Tribute To My King Daddy Dearest

This is so difficult to write because it makes it so real that you’re gone from me physically forever. I know for an absolute fact that you’re in heaven grooving to the trumpets, drums and harps played by the Saints and Angels and I can only imagine your ever cheerful smile as you take in the sights and sounds of it all. 

You were my anchor who kept me rooted and loved me completely when it seemed no one else did. Through your tough and disciplined nature, you loved and shielded me from hurt and pain. I’ve got so many of your traits flowing through my body and I’m the better for these. These have shaped me into the resilient yet loving and lovable person I am today. You were the original Survivor, the great Lion with many lives who dared and defied death on so many occasions, yet who always came out victorious. 

Your positive disposition to life and situations were absolutely exemplary. Your genuine care for others and your desire to make peace with and for everyone was amazing to behold. A true King you were, through and through. You embraced your royal bloodline and carried yourself with such grace, endeavoring to carry all others along on your journey to becoming better and established. 

Oh, my daddy, my daddy, you’ve called to check in on me daily for the past four years, without fail. You’ve encouraged and prayed for my children and I daily. A few days ago, I instinctively picked up my phone to text you but then I realized I could never do that again. You’re gone from me forever daddy. 

I promise to keep pushing through life and overcome whatever challenges it throws at me (although I know you will march up to whoever’s in charge of the test-of-faith department up there and convince them to cut me some slack because I’m your precious baby Princess, your dearest Bukenkebukensin who deserves some soft life at this point) 

I promise to make you prouder than I did while you were with us. I promise to love you more in my heart and tell your great grandchildren about you and the legacy you left behind. I love you dad, and I miss you a great deal. Sleep well King Daddy, your memory lives on in our hearts. 

                                                  

Dance With My Father Again

I never really got it, the pain of losing a parent but I do now and truly death stings. 😩My dearest King Daddy has gone to be with the Angels. It all still feels like a dream to me, and I often find myself wishing I could literarily turn back the hands of time and sit with him for a full day, maybe even get at least one dance in with him. 💔

I really do not know what to do, how to feel, how to move forward from this pain and the crushing heartbreak et al but I am definitely taking things one hour at a time and praying fervently that God grants me strength to get through this. Not one day at a time but an hour per time because, clearly, now I understand when they say grief comes and goes in waves.

I feel God had somewhat prepared me for this period ahead of time because the events and experiences I have had since the beginning of the year and me retracing my steps back to God are what has held me up since my King Daddy passed. There are no words to describe the numbing pains and feeling of helplessness but just knowing that God is my ultimate source holds me up and keeps me going through it all.

                                                   

We laid him to rest on the 8th of November and it was beautiful. He would have loved it and been very proud of us. God, I miss him so bad it hurts. we all miss him. Truly, only God can comfort the grieving because nothing anyone says to me penetrates enough to soothe me or helps me makes sense of this tragedy that's befallen me. (This is not to undermine your unwavering support o) Yes, he lived well and impacted lives but the huge tragedy here for me is not being able to reach him whenever I want to anymore, ever again o. Ah! To be able to rewind time just a wee bit....... 😞😭😫

                                           

💔

Who The Cap Fits

The past couple of weeks have been absolutely exhausting for me as a woman, even more so a black woman, as a citizen of Nigeria and as a human being as a whole. I have watched several videos and read several gut-wrenching stories of inhumane acts on fellow human beings especially women and they broke me. I have seen such cruel unfeeling racist attacks on blacks and the retaliations. I have read accounts of sordid rapes and the unthinking and absolutely mad defense of rapists by rape apologists that has made my blood boil as I literarily saw red in fury. I have tried not to let all the madness going on around me get to me mentally and that in itself is a day's job in one.

Bob Marley's lyrics in Who The Cap Fits keeps ringing in my head as I sadly realize that nothing has changed since the decades ago that he wrote that song. Truly, man to man is so unjust and it's hard to trust anyone these days. I look at my kids and I worry about them. I pray evil is forever far from them and while I thank God for giving me strong and sound kids who can hold their own, still I fret and worry. It does feel like the whole world has gone absolutely bonkers.

