Another Birthday of Graces and Smiles

It’s another June ninth and I sit in my favourite chair in the lounge. This sit I have over the months become my favourite as it gives me a clear view of the sky as the sun sets and as it turns into darkness and also as the day unwinds and the sun comes up.
So its about a quarter to twelve midnight and I sit down again here to adore the beauty of nature. It’s a full moon and every is not as black as a store when not lighted although those in charge of electricity could not spare the light for the night.
Its some minutes to adding an extra to my life and I sit to meditate on the last twelve months. I’ve just settled in to this and my phone rings. This call was from the one that I adore so much-Nuela(close friend of over a decade and half). She had called in to say her wishes to me and of course the usual question of “How old are you today”
She said; you are growing old and that the candles might get bigger than the cake. While I laughed at her joke about my age, it gave me the course to think how much the society demands of our age.
While a few of my adorable friends and a little others know my true age, it might be fair to say that I’m approaching the other side of a new decade.
I remember when growing up, I wished that I were older than I was because it seems that every of that time was based on age. Although I reluctantly refuse to admit how old or how young that I am.
The truth is ,our age “may not” bother us personally, but it does bothers the people around us and the society at large and the society is always ready to put us into shoes and boxes according to our age, not personality, influence or ability.
In the family you are not allowed to take something that is shared before your older ones, you are not allowed to stay outside after some certain time if you are of a certain age. You can get into school nor work in a bank if you are not of a certain age. At a certain age, you should either be married or trying to or at least upset or worried that you are not. You are to face your studies and not any member of the opposite sex if you are of a certain age while in some countries, you are not allowed to drink if you are not of a certain age. You cannot be convicted if you are not of a certain age while you are not allowed to take part in a competition if you are not of a certain age
So here I am sitting in my favourite chair recounting all the good and bad of the last twelve months and also grateful for the extra twelve months that I gained.
The new experiences learnt, the mistakes made, the pain and the love shared. But worried that some way or the other, these societal pressures will make me irrelevant not because I don’t think or function the way I used to, just because I’m under some certain age…
For those who don’t know my real age, “I’m sorry”. Just know that I’m a little older than my teeth and as the same age with my tongue, eye, or even the hair on my head.
Of course-I take the words of my friends Nneoma, Chidera, Kosi, Chinekwu and Nonso Ewelike as comfort.
They said; “I just look the same, just few wrinkles and pimples-nothing to shame,
Growing internally is our duty”.
So few hours from now, “I will cut my next birthday cake with graces and smiles in the mist of my adorable friends. But then, no candles. I won’t need them now”.
But wait, I think my sister just sneaked in to pour me the box of chocolate.
That’s how we get in the mood. She and my friends got my back, We the best …


Tagbo.

In this note;
Nwegbu mmadu, onyia kenechukwu, nwangwu chinonso, nwankwo chidera, nwobi chinekwu, okoye oluchukwu,okoye febechukwu, okonkwo alex, peter and paul okonkwo, okonkwo chinelo, ewelike chinonso, asogwa uchechukwu, iroha ujunwa, ogbonna nwamaka,ogbonna chibuike,aneke nnedimma, ozioko nwamaka, nwala didi nwanneka, nnadi tochukwu, nwoba kosi, okenyi prince, onwuachi ngozi, onwurah nwando, ayogu sochima Sandra.Ada and Chibugo