Leaving my parents for the first time to NYSC camp was a scary experience.

I used to always love the idea of travelling alone, my friends always saw me as “beware of dogs” meaning someone that is under overprotective parents. I constantly kept talking to my parents about how i’m a man now, and i don’t need too much protection from them again, because someday i’d have to cater for myself. It became a popular argument at home, and most times I was always on the losing side, not that i could put up much of a fight anyway.

It was time for me to go to NYSC camp, part of the excitement for me was that I was going to another state, and i’ll finally be on my own to experience life by myself. My parents tried hard to convince me to stay in Lagos, but i declined, this time i needed to win the fight, i couldn’t keep being on the losing end.

To cut the long story short, I was given Jigawa. It wasn’t exactly what i wanted but it was better than staying in Lagos. My dad took me to the airport, we parted ways and I boarded a plane to Kano. While I was on the plane i came to realise how big this was for me, this was my first time on a plane all by myself, I looked to the left and to the right and I couldn’t recognise one person. I was filled with an oxymoron of feelings, I felt happy and sad at the same time.

I took a bus from Kano to Jigawa, and the further I moved away from home, the more the realisation came in that I was going through another phase in life. Then, I started to actually miss home, and I wondered how I would survive one year without knowing that my parents aren’t far away from me, all the roller coaster of emotions ended up making me shed tears in the bus. It was an interesting and scary journey for me. Bringing me to the actual realisation that someday i’ll leave my parents and cater for my own family.

I’m happy that I was able to feel all those things, and have all those emotions, because moments like that can define you as a person. Although, I couldn’t stand Jigawa, so, after camp I re-deployed back to Lagos, or could it just have been an excuse to get closer with my parents, realising that things won’t be that way for so long?