My dad is definitely the best man I know.
I know this because I talk about him a lot. I catch up with people from my past and they ask “how’s your dad?”. This question confuses me until I realize why.
I’ve always talked about my dad. I’m not sure how conscious I am of the way I talk about him. But I realize that people can tell how much I love the man by the way I talk about him, and they end up liking him too.
An old high school classmate told me last year that I’d always been a daddy’s girl. I didn’t realize that, because I somehow thought he was closer to my sister.
They had a relationship that I never had with him. I’m the last born, the baby of the house and he’s always treated me as such.
I think things began to change as I got older. I’m not sure how but I began to get to know my dad better.
Before then, he was just my daddy. The caring man who struggled to put food on the table. I grew up watching the struggles my parents had to go through to provide for us. You see, there was money up until the first few years of my life. So I maybe enjoyed middle-class life for about 3 or 4 years.
Then our house got burned, my dad had to forcefully retire from his job at NITEL and things went downhill from there.
There was never enough money but I got all the love that a child could ever want from my parents.
My earliest memory of my dad’s love was as a 5-year-old, maybe older (I can’t remember now), I’d leave the room I shared with my siblings to go sleep between my parents in their bedroom.
When there was no light, my dad would stay up all night fanning me and helping me scratch itches from mosquito bites. And he never complained.
I was bummed when my mum asked me to stop coming to their room in the middle of the night, lol.
My dad has always been a handyman. He still fixes things around the house, even when I tell him to call someone to fix them instead. I think that kind of rubbed off on me a little.
When I was in secondary school, I had just started taking physics classes when I decided to put the knowledge into practice by fixing the plug of an old iron. I knew my dad would be proud of me.
That night, I waited patiently by the door for him to return. I still remember his reaction when I showed him the iron. He had the same reaction he had whenever I brought home my report card (yes, I was a very smart kid, still am). He was proud of me, he told me so. And that made me happy.
He’s a great husband to my mum. The way he indulges her is both sweet and hilarious. My mum would go for political outings much to our (the children’s) disapproval and then come home to start complaining about body aches. Guess who would massage her? Yeah, my dad. We’d make fun of them but he wouldn’t care.
He still goes out to buy her favourite drink so that she’d always have it in the fridge. She tells us a story of how a man visited them when they were just newlyweds and met my dad ironing her clothes. According to the man, only men who have been “jazzed” by their wives would do that. My dad laughed and said it’s not true. He still irons her clothes till today. And mine if I’m strategic with my timing.
He’d cook for us (he still does), clean and prepare us for school so that my mum could go about her business.
My dad never complains about anything. I remember when my sister was still learning how to cook. My brothers would mock her for being a bad cook. My dad would rebuke them and assure my sister that she’d get better at it. He probably was the only one who ate her food that period.
My dad is sensitive and caring. I remember one time I had food poisoning. My dad couldn’t bear watching me go through so much pain, so he left the house around 5 am in search of drugs that could relieve my pain. We all knew that no pharmacy would be open by that time but he went anyway. He came back three hours later, with drugs.
He has shown this much care to my mum and siblings at different times of our lives.
Earlier this year, I went through a bad breakup. My dad would check up on me every hour to cheer me up, even read up my horoscope for that period, and told me everything would be alright. Lol, so sweet and hilarious of him.
When I got my first real job, my mum and siblings didn’t want me to take it because the pay was really small. My dad was the only one who encouraged me to take it if I wanted to. And every day in the first few months, he’d ask me if I was enjoying my time at the job.
There were days when this man would wait for me at my estate gate, when I closed late, just to make sure I made it home safely. He still worries when I don’t eat and worries about what I eat because of my sensitive stomach.
In addition to being the most caring, loving and understanding man, my dad loves to read. He grew up reading novels and has probably read the Bible from cover to cover 1000 times.
I love to listen to his interpretation of the Bible. I also enjoy sharing my books with him so that we can talk about them afterwards.
I enjoy talking about politics with him. That, and listening to his stories about his childhood and early adulthood, his parents, siblings and extended family. He’s currently the bond that holds most of his family together because he’s always there when they need him. Such a selfless man.
I don’t spend as much time as I’d love to with my parents, seeing that I still live with them, but when I do, I thoroughly enjoy their conversations. They reminisce about the old days and fill in each other’s memory gaps. I should initiate these conversations more often and record them.
My dad is always quick to admit his faults and open to learning new things.
Getting to know him, I’ve realized that I took after him the most of all my siblings. Of course, I took after his slender stature and complexion, but also his easy-going personality, his open-minded view of the world and his willingness to keep learning, among other things I got from his genes.
I could go on and on about how great my dad is, but if you know me well, you already know this.
I’m unapologetic about wanting to marry a man like my dad. I see the way he treats my mum with love, friendship and care and I definitely want that for myself.
My dad has taught me so much in my life and I’ve seen myself and my siblings navigate life in the ways he has shown us. He taught us to love and respect people regardless of who they are and to never be ruled by money.
I’m very grateful to have such an amazing man in my life, always in my corner rooting for me regardless of what I’m doing.
I’m grateful to God for blessing me so much with you Dad. And I pray to Him to keep you for me. To keep you alive long enough for me to repay you with all the love you’ve shown me all my life.
I know I can’t repay you but I’ll try and so help me God.
Happy Father’s Day to you Daddy. I love you so much.
