Weekend Musing – A Catch-up with Yesterday

Hey guys! How are you all doing? I’ve been busy, busy, busy 😁 — the last couple of weeks have been nonstop!

You might be wondering what’s been taking up all my time. Honestly? Everything. The kids, the magazine, and just life in general. It’s been wonderfully full, but also a lot.

I’ve been working on a few posts, but I’ll admit — it’s felt like a bit of a drag lately to actually sit down and write. Still, I’ve missed you all so much, so I just had to pop in and say hello.

School’s out for a week — yayyy! A little break is always welcome… although, let’s be honest, is it ever really a break? Like so many of you, I’m pretty much on duty 24/7, always in service of our little humans.

Today, while waiting for one of them to finish tuition, I took the other to a nearby park to pass the time. On our way home, he rode ahead happily on his scooter, glancing back every so often just to make sure I was still close behind.

Watching him in that small, tender moment, I couldn’t help but reflect on how different their childhood is from mine.

A quick peek at yesterday

I grew up in Ilorin, a city in western Nigeria — I know I’ve mentioned it here a couple of times. It truly was a beautiful upbringing.

Ilorin was (and I believe still is) a peaceful, friendly city. It felt like a close-knit community where everyone was connected in one way or another. We met at school, at church, or during tutoring sessions — our paths were always crossing.

And of course, there were the birthday parties (anyone remember “Brown Girl in the Ring”?). It was simple, joyful, and full of warmth. It really was such a special time.

Every Street Had Its Buster

Almost every family had a neighbour with a terror of a dog 😁. Ours was Buster — dear old Buster kept us on our toes! On slow, boring days, we’d even go looking for him, just to get a good chase and a burst of excitement. There was a “Buster” on nearly every street.

We walked freely from house to house back then — from the quiet streets of GRA to Tanke — offering a quick bow to greet parents in passing cars. You practically knew every car that drove by, and you had to be on your best behaviour. Even without mobile phones, news travelled fast. Somehow, the report would get home… sometimes before you did 😂😂😂.

The street was always watching. Those were the days when the whole village really did raise a child 😀

The Sweet (and Stained) Joy of Childhood

There were so many things that made growing up in Ilorin such an adventure! Most homes had sprawling gardens filled with fruit trees — mango and guava were favourites, alongside cashew, orange, and so many others.

Many of us became expert tree climbers. We’d scale branches to pick whichever fruit we fancied — or simply for the thrill of it (very much against our parents’ wishes!). Cashew trees were always the easiest to climb. Ironically, even those of us who didn’t particularly like cashews still climbed them anyway. Of course, cashew juice leaves stubborn stains on clothes, which meant plenty of parental disapproval when we got home.

Our days were filled with outdoor games — country game, suwe, ten-ten, fill-in-the-bottle — and when we moved indoors, it was Ludo, Whot, or even hosting our own dramatic beauty pageants. There was truly never a dull moment.

I could go on and on, I’m having some major nostalgia writing this, but a full post on Ilorin will be a post for another day. Music and dancing was also a big part of our lives then. My sisters had music books and I would spend more time learning lyrics than studying. You know the music from the 90s and early noughties are simply the best right?!

Dawn of the Millenium

I think things began to change in the late noughties. The world no longer felt as safe and carefree as it did when we were children. The once wide-open gates on every street were now firmly shut, and children no longer roamed about with little to no supervision the way we did growing up.

We no longer knew nearly every family on the street, nor could we recognise most of the cars that drove past. Life had shifted. Many of us had left Ilorin — some moved abroad for their studies, others attended universities outside the city and never really returned. And even when they did visit, it was different. Quieter. More distant. They often kept to themselves.

Somehow, the closeness we once took for granted began to fade.

That was it. Slowly, almost without realising it, we walked away from our sweet innocence and stepped into the unknown. We left so much behind.

The classrooms that shaped us — Chapel Primary School, St Joseph’s School, Chapel Secondary School, AbdulAzeez Primary School, Olumawu Primary School.

The teenage years that defined us — University Secondary School (USS), Federal Government College Ilorin (FGCI), St Anthony’s Secondary School…

Each name carries a thousand memories. Laughter-filled corridors, inter-house sports, morning assemblies, friendships we were certain would last forever.

The Childhood We Left Behind

We didn’t know it then, but we were standing at the edge of something — leaving behind a childhood that felt endless, and stepping into lives that would scatter us far beyond those familiar streets.

Most of us are mums and dads now, raising our children very differently from the way we were raised. We’ve evolved — that’s the rhythm of life. Nothing stays the same; it shifts, it stretches, and we adapt right along with it.

Our children don’t climb trees to pick fruit the way we did. We wash it, slice it neatly, and hand it to them. They don’t ride their bikes unsupervised like we once did (and oh, remember learning to ride without stabilisers? 😁). Many of them don’t grow up in bustling homes filled with cousins and friends wandering in and out at all hours. Truthfully, they don’t do a lot of the things we did.

But it is what it is.

I’m sure that one day, when they’re raising children of their own, their world will look even more different than ours does now. And they too will sit back, smiling, telling stories about how much things have changed.

Cheers to Tomorrow

While we can never return to yesterday, we still have today — and we have tomorrow.

So what memories are you making now?

Make the kind that truly count, because in the end, memories are often what we’re left holding onto. Try to savour the ordinary minutes, the loud ones, the messy ones, the quiet ones. Time has a way of slipping through our fingers, and once it’s gone, we can’t call it back.

Be present.
Be kind.
Be happy.

And above all, make memories that last.

From Mango Trees to Memory-Making

Ah, my darlings, isn’t it funny how life moves? From climbing cashew trees and dodging Buster to chasing after our own little humans today, we’ve travelled quite the journey. We’ve swapped wide-open streets for busy schedules, unsupervised scooters for carefully timed playdates, and yet… the joy of childhood — in our memories and in our kids’ laughter — still finds a way to shine.

So here’s my gentle reminder, straight from Aunty Lulu’s corner: cherish these moments, big or small, silly or serious. Laugh loudly, hug freely, and yes — make memories that will outlast the mess, the chaos, and even the grown-up “responsibilities.” One day, your kids will tell stories of their own adventures, and the cycle continues.

Keep your heart light, your smile wide, and your memories full. Life is too short not to.

With love, mischief, and mango juice stains,
Aunty Lulu

P.S Please feel free to share your fondest childhood memories — I’d truly love for us to reminisce together.

What made those years special for you? The games you played, the neighbours who knew your name, the little mischief you thought no one noticed, or the simple everyday joys?

Come along, let’s take a gentle walk down memory lane together 🤍😘.

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To Bimbo with Love