I often hear people say “live your life” and when they say this, I suppose what they connote some times is that you don’t owe anyone the way you live your life. As trendy as this may sound, this doesn’t apply to me. I am a product of several people I came across in my life and I consciously remind myself I owe them. First my parents for living the way that they lived and are living. Howbeit not perfect but they shaped me. I sometimes wonder where my strong convictions come from and as much as I want to take credit for it sometimes, I think that will be absolutely wrong. There is a saying that if I cannot enhance the name I inherited, I shouldn’t damage it either. Besides my parents, their friends. As a child, my parents made very awesome friends that shapes the decisions I constantly make. This somewhat gave me a balanced upbringing because what my parents were deficient in, I found very efficient in their friends.

I remember I got into trouble in Grade 1. I think I was 5yrs old and my proprietress (Mrs. Onitiri) got to know about it and being a family friend too, she called me to speak to me. The content of what she said, I can’t remember but I knew she was interested in me turning out well. Time went by and I will grow to get a job in a very reputable company where her daughter in-law worked and you can imagine how fulfilling I felt when Mrs. Onitiri came for one of the events my department anchored. It is not to say that I am living perfectly or I have lived perfectly but even when I err which I constantly do, one of the things that ring in my head is all the teachers, and families that has helped to shape my life.

A very close friend of mine recently said I appear like one of those kids that was so focused on the future while others were having fun. While that is somewhat true, it is not entirely true because I think I had as much fun. I only internalized my fun beyond the periphery. On one occasion, my parents took us to Cement Factory staff quarters in Ogun State to see a relative. As we drove through the quarters, I saw the lush greenery. I saw people playing golf, I saw the calm and quiet environment. The place looked like those pictures of Garden of Eden I had seen in My Book of Bible Story. They had walk-ways. Now if you grew up where I grew up and around the time I grew up in Nigeria, these things were more imaginary. I was inspired and I jumped up in the car and told my parents: “This is the type of place I want to live”. I didn’t pay much attention to their response but I remember they both looked back and smiled. In retrospect, I suspect my dad would have said if you are hardworking and take your studies seriously which was his typical fashion. Daddy, I guess I took my studies seriously and worked hard or maybe God just showed this young man mercy. I will go with the latter.

I have a lot of growing-up dreams. Some of which have become a reality but some I still cannot reconcile how they will become a reality. However, while a lot of my dreams came from my solitude, also quite a number came because of those I have interacted with over the years. Especially to those ones that really didn’t have any stake in whether I turn out well or not. They really were not expecting any returns. We can argue that our parents wanted us to turn out well because we are their children but how about those that made such immense contributions either by correcting us when we erred or by advising us when we were confused ( I was many times and still do) or the ones that lived a good and disciplined life and made it easy for us to see that these things are reachable. For me, I think this is why I can’t just live my life. It is really not my life. It is an aggregate of several deposits. Is it Friends that just believe you are a good guy when you doubt your worth? Is it a Partner that is convinced you know what you are doing even you really don’t know? Is it the kids that think you are a super-human and entrust their lives to you? All these people are the reasons why I think life is for rent and that is why this evening my focus is more on all these folks. I think it is worth hosting these folks in my next birthday **smiles**