Jodi
Pilcout in her best-selling novel Handle with Care wrote “I wondered about
the explorers who sailed their ships to the end of the world. How terrified
they must have been when they risked falling over the edge; how amazed to discover,
instead, places they had seen only in their dreams.” For me, Growing up in Nigeria was very
different from what the media portrays as life in Africa. It was a mix of
cultures and influences (both local and western); listening to music from Fela,
Tuface and Asa while mixing it up with music from Bruno Mars, Bon Jovi and Kanye
West, watching CNN and watching NTA (Nigerian News). But as the years passed I
realized that watching and listening could never be as real as being there, and
so were my dreams - dreaming could never feel as good as accomplishing them. I
believe that is the same way the explorers Jodi Pilcout wrote about felt,
actually seeing the world they had only previously seen in their subconscious
minds. That is the way I want to feel before I die, having accomplished my
dreams.
The
first thing on my bucket list is to meet my mentor Chinua Achebe, this is a
dream which is very unattainable because Chinua Achebe died last year but if
the concept of life after death works in my favor then that means death would
not be a barrier but a bridge toward completing my bucket list.
Another
one of my big dreams is to be as good a photographer as Ansel Adams or Alfred Stieglitz.
I have always had a flair for photography since I was able to hold a camera and
going into professional photography either part-time or full-time would be a
dream come true.
I
was that kid in the neighborhood who would always mix up a bunch of food and
try to convince my friends that it was the new cuisine I had created. Or, I was
the kid who spent hours in front of a computer screen trying to figure out what
kind of big software I would create, or who would spend endless hours trying to
write a novel that would get national recognition, Yes, I was that kid who
wanted to be famous somehow responsible and Yes, I am still “that kid”, and it
would be a great joy to me if I could somehow invent something that would be
used all over the world.
If
life is not lived well, according to what an individual defines as “well” then
it is wasted. I believe so much in the French saying “La vie est belle” which
translates to “life is beautiful” so the last things on my bucket list are to
enjoy my life well and to recognize that every life is in fact beautiful no
matter how small it is. I hope to complete these things before I die.
"We only live once but if we do
it right then once is enough”- Mae West.
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