My Birthday, Appreciating Life and Writing

It was my birthday last weekend. At the beginning of the year, I kept on remembering that I would soon hit the "quarter of a century" mark and I thought it was so scary. I kept thinking: "What have I been doing since I was born? Have I made my mark on the world around me? Am I accomplishing my goals? If I was to review my life thus far, is there a legacy I can leave? Is my life and inspiration to others? Am I really fulfilling my purpose?" and so on. I was discussing these questions with my sister one day and she said, "You have to look at the things you have achieved so far and count them as blessings, then figure out the next set of goals you want to aim for". That cheered me up and inspired me, so as my birthday approached, instead of having a panic attack, I was able to relax and celebrate the totality of my few years of existence on the planet. And I look forward to many more! I get that feeling of "make time count" now, because every second adds up so quickly that I know I must utilise the rest of my life well. Well, because I don't know how much of it I have left you see. Funny enough, I actually feel good about growing older every year now, but maybe you should ask me again in ten years.

Putting all these sober reflections aside, I planned to let my hair down and have a good time so I had a party! It's not everyday one gets to reach a milestone in life is it? So I invited hubby, a few old friends (and some new ones too!) to celebrate with me, including two of my favourite girl bloggers: Mimi and Aloted. It was my first time meeting Aloted because we narrowly missed each other in Nigeria during the Christmas/New Year period last year. We all had fun at the bar on Saturday, eating, drinking, dancing, taking photos and generally having a great time. I got loads of presents too and I can truly say I had a fabulous birthday party. (I have a wishlist if anyone still wants to get me a present .. lol).

I don't know if this is a sign of growing older, but I've noticed that I'm now appreciating the people around me a lot more than I used to. It's not as if I've ever taken my family and friends for granted, but there is definitely something different. I had a conversation with a friend of mine recently and afterwards, I felt so blessed to have her in my life. She's one of the people that I know will give me the last clothes off her back if I needed it. Then my mum came to visit as well and I have also started appreciating her more. Then my sisters... they are like God-sent angels and they have been so supportive lately. Then there's my hubby, it seems I now look at him through different eyes. He truly is an amazing person and I'm blessed to be his wife. I hope I never forget that in all things, it is the people that love me and the people I love that have the most impact in my life.

I'm still working on my writing and it's so slow! I'm now appreciating all those books I see on the shelves in stores. I can now imagine the writer, taking time everyday to write each word down one by one. I can visualise how many times they wrote something and tore it up because it didn't sound right. I can picture them editing and re-editing their work before they got to the final draft. I can see them adding or taking out a character or sub-plot. Gosh I now know that writing a good story is not as easy as it looks! Sometimes I wish it were easier and I could just transpose all the thoughts in my head somehow and it would make sense to anyone that comes across it. But I can't. I have to physically write it out and read it out to myself until I get it right. And even then, I should be open to criticism.

Anyway let me not bore you off my blog with my rants, who sent me eh? It's getting warmer in England now (finally!), the sun is out and so are the miniskirts and shorts, ice-cream and lunches in the park. I'm out of here to enjoy the rest of the daylight. Who am I kidding, I'm off to my class! Hope you enjoy the rest of your week and you have a lovely weekend!