HE LIVES

Growing up as my father's daughter must be my best childhood memory. I had a number of friends at that time but my dad beat them all. He was my best friend and my first teacher. He taught me patience, respect, how to love and be loved and even though sometimes (a few times, I must say) those teachings came with hard slaps on the face, I feel very much privileged to have been bred under his wings. He schooled me at home and made Mathematics a little simpler. He taught with sparkles on his face and every time I scratched my head over a sum or a division, he would fetch fruits and sticks to the table and make me understand. It is interesting that he even bought me a fully-packed mathematical set, with a neatly drawn map of the world atop of it. It was in shades of blue and I carried it around everywhere I went. I could never risk losing it to some thieving child. A tiny Collins English dictionary also came my way at the same time the mathetical set was brought. It was a great privilege to a child growing up seventeen years ago in my area to possess those two items at just the age of seven. The pride in his face when he saw how lovingly I handled them was something I never wished to betray and so until to this very day, that tiny English dictionary still exists among my favorite books, neat and without any kind of a patch. Heaven knows what happened with the set, all I know is that I had it all the way to my fourth grade. My father was also the basic foundation of my interest in books and writing. I loved his taste for books. He was an amazing writer too. I have stumbled upon the letters he used to write to my mother during his days in the army and my heart melts with every word. They were artistically and beautifully written. I could read the love between them just by looking at the writing. The distance between them was a long one but his words covered it and they met hand in hand, in his neatly written letters. 

He was a humble, lovable man with lots of pretty fun gifts to offer, the very reason why I call him Nice Pap'. He was the foundation of almost all the good things that happened in my childhood, I can still taste the delicacy of the army biscuits he brought home for the first time when I was five years old. The way he carried me around his neck at the stadiums during football games are breathtaking moments I still smile at whenever I recall. The visits to the museums and trade fairs, camping and playing on the grass, experiences that I tremendously enjoyed and that will forever wander in my head. Every picture we took and the stories behind them always make me nostalgic. The clothes he bought: male pants, shorts and t-shirts, my eldest sister and I almost grew up a 'boys' with him until mum took us in with her. We were so admiringly close, we even shared drinks together, he fed me three sips of beer and coke cocktails sometimes when he was drinking at home, then enjoyed watching me make faces and spit furiously at the bitter, loathsome taste, perhaps that was his way of putting me off alcohol. My childhood was great, thanks to him. I was accustomed to fairness and wholesome love. He showed and gave me the best love a father could give a daughter. Growing up as the second born in a family of four children was sweet and exciting. 

My father held our family together. Even though the nature of his career demanded that he physically stayed away from us for the better part of the year, he always made eventful appearances that made us always feel close with him. He was not only my father but also played the same role excellently with my son too. He became a father figure to him for the shortest time that heaven allowed it and I am grateful for his presence and support, even though it took him long to absolve me for conceiving before marriage. We live because he lived and even though he is not present with us, the memories of him will forever live with us and we celebrate the life he lived. We are grateful for the time we shared Nice Pap' and may the good Lord continue granting your soul a peaceful rest. 

A tree I shall grow to honor this day. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL WHO ARE FATHER'S.