We
all have birthdays. No matter how young we are or how old we get, we still have
birthdays. The only difference from one person to the next is that while some
choose to celebrate the day they were born with much pomp, noise and merriment,
others choose to keep it on the down low and not draw attention to the fact
that they’ve added yet another year to what they consider an already large
number. I however, fall under a completely different category and predicament.
You see, my birthday always has and always will (and I do mean ALWAYS) come
during the season of Lent. So while I yearn to celebrate my birthday on the day
itself, I can’t. For one, it would be wrong to celebrate anything during a time
that is meant to be about repentance, sacrifices and the cleansing of one’s
spirit, soul and body. Also, it wouldn’t be a very fun party to attend when
most of your invitees are abstaining for some kind food and/or drink and are at
their most sober, best selves. So every year, my birthday goes by with just
family and friends popping by to wish me and having the teensiest bit of cake
that I force upon them. Of course, my friends never let me forget that every
year I skip out on giving them a massive treat and/or party and I’m not
complaining either!
This
year though, probably thanks to all the money I’ve saved over the years from
not having big birthday bashes, I decided to treat myself to a trip to Dubai to
do something a tad different on my day. I decided to go sky diving! Not that
I’m an adrenaline junkie or anything, but I just wanted to strike some things
off of my bucket list. Of course, this wasn’t met with much support from anyone
– neither my immediate family, nor my extended family or even most of my
friends for that matter. They all seemed to be in complete agreement to just
blindly disregard the fact that I was doing it with a highly recommended and
reputed company who do hundreds of skydives a week and have helped give flight
(pun intended) to the skydiving dreams of everyone from the legendary
footballer Ronaldo and ace racer Michael Schumacher and his wife to singing
sensations Usher, Neyo and Ellie Golding, amongst a host of others. For all
those near and dear to me, I was just paying a heavy price to jump to my
assured death!
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Right
up until the morning of my skydive, (which was also my birthday by the way), I
kept getting calls and messages that included reactions that spanned everything
from “Oh my God! You’re still doing it?!? What is wrong with you?!?” to “Think
about what you’re about to do. It’s still not too late to change your mind!”
And after each person came to terms with the fact that I wasn’t going to change
my mind, they’d wish me a happy birthday and sign off with a “I’ll be praying
for you”. Now you know how they say that a crowd is better heard than a single
person? Well case in point – I guess they all prayed a little too much; so much
so that the man upstairs just couldn’t ignore them. The winds picked up, the
sand began to fly and the weather was termed bad. In other words, my dive was
cancelled due to bad weather and just could not be rescheduled before I
returned home.
But, apart from the disappointment of not being
able to do what I set out to do, I haven’t been deterred. I am still determined
to do this, at some point in time (though I would prefer sooner rather than
later). And next time, there’ll be no telling anyone of my plans. So older?
Yes! And wiser? Maybe. Maybe not.
