Trip Round The Sun.

Today is my birthday. The last one on the fourth floor. What a ride the last nine years have been. I will save that story for next year when I’m starting my fifth decade. Maybe I should unleash a book ama. I see folks on social media declaring to themselves ‘Happy birthday to me’. I find it odd to wish myself a happy birthday. It’s like since no one is celebrating me then I should remind people it’s my born day by wishing myself a happy birthday. That line is usually followed by ‘another trip around the sun’. Anyway, we live in a free world so to each his own.

I have shared my birthday for the last six years with my blog and that gives me great joy. Six years ago I began rambling here in an attempt to keep sane. Writing became an outlet for my mid-life tension and frustrations. It is another year around the sun for this blog hehe. So happy birthday lucasmaranga.com. I have enjoyed sharing this day with you.

Sometimes I don’t believe that I have posted an article every Friday for the last six years, well apart from Christmas Fridays when wifi disappears and rare times like next week when I will be climbing Mt Kenya. Yes, I’m back on the mountain again. I’m often asked how I have managed to write for this long. The plan has just been to ensure I have a story every week. Live, observe, write. I had no plan for how long it would run and where it would end up. I still don’t know, six years later and it’s ok. It helps though that muscle memory is forming and that makes it easier to keep writing. It also helps to be a good observer of life and to read continuously. A lot of content keeps emerging.

Just when I thought I have joined the big boys club I realized I’m still a long way off. Sunny Bindra has written more than 10,000 articles. Bikozulu, my writing teacher has done it for about fifteen years I think. My halftime dad, Mike Eldon has the oldest column in the Business Daily (about 20 years too) The patron of writing for me was Yusuf Dawood who wrote until he couldn’t write any more. He passed away recently after having run a weekly column in the daily nation for the last four decades.

What gives me great consolation is how Dawood started. It was all by accident after speaking at a Rotary club event. Kwanza he was a replacement speaker after the main one was a no-show. See how accidents can turn out so beautifully. The editor of Nation newspaper then happened to be at the event and was impressed by the way Dawood spoke. He offered him a column and forty years later Dawood shared his life with us. How cool is that? He was a surgeon who also operated on our minds and outlook on life using his pen. I’d love to leave such a rich legacy of stories. I believe I can one story after another.

For the last six years, writing weekly has been therapeutic. I feel like I enter a space that frees me to share what’s in my heart and mind openly. Awkward conversations when written form beautifully. That’s part of the feedback from my readers. Folks, we each have a story that we can and should tell. We are spoilt for choice on how to do that. Blogging, vlogging, and all the social media apps. Choose what works for you and tell us your story. The best part is when I meet someone who shares that one of my articles helped them progress in life. Makes this labor of love worth it.

When we put ourselves out there the universe makes space. My musings have led to other engagements which have been very exciting. All I had in my hand six years ago were random thoughts and the ability to form them into a story. Oh plus my old laptop. Folks, what do you have in your hand? Put it to work and see the magic unfold.

Forgive me folks for I will disappear next week. After summiting Mt Kilimanjaro last year, I committed to climbing Mt Kenya. I last did it when I was half my age and that memory has faded. Let’s see how the mountain treats me now at double the age hehe. The view from the roof of our continent at Kili was magical. I look forward to being up this mountain that’s next to my favorite small town Nanyuki. Both my feet and camera are itching. Expect some stories and photos from this expedition. Doing it during easter is also spiritual for me. That I would get closer to Sir God as I reflect on what my furious forties have been like and the formation of the fortune fifties loading. Plus climbing a mountain is not a bad way to mark one’s birthday. See you on the other side of the mlima folks and have a reflective Easter break.