I remember exactly eleven years ago, I woke up from a terrible nightmare. I remember getting up from my bed and heading to the kitchen to prepare breakfast and head out for lectures when the call came in that what time will i arrive at OOUTH. That’s when the reality hit me with the force of a sledge hammer banging a nail into a concrete wall!
Still, I fought it and told myself, “its all just a bad dream, common, you just want to go visit him and check on his health, at-least you saw him yesterday!” I made the journey down and until i was led to the morgue and saw you cold stone on the gurney that the reality dawned on me, you were indeed gone for good.
I remember how you tried to communicate with me while on the bed in that one month in which you marked your 70th birthday, and how you wrestled to get up and get well. But alas, it seems God had set the timer and it was winding down for you. And when you gave up the struggle, just few minutes after i took leave, no one else was there. Everyone had been planning to come the next day to visit you, but it was not you they met, it was a shell they met.
You were Man and a man in all ramifications, and you were a Father all together. If one thing we all miss about you, its your genial jokes, your down to earth attitude, and your stories. I particularly missed our conversations on history, politics and creation. hmmmmm they were insightful communications.
Yes, you had your differences with everyone and had your moments, but the fact remains, you are our father and we call you daddy.
Its been ten years since you departed, and we, your children have forged ahead stronger, closer and wiser. The yearly Christmas gathering at Ijebu Ode and filled us with memories we relish always, and some memories that go deep for some of us and we only get to hear the stories, quite interesting. We laugh heartily at these memories and we mimic you on what you would do in certain situations. lololol.
Its with fun memories and as i type this, its with a smile on my face, the laughter we all share as your children, the blood that binds us together.
Adelubson, as we call you unofficially, Daddy Officially, continue to sleep wherever you are. You are sure missed.
Olubiyi Aderibigbe (November 17th 1925 to November 30th, 2005.)
Written by Sam Aderibigbe
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