It's my birthday today! You know, I tried to think of my favorite birthdays as my birthday drew near. Well, it was a pretty simple answer for me. For you to fully comprehend what made my answer simple, I must first let you know two things. We can call them the two major premises.
First Premise:
As the third born out of four children, I believe I suffered most when it came to food sharing, especially when our parents were not around. My Elder Sister and my Elder brother were “The Alphas.” They obviously were going to get the biggest share and since my younger sister was the "last baby", she obviously had to be treated well, or else we were all in all trouble. I’m sure we all know what last-child privileges are. Now, I'm not saying I was maltreated or anything, but if you come from an African home, you would surely understand me.
Second Premise:
I am from a poor background. Many people might not want to mention this openly; for me, I can because I know that my background taught me so many things in life. My upbringing taught me the value of saving money, respecting humble beginnings, and most significantly, if someone asked me to define God's grace and favor, I would simply respond, "Look at where my family came from, and where we are now. That is the definition of God's grace and favor." More stories will paint a clearer picture of my family's situation back then. Stories such as "My Dad, the Quintessence of a Real Hustler" and, "Mummy, the Avenger" would do great justice to explaining the situation.
Well, let's get back to the subject of today. You see, when I was a child, the only thing I prayed for each morning was that my Dad would have enough money that day to be able to give me one cedi for school. Now I'm sure some rich kids will say "Seriously, one cedi, at least say five cedis". Well, let me tell you what one cedi could do back in my lower primary days. With one cedi I could buy four pieces of fried yam, one full sausage and I'll still have some balance to buy water to properly clear my throat. One cedi satisfied us, and I'm not talking about the normal satisfaction, I'm talking about the type of satisfaction that you will have to burp before you can sit down because you are too full. I guess you now understand why it was my daily morning prayer.
Well, to answer my question, my favorite birthdays were my childhood birthdays. It made the clear cut because of one tradition my mother established when we were kids. As kids, my mother promised that no matter how tough the situation was, on your birthday you get to eat as much food as you wanted. As kids, we were so eager to celebrate our birthdays because of this tradition. I never wanted my childhood birthdays to end because after chewing two chickens, one egg, and one sausage on my birthday, I knew the next day I'll be hustling for "half chicken".
You know growing up, I realized a lot of people got angry when they did not receive gifts from friends and loved ones on their birthdays. Recently, I have been hearing a lot of deaths, a friend's uncle, sister, mother, and so on. My Father’s wedding best man, unfortunately, died two days ago. Such news has made me value the gift of life more. My brother, my sister, focus on the gifts God has blessed you with, and you will never be angry when you don’t receive gifts from human beings. When I say God's gifts, I'm not only talking about money, beauty, intelligence, health, and others. For some of us, God has been very merciful to us. Some of us have taken risks that should have destroyed our lives (for example, my boys and I) but we came out okay. Someone else would take a similar risk just once and would be doomed for life. And to the friends and loved ones who are supposed to give the gifts, even if you don't have money, please find a way to make the person feel special.
I've really been praying and fasting for this year's birthday, and I know it's going to be one of the best birthdays of my life. I still have 18 hours to find out how and why it will be special. When my prophecy comes to pass, I'll surely come back here, and tell you my story which would be titled "One of the Greatest Birthdays of All Time"
The next story comes out on Tuesday. Stay Tuned...