Change, Time And Season......

 

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, harmattan is in the air again. To my readers outside Nigeria, harmattan season is one of the seasons we get here in Nigeria. It's kinnda like winter but with the chill, dryness and dust rather than cold and snow. Waking up is during winter is a real chore because all you want to do when your alarm goes off is to snuggle deeper into your bed and beneath your duvet. Bathing with anything short of hot water during the harmattan season takes real bravery or simply lack of access to hot water. 

I remember the harmattan seasons I spent as a boarding school student without hot water to bath, nashurally, and the really brisk baths we used to take then. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, it was a rush to take a quick bath with icy cold water and the early morning breeze of the harmattan blowing on one's skin. Making a dash to the safety and comfort of one's towel without slipping was always something to behold.

One thing I learned from my experiences in boarding houses is the ability to be fiercely independent come what may. Now that I'm a parent myself, I very often wonder how my parents had the "guts" to release us into the unknown for terms at a time without suffering high blood pressure from worrying about how we were faring. Of course life was easier and far safer back in the days (I think), compared to now. I would love for my children to experience life as boarding students (and of course relish the freedom that comes with having one's kids away from home (really? Straight face). I could almost hear my parents laughing and sniggering as I typed that, because they feel I dote on my kids too much to let them be apart from me for so long. Well, letting them go to boarding house would benefit all of us in the long run, no? It could just be a sort of therapy repositioning me from being such a worrier to a warrior. Yeehaaaa!!!! LOL

I recall how brave and independent I was a young child. The first boarding house I attended was in a different state from where we lived. It was about a 4-5 hours journey by road. As excited as I got about the new environment, people and new lifestyle (read that as freedom from my parents) I was still very homesick, so imagine my delight when I found out there was some sort of political crisis going on in the country. My little mind couldn't really understand what the annulment of an election meant or how much it meant to some people. All I realized was that people were going gaga over the decision and the entire country was thrown in chaos. Parents who lived in the state were rushing to the school to pick up their children, while those of us from farther states were holed up in school, anticipating our parents' arrivals. 

I remember the school organized a very long bus to take some students to Lagos such that their parents would pick them up from the drop-off parks. Bear in mind that this was 1993 and all we had were landlines and not much mobile phones at all. I couldn't get through to my parents and I felt hopping on the bus to Lagos was a brilliant idea as it would save them the trip out of state. My good old older sister thought otherwise and preferred to stay back in school until they came to pick us up. I wasn't having none of that, because I wanted an adventure and |I also wanted to go home before the country changed its mind about the crisis and declared all activities back to normal. I recall now, with a smile, how she reported me to the principal and how I totally defended myself and convinced the poor dear woman to allow me on the bus to Lagos. Hehehehe, I would have been a helluva lawyer if fate had let me pursue that dream.

Anyways, little me left Ondo State for Lagos State (without my big sister, she chose to wait for daddy to come pick her up) and boy did I have an adventure. LOL. I got to Lagos safe and sound and almost gave my parents heart attacks upon sighting me. They were confused, worried, shocked, bothered, angry, and bits of all other things you can imagine. I felt like a cheeky hero, somewhat. Then of course they realized I was safe home and they had to go get my big sister and got really pissed off, hahahaha.

I've always had a bit of an adventurous streak in me and I kindda hope my kids have a more toned down version of it (places hand on heart in fear). I would bring my children up to face challenges squarely and rationally, and hope they learn how to be independent and assertive.

So as I got out of bed to bathe my daughter on this cold harmattan morning and delightfully watched her reaction to the chill in the air and listen to her grumble about the change in weather, I'm reminded of my younger days and her future. Truly, the only constant in life is Change itself. :)