of their way to make our birthdays memorable, despite the financial constraints back then. Sometimes, when it was really bad, they just got a lot of biscuits and chewing gum and poured them into a tray pan and invited other kids to come and celebrate our big day with us. Sometimes mom prepares rice and stew, which we use for the party. I have always had the dream of having a very big party for my birthday, but not anymore. A small celebration is good; don't just let it pass like another normal day. Do something to make it memorable. It must not be a party; you can go about impacting lives.
The best birthday ever was on June 8, 2016. My dad, as a soldier, was serving in the northern part of the country, the insurgency in the northern part of Nigeria is no new news; there was no means of reaching him or him reaching us because of the bad network. He made it a tradition to travel to a town called Maiduguri, where there is little network coverage every 3 months, and after that, we have to wait for another 3 months, and sometimes more than that, before we can hear from him again. Traveling the roads was risky, so he had to take safety measures and only use the road every 3 months and when he felt it was safe.
That year, we heard from him in May and were only expecting to hear from him again in August or even September, but to my greatest surprise, he took the risk to make my birthday special. He traveled to Maiduguri just to wish me a happy birthday. We all knew the risk, and it made that particular birthday super special and left me feeling special as well. I never thought my birthday was worth it to ply the road twice in less than a month, but he proved me wrong.
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