17 August 2021
i was just sitting here thinking about us. Us? Who are us? And why? Well, “us” is my colleagues from secondary school. Finished in December 1990. Left school with different hopes, ambitions and aspiration. Some very explicit and clear on their journey, some with the hope that fate and faith will get them down the right path, others, just oblivious to what is ahead.
Tempered with renewed strength, teenagers and adults in their twenties ( a lot of them coming out of the woods now 😀) with massive testosterone and unbridled enthusiasm. Chasing life, academic, money and women. All with great passion and no fear or inhibition.
31 years on…. Looking to celebrate our anniversary that we all planned for 2020 but circumstances changed our plans. Situations… Circumstances…. Seems that my group are faced with a lots of things like this:
Changed the education system to 6-3-3-4
Required to Junior Secondary school exams
Expected to spend 6 years in secondary school
End up spending a year after that waiting to get into higher Institution. Some had to wait a bit longer to get in
There have been sad stories along the way.
The ones that we have lost 😭; left us too early and in their prime. There are the ones that we have lost contact to; being segregated due to various reasons that we know or cannot fathom🥺.
And there are the rest of us. The living members of 84-90 set. Breathing, sweating, striving, fighting😢. All taking the next step as the one thing we have no control of is ticking on - time📅. 31 years ago, we were all sitting in a hall, writing exams that we thought we define our destiny, at least most of us. So we thought… Now we see that, it is not the end of things.
Some of us had waded against the tides of life and have come out in the other side. Some are still doing so;
A lot of us have realised that true wealth is health and living in peace. The rest is a matter of perspective;
Having friends is a true possession. Eniyan laso iyi mi ti mo fi nbo ara;
We can live to fight another day. When things don’t work out , we get up and get going again. Ijamosa la nmo akinkanju logun
We live and let others live. Oju orun to eye fo lai fi ara kan ara
As a lot of us have clocked 50 years in the past 18 months and will be doing so in the next 30 months, my hope and prayers is that:
We will learn to look forward and work together as a unit, advancing and helping each other along the way. Agbajowo laa fi nsanya, ajeji owo kan ko gbe eru ori
We look aside and see most of us, in good health and with joy to see other. It will be foolish to assume we are not going to lose some but I hope we help each other whilst we can, take time out sacrificially to meet up. it may be the last time in some cases;
We look back and have good memories to share. Not only of the times in ACA, but of the recent years where we have stood by each other. Knowing me, knowing you
Unto the next 30 years. With friends, their families. Reunions, celebrations. Weddings. Coronations. Convocations. Funerals. Remembrances. Whatever it is, let us give thanks for everyday. Actually, in everything, give thanks, with a grateful heart. If you are reading this or it is being read to you, it has been a long journey but you are still here. No matter the circumstance, you are still moving and I am glad to know you are around. Always looking forward too seeing you… soon. I hope you feel the same way too.. 💙
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