My Dad was the guy who...

I miss my Daddy!!

He died in 2001 at the age of 62. Even at that age, he was the guy who still used to run down the stairs and get up every morning to do his Yoga routine.

Right from when I was very little, up until just before he died, he would still make the funny yoga facial expressions that would cause me to squeal in frightful excitement and run out of his room.

My Dad always smelled nice. Kourous by Yves Saint Laurent!! That was his fragrance.

He was the Charismatic, tall, handsome and fair-skinned man that was always immaculately turned out. My Dad never missed his manicures and pedicures and after a while even assigned me the exclusive role of doing them for him. It was always a joke around the house that I was his 2nd wife.

He was the guy who when I was struggling with my grades in Secondary school, would leave his busy schedule and come to school and find out from all my teachers why exactly I wasn’t doing well. He never made me feel bad about myself regardless of how many times I would fail, but would instead, boast proudly to anyone that cared to listen, about how magnificent I was as an Athlete.

My Dad has 10 kids, yet he had a special way of making each and every one of us feel as though we were his favorite. My siblings and I can argue non-stop, each claiming that they were his favorite, because of the special and unique bond he formed with each of us.

He’s the guy who would stay up late at night helping my immediate older sister write the Speech that caused her to win her Law Student Union elections by a landslide.

He’s the guy who would help another sister see the vision of what a few years down the line would be like, when she was having challenges at the beginning of her career and wanted to give up.

He’s the guy who would jokingly boast to us about how he kept no secret from my Mum apart from when he had girlfriends!!

He’s the guy who never turned anyone who came to him for help away without giving them something..anything.

My Dad’s gift to the world was his heart.

A heart that went out to the weak, the poor, the oppressed, and fought valiantly to give them hope for a future.

A heart that gave generously of itself at ALL times, irrespective of if it was getting little or nothing in return.

A heart that was blinded to the flaws of everyone it encountered and addressed each person according to his/her potential.

A heart that loved till the very end.

Even 9 years after you’ve been gone Daddy, you’re still very much a part of me. I see you all the time in my dreams. You’re alive in my dreams; laughing, talking in your usual excited manner, comforting, encouraging. You’re alive Daddy!!!

I’ve been through so much since you’ve been gone. A lot of which I know you’d be disappointed in me for. However, in all of that, I’ve never forgotten something you always said.

Remember when we had to walk past you in church to go take the Holy Communion?! And you’d watch us..your girls, as we walked by?!

Then later. You’d say to us, ‘When you walk, no matter where you are, always hold your head high.”

In spite of everything I’ve been through Daddy, I never forgot that. I’m still holding my head high, Daddy.

Thank you Daddy. I love you.