It's my birthday!

I have so far been overwhelmed with birthday wishes and prayers from my wonderful family & friends… and more are still flooding in. To say thank you, I thought to share images from my past and perhaps get you to have a good laugh.

You see, I used to be so thin that my Dad, on a visit to see me in boarding school, once taunted me in Igbo, “Nnaa, nke a idizi ka ehi afo na-asa”… meaning that I looked like a cattle suffering from diarrhea. Though my scant knowledge of stock raising, meant I had not set my eyes on such a cattle, my imagination did the rest and the message sank in. That joke, coming from my Dad, was particularly galling and he felt my ire.

Today, I am nicely filled out, a world apart from that image of the past and more likely to be likened to one who just left an Efik fattening room. For those who don’t know, the fattening room “Mbobi” is where young Efik girls in South-South, Nigeria are prepared for womanhood through a rite of passage that includes being hand-fed with heavy diets of carbohydrates, in confined isolation. You get my drift?

Ok let’s get serious here… Today, I celebrate God’s goodness and mercy towards me. I am eternally grateful to God for bringing the message of life to me through his man; Pastor Chris and setting me on the path of excellence. I thank God for my beautiful wife; Uche and for trusting us with the gift of our three lovely children. I thank God for my family, friends and acquaintances who have been an immense blessing in my life.

Enjoy my transformation from a Michael Jackson wannabe, to a fresh faced undergraduate, to a young banker and now to a young old man. **Wink**