Hello hi,
First of all, I would like to say a big thank you to
everyone who made my birthday special with the birthday wishes, calls, prayers,
gifts, presents, and more importantly, their presence in my life whether from a
close or far distance.
Turning thirty years old is commonly referred to as
a very important moment, especially for women; some people actually call it the
big 30. Honestly, I have no idea why and I hope to find out soon; I’m still new
to the game, as a matter of fact, I am just 2 days old into it since my
birthday was April 24th. Maybe it’s because many age groupings start
with 30 e.g. 30-45, or maybe it’s because one’s body’s metabolism is expected
to slow down or perhaps, it’s because this is the age at which more modern
women start to reproduce or because women automatically fall into a higher risk
group of maternal complications during pregnancy (too much health research in
my head!). Regardless of what it is, something magical and new is expected to
happen when one turns 30. Some people feel like it is a good age while some
dread it; as for me, I had a lot of bitter-sweet moments in the months
preceding my birthday.
At first, I could not stop talking about it once we
got into the year 2018. I whined about how I felt like I was becoming “old”,
how I had not made any real plans for the age, how I had not achieved certain
goals which I had made for the previous years, how I was not sure of how to
celebrate my birthday – whether to have a party, or a quiet dinner or travel
somewhere far by myself. I thought about doing something new and crazy,
something that would shock those around me but being one of the most monotonous
people on earth, it was hard to come up with anything novel. A colleague and
friend of mine suggested getting drunk for the first time in my life but nah, I
immediately thought about acute liver failure. Ooh! maybe I could have a one night stand! But I considered the
risks involved, whether I used protection or not; for example, what if
something went wrong and I got pregnant or caught an infection? What if he was
a stalker or he made a sex tape of us? What if I became emotionally attached to
him and then, became the stalker? Or what if he ended up being the brother or
cousin to my future husband?! I knew I could not get through with it so I gave
up. Someone once described me as “too careful as a human”, I guess they were
right. The next thing I thought about was shaving off my hair; that sounded
like a good one especially in this #wakanda era. It had been ages since I cut
my hair and it needed some regrowth so this could be the time, I said to
myself. I could cut my hair and have a photo-shoot.
So I got ready mentally (or I thought I did) and I
told my friends and family. I arranged the photo-shoot for the weekend before my
birthday and the plan was to cut my hair a day before but first, I had to take
off my braids. However, I had some meetings on the day I was to loosen the
braids and ended up not doing so until the morning of the photo-shoot. I still
booked a haircut appointment for that afternoon and moved my photo-shoot from
morning to evening. Just before going to cut the hair, I developed cold feet. It
was a really bad one, similar to the type you hear about brides or grooms
developing just before their wedding. I was panicking and felt unwilling to
part with my hair of several years. I needed some words of encouragement so I
began to call my friends and family; I called at least 10 people at a stretch
but nobody picked up. It was weird because it was on Saturday midday and
usually, most of my friends/family members would pick up around that time. I
continued to call until it was past my hair appointment and that was how I did
not cut my hair. Yup, I chickened out and so I ended up taking photos with hair.
It was not what I had planned but it did not turn out bad after all (pictures
below).
As I got closer to my birthday, I was beginning to
fall into denial and trying hard not to think about it until my good friend
called to ask me to list 5 material/physical things that I would like as a
birthday present. It took me about 10 minutes to think of a single item; it was
very hard for me to think of anything I needed and even the things I ended up
saying were things that I was not even sure that I wanted them badly. It was at
that moment that it dawned on me on how blessed I am and have been. Of course,
there are some non-human gift items or things that I want or feel like I need
but to think that I had every material thing that I need was a pure testimony
of God’s love for me and my family and I felt a sudden surge of gratitude. I
was no longer worried about becoming 30 and instead of thinking of un-achieved
goals, I began to count my blessings over the past 29 years. I had received so
much including the gifts of life, great friends and family, having a PhD, my
travels to over 20 countries in 5 continents (except Australia and Antarctica), having lived in 3 continents, having my first official audition for a commercial, improving on my
makeup skills (still not perfect but at least now I don’t look like a clown
when I do my makeup J) and many more including things that
may seem otherwise from a blessing such as recently embarrassing myself by
crying in front of my supervisor and a few others (it’s gat to be the hormones
from becoming 30!), getting out
successfully from relationships that were not meant to be, and having and
surviving my first car accident (I sincerely hope that is the last though).
After reminiscing about all of these, I felt truly
happy to become 30 and on the morning of my birthday, I knelt down, smiled and
exclaimed to God “Yay, I am 30 years old today and I am a grown woman! Thank
you!”
My goal on my birthday was to look pretty, have ice
cream cake and have a good time with loved ones and those were the things I did
thankfully. Right now, I am just waiting excitedly for more beautiful and new
blessings to come and I pray for grace and favour always. However, I have to
say some things never change for me though (or at least have not yet), such as
the rule of eating my name inscribed
on the cake all by myself J
Thank you again for the birthday wishes.
Please
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