Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Looking forward to when next I'll have these many cakes! :)

I can’t believe it’s already one year since my last birthday… Like really. Just like that? It feels like I was posing for pictures with my record number of cakes only yesterday. And wasn’t it last week or the week before that I was 18? Or 21? I am now confused. Where are all the years rushing to?

Can the 2000s come back here already?

Wasn't this exam only last month?

Last year was one heck of a ride! I did some amazing stuff, smashed some of my goals into the ground and didn’t even come close to some, and generally had a good time. The future Mrs. accepted my ring and wears it proudly. My mom had surgery we had been putting off for years and it worked out fine. I checked a few items off my bucket list, including my favorite one till date – following the music on a freezing night to find a club in Europe. And yes – I got promoted when I wasn’t expecting it in the least.

Of course – there were the lows too. But this is not the day to think about those.

I feel immensely grateful for another year. Grateful that I’m still here, in good health, and with a roof over my head and a fancy computer to write this on. Grateful for my people – Busola, my family, The Gang, The Crew (Olori Ebi and co), my colleagues (only the ones I like o), my friends, and my fans (yes I’m taking applications for a fans club). Grateful for my job. Grateful for all the progress I made in the past year.

Last year I wrote some nonsense about grudgingly accepting that I wouldn’t be young forever. I don’t remember what I was smoking when I wrote that, but this year I have stopped smoking it so I have changed my mind – I am young forever and that is it. Whoever does not like it should go and grow old on my behalf J. (Noruwa – I’m stuck at 22 years old!).

I'm forever young... I wanna be, forever young...

I feel a little bit of anxiety too. The clock won’t stop ticking (yet), and there is so much to be done in the time that remains. I continue to believe the purpose of my life is bigger than me, and hope I am doing enough to make all my grand dreams come true. I frequently write and talk about living, and hope I am actually packing every day full of life.

My commitment hasn’t changed significantly. The base is still to live, to execute the ambitious plans I make so well, to help other people rise above their limitations and achieve their potential, and to step out in faith when God calls. The teeny weeny change is that my sky-diving ambitions now have a timeline: my next birthday post, by God’s grace, must start with a picture of me sky-diving.

Let’s toast, to me and to you; to the power and beauty of youth.

Happy Birthday to Me.

Seven. I can't believe this was nearly two decades ago!

PS: It is now 15 years since the 9/11 terror attack. Thousands lost their lives in that attack, and hundreds of thousands more in the war against terrorism that ensued. May their souls rest in peace.