Father’s day is a day set aside for people to show their appreciation for fathers and father figures. Father’s Day is usually marked on the 20th day of June each year, the importance of celebrating Father’s Day can never be overemphasized, as it is an opportunity to acknowledge wonderful men, who also doubled as great fathers to their offsprings.
This will be the second Father’s Day I will be marking without the most important man in my life, my first love, my confidante, my muse, my biggest cheerleader, my lover, my Father, my God, my everything; Christian Chinelo Okoronkwo of blessed memory.
You see, I have always had it in my consciousness the efforts that my late father always put, so as to be the best father he could be, despite his imperfections.
However, it took his passing for me to actually fully grasp the enormity of the sacrifices he gave for his children. Though, nineteen in total from three women. I was busy growing up, living and enjoying life (sometimes recklessly), being rebellious, as I was busy being independent-minded and not giving a thought to what my actions were doing to a man who wasn’t just my father but was also a human, with emotions.
Somewhere in my conscience, I assumed my father was a Superhuman (quite frankly he was for most parts of his life), I had always thought there will be time, in which I would somehow make it up to him, sadly and for the umpteenth time, TIME IS HUMAN ENEMY!
Over time, I have spoken and written about how great my father was to his children and even people who weren’t his children, many already know him even without meeting him because I don’t miss the chance to extol his virtues. It was indeed a privilege to have called him and still call him FATHER.
The photo below was captured from a section of his diary, you can see what mattered to him as a father, the basics that shouldn’t be taken for granted.
Because of the sort of father and man he was, I never knew what it means to lack because no matter how dire the situation may be, “Bad as e bad sef, we use crayfish do meat, we still see garri drink”. No matter what happened, none of us went to bed hungry, we never hawked in our lives, my father made sure we had everything we needed within his power.
I have no doubt I would make a wonderful parent because of some of the virtues I gleaned and learnt from him, plus there is one major thing I learnt from him, which will never leave me. It is to be contented with what I have, don’t go out of your way to do bad things or hurt people; my father was that good.
In conclusion, as we mark another Father’s Day in the calendar year, I’m using this occasion to not just celebrate my late father, but every single father out there who are doing their utmost best to not just further the cause of their children’s lives, but to also impact the society positively, I want you to know, we FEEL you, we HEAR you, we APPRECIATE you and most importantly, we absolutely LOVE you.
Thank you for your labour of love, we pray that God in his infinite grace and mercy continue to guide and prosper you as you leave your footprints on the sands of time, God bless you.
Nelly Sylva, a sports journalist, writes from Isolo, Lagos.
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