I Am Grateful For My Father

Today, I'm grateful for my father. He made a lot of sacrifices, shielded my siblings and I from the ills of the society till we "got out of hand". Lol.

My dad traveled a lot. I'm not sure he had a formal education but he wanted that for all his children and he put in a lot of effort. I believe his experiences shaped him and I am glad that they did. When he saw one/any of us brilliant (in academics), he planned for his/her future. He sold a couple of his lands to further our education.

I wanted to travel alone to my home town in 2008, my dad was against it but the adventure in me wanted that experience, I also wanted to see my namesake who was also my grandmother. I know now why my dad wanted shielded us. The truth is in the fact/reasons why people from my place aren't proud of where they came from.

A couple of times, he asked me for the magic in remaining employed or changing jobs and I'd laugh. If you are reading this and you don't know by now, let me shock you; I grew up closer to my father. Lol.

I remember going to my hometown; sick and confused in 2012. I'd had it with Lagos and it's people so I thought I'd take my parent's advice by joining them in the east. While Mumsy was planning a blind date/marriage for me, my father asked me "what do you really want to do? Marriage or school." I told him my plans. I didn't see my self married in 2012. I wanted to work, I love the office environment and I wanted to study at the same time. He asked me a lot of questions and I surprised the two of us with my knowledge of the National Open University.

Seeing slim green snakes (called AKA; worshiped by some villagers) crawl aimlessly in our compound only reinforced my "I'm not made for the village" belief. My dad paid my first tuition into NOUN,  Enugu. He wasn't angry with me when I packed my "bags and baggages" back to Lagos the following month.

He told me on phone late 2014 that he was unhappy with me. I won't forget our conversation. He was sick and I didn't know, didn't even check on him when I traveled home. Being a workaholic but missing my family, I took just 3 days off work to see them in December 2014. When I heard that he was terribly ill, I couldn't leave my job to go see my dad. I kept wishing and praying he'd recover till he died.

His death shook us all, waking us from our rosy dreams. We thank God that he'd raised a replacement in his stead but I will give a lot of tithes to have my dad alive and with us.

There are lots of steps we have taken in the past four years that would have been avoided if my dad was alive. Lots of journeys/experience we would never have been on if my dad was here with us. I still miss him.

The people who said that at 89 years old, my dad was old, have not seen Genesis 6:3 where God said that we will live to 120 years. They also don't know my strong father. Moses wrote that scripture and at 120(Deuteronomy 34) his eyes were sharp even before God buried him. David wrote 70 in the book of Psalms and died at 70 years old.

Thank you Jesus; for giving me a father like Chima Okike. He helped shape my life. If your father is alive, you should be grateful.