The yorubas say eni ti o ba mor inu ro, a mor ope da (anyone that knows how to think/analyse will know how to give thanks). I am approaching my 40th birthday and I can only be grateful. Prior to age 5, I only wanted to be a clean Naval officer, Airforce Officer or be like my Dad (wearing shirt and tie, working in a fine company and eating two pieces of meat). At age 5, on one sunny afternoon while my aunty was bathing me, she alerted my mom of a likelihood of an anomaly which resulted to me being diagnosed of hernia. Whatever that means, I didn’t know but I found my troubled parents taking me to the hospital. I was put on the operating table where I was induced for the surgery. I remember regaining consciousness to see my lower abdomen heavily band-aided as I watch my mom scream hallelujah seeing me regain consciousness despite we were muslims. I was oblivious to whatsoever had happened. I just knew I was on the operating table. I was going to spend the next two weeks in that hospital with a lot of my parents friends coming to visit me. On one occasion, Mrs Olurinde came to my sick bed side and while I saw the concern in her face, I told her (as naive as I was) “don’t worry about me, I am going to enjoy the life of my head here on earth. Looking back, I understand their worries. With poor health facilities in the 80s, coming through an operating table wasn’t a small feat. You can take it for granted now.

It was later that year -1987 that my late Dad all of a sudden developed HBP (over 2000 on one sunday afternoon. My mom couldn’t drive and Tope Balogun’s dad was the one that had to come to her rescue to rush my Dad to the Hospital. He was going to survive that terrible illness and live another 24yrs. I wondered what a year 1987 was like for my mom. Little wonder when I had a dream 1988 I was covered in a white shroud and casually told my mom because I didn’t really know the implication of that dream, I still remember her fierce reaction.

Fast-forward to 1988, I came home from school on September 15th and saw a couple of family friends in the house. It was my dad’s 40th birthday and thanks to his survival of the terrible 1987 sickness, my mom felt it necessary to have a surprise 40th birthday party for him. My Dad was a king Sunny Ade die hard fan howbeit, also very conservative. If my Dad had as much money as he wanted, I think he would have invited KSA to his Birthday. It was on that day, I told myself I would have my 40th birthday party too.

However, while this has been a dream for me since I was 6yrs old, in the last couple of months, I have contemplated the importance of having a 40th birthday party. I got to a point that I told myself I would pass especially when I consider that it is my mom’s 70th in a couple of months. I consoled myself by saying I would sacrifice my birthday party for my mom’s 70th but I hate to live with regrets. I want to do every good thing I ever conceived especially the ones I conceived as a child when there were barely no ulterior motives. So I decided to go ahead with my party.

I have often spent some of my birthdays being melancholic but I don’t want this to be about that. As I reflect on the last 40yrs, I can only conclude I am a product of a lot of people that I have allowed to influence me. At an early age, my dad made a good impression on me. He introduced me to the likes of Mr & Mrs Olawale, Mr & Mrs Eyiowuawi whom I also consider as parents. My write up on Quiet Influence details a bit of that. I became a teenager and my older brother introduced me to Paul Adefarasin and my life took another dimension. Somewhere in that mix, I came across Tony Olise, who sat me down almost every evening teaching me about faith in God. In the course of my 40years journey, I have come across different types of people. I have tried to keep in touch with all of my friends and I can proudly say I am in no way self-made (My own life is for rent). As I step into this new age, I am very much aware of some of my unfulfilled dreams but I am not dwelling on those. I am flipping the page of my journey. Some move in leaps and bounds but I am grateful to God for every millimetre that I take towards my destiny because I am persuaded that I will fulfil my Destiny. I am looking forward to the next 40yrs if the rapture doesn’t happen.