All my life I have dreamt and imagined how I will live my life when I get to college. I had very strict parents whom I have lived with all my life, and the only way I could break free and have the freedom to do whatever I wanted was when I gained admission to college, and this made me look forward to gaining admission into college even more since I felt like I was in bondage and needed to be free but did not know they were strict for a reason, and despite being strict, they made sure that I had everything I needed, and I never came back home and did not get food served on the table waiting for me to return.
There are many things my parents did that I underrated and did not value; all I needed was to call out to them whenever I needed help, and they would come running to save the day, but I never thought things would be different when I get to college; it never crossed my mind that there would be a need to learn independence and how to get things done on my own.
"After high school I will just join the army, and probably after enlisting in the army I might consider furthering my education at a college under the army." Emmanuel said on our way home after a football match.
"As for me, I will further to college before anything else. I want to leave home also my love for civil engineering won't let me do anything else." I responded as we continued walking.
After high school, while so many of my mates relaxed and stopped studying, I studied even harder since I wanted to gain admission to college and would not want the fault of not getting into college to ever be from me. My hard work paid off; I sat for the JAMB examination (Joint Admission Matriculation Board Examination), and I did well, and all I had to do was wait to be offered admission. It was taking longer than expected, and I started to give up until my sister called me.
"Hello, Kachi, I just checked the admission list that was released recently, and guess what?" My sister asked over the phone.
"What, just tell me. I hate to guess in situations like this, and I don't want to be excited for the wrong reason." I responded.
"Well, congratulations, you have been granted admission to study agricultural and bioresources engineering." My sister said
"Wow." I said in shock and excitement "But I applied for civil engineering; why are they offering me admission to study agricultural engineering?" I asked after it crossed my mind that the course I applied for was different from what I was offered.
"You know the Nigerian educational system; when you get to 200 level, you can switch back to the course you applied for, so just accept the admission." My sister advised.
"Thank you so much. So when can I resume so I can start up my registration process?" I asked since I was eager to leave home.
"In a week or two, I will let Mom and Dad know when so they can start planning on how to send you off with all that you need." My sister said as she hung up.
I was filled with excitement; at long last I would be leaving home and would now have the freedom to do whatever I wanted, to go wherever I wanted, as well as return home at any time I felt right, and there wouldn't be anyone to question me about anything. I wanted to be a free bird, and a few weeks later I was in school. I ran around to get my registration done so I could start lectures immediately. I also paid for my accommodation so I could have somewhere to lay my head when I was done running around to get things done.
Every day I leave the house in the morning and come back home late in the evening with no food on the table and no one to ask me how my day went and if I was able to achieve my reason for leaving the house, and it was at this point it dawned on me that indeed a new chapter of my life has started, a chapter where I had to learn to be independent and be able to get things done on my own and not wait for Mom and Dad to get it done for me like they always do.
We often don't value what we have, and when we lose it, we realize that we were lucky and that what our parents did for us was for our own good.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Excellent friday.
Thanks for your kind words and for stopping by.
What our parents do for us, sometimes we see it as a bad thing, but when we leave that is when we will realized it was for our own good.
Exactly, sometimes we don't know the value of what they do until it dawn's on us..