How do you deliberately jail an innocent person and go home to sleep peacefully? How do you lure a girl, lady or woman and violently rape them? Age is no barrier for these rapists as I have read of rape cases in the past week that involved females of all ages ranging between SIX MONTHS old to SEVENTY EIGHT years old!!!!!!!!!!! How does the tears of another, whether caused by you or caused by another, not move you one bit? How are you comfortable in the face of injustice, racism, pain and murder?

What has dulled the conscience of human beings and drained their milk of kindness?

I don't have all the answers to how to fix things and make the world right again. I can only do my part and if we all do our parts in our own corner of the world, perhaps, just perhaps the world can become bearable again. Do not ignore the things happening now, thinking they are far from you. the world is getting smaller and the internet has connected us all, one way or the other. Today it's them, tomorrow it could be you or your loved one. you are as complicit in your silence as are the perpetrators.

Do right by humanity.

Life Is Too Short Not To Leave A Solid Legacy Behind

Hi everyone, I know it's been ages since I posted but my life has taken turns even I never quite fathomed. Be that as it may, my heart is always on my blog here. I miss writing, researching, responding to #DearBuki emails, etc. 

I really do miss you all. 😊💝💝

A couple of days ago, I came across a piece of music that moved me to bits. I was driving, upset, very ticked off and super stressed out when this song called "Mercy" came on and for some reason I couldn't explain, it moved me to tears. I was so overwhelmed that I actually began to worship God and pray to Him, because He has been my rock throughout my life and the ups and downs that have come with it. 

The singer's raspy voice, the lyrics of the song, the passion with which he belted out the song and the overwhelming presence of God that I felt cannot be put succinctly into words. Today, I decided to go and search the song out on YouTube because I couldn't get it out of my head. After a short search, I found it and listened to several times. Next thing I knew, I felt the urge to go through the comments and see if there were others who felt deeply touched my the song the way I have been feeling.

Imagine my shock when I read from the comments that the young man who sang the song had passed away last December and was buried earlier this year. 😭😢 I couldn't believe what I was reading so I went to my Twitter timeline to ask and sadly, it was confirmed. Further research revealed that Will Adiks had been murdered by armed robbers/assassins as he got into PortHarcourt, Rivers State late last year. 

33 years old Will Adiks Adikibiayeofori was a song writer, gospel singer/rockstar. He was the first child of his parents and he had 5 siblings. He was shot on the 21st of December last year and lay in a coma for hours before passing away the next day. I haven't read yet that his killers have been caught or brought to justice. 

I had never heard of this young man until today but the legacy he left behind remains. I wondered how such a passionate singer who sang so beautifully and gloriously to the Lord could have been taken away so abruptly and cruelly. I've concluded that perhaps in crying for mercy, he found it in death. They do say the good ones don't last long on earth. 

What sort of legacy will YOU leave behind after you're gone? There is no better time to build a legacy for yourself than right away. Nothing is worth leaving unpleasant memories behind when you die. People will always remember how you make/made them feel, so do right by people ALWAYS. 

I hope where Will is right now, he is making beautiful music over there. Rest in peace young man and thank you so much for the lovely gifts of songs you gave to the rest of us. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Stephen Keshi Passes On

On my radar this morning, Stephen Ikechukwu Keshi, Nigeria's former Super Eagles coach, captain and football icon has passed on at the age of 54-years after complaining of heart beat irregularities. He is said to have died in a hospital in Benin City in the early hours of today, even though he had no prior heart condition.

Only two men have ever won the Africa Cup of Nations as a player and coach and Stephen Keshi is one of them. Over the 20-year period of his footie career, he played briefly in France, Belgium, the U.S.A and in Malaysia.

He is survived by his four children and mother, as he lost his wife to cancer just last year. What a tragedy.

Rest in peace "Big Boss" Coach Keshi.