I REJOICINGLY LOOK FORWARD TO A MAGICAL MEMORY MEET

God was with us at USS Enugu

His insight oversaw and saved us from youthful exuberance

His bleeding, our protective sacrament

Our cries and waves of laughter

He heard and acted on with sticks and carrots

He was a taste we savoured and pray to do the same as we meet.

 

Many of us who were in Uwani, the stony field of academic leadership that produced excellent professionals in all fields of academics, acting, writing, and sports; freighting us far and wide in the world today, would never see our old classmates again without reunions of some sort. So, reunion events such as the Surulere meet to provide a chance for us to catch up with old mates, get to know ourselves as adults, and reminisce about memories from school days.

Reunions are vital times, providing rare opportunities to reignite and reunite our humanity to our spirits through sight, dialogues, and laughter, all of which I pray to add comparative meaning to our lives’ experiences and objectives. Reunions reinforce common bonds. It regenerates our commonality, interests, and friendships, reinvigorates our spirits in appreciation of life’s differences as well as parallel journeys, and could open doors to uncommon and prospective possibilities. At the Surulere reunions, we have the opportunity to take notes, compare notes of family, life, jobs, children, and where it has happened, speak of grand, and great-grandchildren then, if need be, debate too.

Reunions are magical trips down memory lane, back to a time when innocence was a virtue, and the youth had meaning, with the ambition to succeed, seen as given. Where growing up was a journey of riding on a platform of raw, and blinded courage facing challenges of uncertain futures with glee, a leap of faith or hope of achieving fruitful and positive outcomes where uncertainty we may face stayed faced, unfazed.

Sometimes, the memory can go vague depending on the longevity but telling stories with spices; the adornment of stories with pepper salt, etc when done with the best intention to draw good-naturedness laughs are all part of the reunion gratification. Again, at such a meeting, faces and people at first may not look familiar and names may be mixed up or forgotten, but do not be bothered. Trust in the angels of reunion to bath away tentativeness, and after the initial hugs, and handshakes, it often turns into amazingly joyful hours of reminiscing.

Prayerfully, by the time we meet, and have wrapped ourselves in the good feeling of renewed comradeship, and exchanged phone numbers, please do endeavour to stay in touch, for, in reality, in remembrance of those gone, we probably won’t see each other again until perhaps, the next organised reunion. Let’s endeavour to celebrate lifelong friendships formed at the best formative stages of our lives; where we had common learning experiences, and human values and honed how we have turned out today. Remember this, ~In the context of the universe, time, and the omnipotence, as Infinitum of God, our presence, occupation of space as existence is but like a spec; a flicker, a single heartbeat.”