...It’s so easy to imagine that life after medical school
would be totally different, that continuing to be friends
after medical school would not really be necessary. Friendship itself
has no survival value, but you’d find out that it’s one of
those things that give value to survival. That is when, and here I’m talking about the future, when we can be truly proud
of ourselves as a class, as individuals, of a long history of
friendship, and look at
ourselves again in fifteen or twenty years time,
look at what we’d been able to achieve, and remember that time
when… the time when that friendship was born, at that moment when
one person said to another, What! You too? I thought I was the only one!”
That time, it would be good to realize, once again, that
you are not alone.
Seye Abimbola, Metamorphosis, OAU medical class of 2007 yearbook
Those were his concluding
words, words written 7 years ago. I have read this same words
over and over again, at various points in
my post graduation days. I realize that we do not need fifteen to twenty
years to appreciate the friendships built in the course of our days as medical
students, many marriages have been consummated among our classmates, members
of our class becoming godparents to children born to our fellow classmates. I
have become deeply entrenched in the period of post graduation and seemingly we
are all drifting apart, threads holding some of us together, is been strained
by distance, family and work, the joys we bask in, and the trying times we fall
into at various periods, has made the landscape so variegated for us all.
Distance and time, is trying the friendships built, internet and mobile phones,
are helping reduce the probability of these friendships from becoming none-existent.
I will remember the
time, when we had to leave our friends behind, I will remember the time when
those we left behind caught up with us again at the altar, I will remember the
time when we had the opportunity to sit
together at the table, laughing together, sending off one of our own
informally, filling each other with information we would never have gotten
wind off. Patting each other on the back and spurring ourselves up to greater
achievements.
We take time out to
celebrate each other, to rejoice with each other and mourn with one another.
Its is a season that we await, that is yet to come, the season when we shall
all gather once again, when the roll call shall be made, aloud, each one
answering to our names, with or without partners having little ones bearing our
names, when we have made our parents grandparents and our siblings uncles and
aunts.
Years keep passing, one day at a time; we hear of each other’s
progress which gladdens our heart. Some are totally out of circulation, one
person is at least in touch with someone who knows where one person is. The
joyful opportunities we have once in a while to see each other, swap stories
share a drink and hug and offer each other a bed to lay our tired head once in
a while.
Really things have changed, so many things have been
rearranged, dreams hopes and aspiration, plans have taken a knock yet we keep
going never giving up, goals have been met many yet to be met. None is
stagnated we as individuals have come a long way to stand where we stand today,
we have stories to tell, times when it became so tough and we asked ourselves
if we could still continue, nights we have kept vigil for academics, for family
for our children.
Today its 7 years we all parted ways as a class, flung to the
farthest part of the earth to take root and flourish. We have sown in tears we
shall reap with great joy, our sacrifices for a better tomorrow shall not go
unrewarded. The dreams we yet nurture shall bloom and grow and yield fruits in
abundance.
I remember specially Bobola one of us who died long before his
time. This piece is specifically dedicated to his memory. To you all out there
I salute you, male and female alike you guys inspired me in no small measure
and still inspire me. I will always be glad I was a once your classmates and I
till date cherish those times we may have taken for granted. So to the many
more journeys we shall embark upon, to better days ahead, to greater
achievements and to good health I say CHEERS!
PRems/@Greatise
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