It is Father’s Day today and the wind of nostalgia is busy blowing my emotions in diverse directions. From missing my late dad’s presence to a bowel of great memories letting loose in my heart, the bottom line is I miss my father so much and wish he were here to celebrate this special day with me and the family. Happy Father’s Day my awesome Daddy! I will always love and appreciate you a million times over. Thanks for trying your best to make us happy. I pray your lovely soul keeps resting in perfect peace.
Although my dad has been gone from this earth for twenty-eight years, it seems like death struck only yesterday and left behind today’s sting! I wish I was cognizant of the fact he wouldn’t live on Earth forever. I would have made the effort to fulfill my dreams for him. He was kind, very loving, gentle as a dove, youthful at heart, a movie buff, and had a wicked sense of humor. While my mother was the disciplinarian, my dad was the coolest dad on the block – easygoing and understanding of my teenage tantrums. He related with us on so many levels and was very approachable. We could talk to our dad about anything.
Although my dad was a medical personnel, he was a great teacher and took so much delight in helping me and my siblings with our school work and homework. I remember us surrendering a written essay to him most days during Summer – we got rewarded for the effort. His red pen had a way of circling grammatical errors and autographing our papers with the word “rewrite.” He had a ritual of tackling a crossword puzzle and writing in his diary unfailingly every morning. Some of his well-written diaries are with me and from time to time, I read them and end up in tears or laughter. He had beautiful handwriting as well.
My dad (Dr. A. A. Oyairo) – College graduation picture –My dad loved to travel abroad for pleasure and work. Back then, he would return with beautiful pieces of clothing for me and my siblings. I remember a particular pair of jeans he bought and brought back for me from Brazil. It was so unique with a silver line on the side. I fell in love with it almost immediately but it fell out of love for me as it was too small for me. What a nightmare! I stewed in regret for many days and kept asking my dad why he picked the wrong size. I remember holding on to it for quite a bit before grudgingly letting my cousin take permanent ownership of it.
My dad never got the chance to see me play the role of a mother to my children. We never got the chance to talk one on one as adults. He missed my 30th and other landmark birthdays. He never saw desktop computers littered in almost every home talk less of a laptop. He never saw the advent of Skype, Zoom, iPad, iPod, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, and so forth. He never saw a driverless car or even might not have believed such a technology will ever exist. He never had the privilege of a cellular phone in his possession. I am sure he would have had my number on speed dial. He didn’t get the chance to experience so many of the advances that have materialized in the last two and a half decades. Thankfully, he never experienced the Coronavirus pandemic. Alas, death showed up unexpectedly on October 13th, 1995, ripped our dad from us, and changed our lives forever. Hmm, it is well with our souls.
For those of you that have your dads, nothing beats celebrating him at every given opportunity. Give him his flowers while he is still alive. Let him know how much you love and appreciate him for the known and unknown battles he has fought for you. After all, he is responsible for your presence on Earth. Let Father’s Day be one of the many days you celebrate and cherish him because tomorrow is not promised. Trust me, I know this first hand.
To all the wonderful dads out there, I wish you a very Happy Father’s Day and pray you will celebrate many more Father’s Days in good health and peace with your loved ones, in Jesus’ name. Enjoy!
May Oyairo is the Publisher of MannaXPRESS.
