I AM YOUR DAUGHTER.....you are my dad.

My daddy, Engr Ademola Adeniyi. I just love you so much. I have vivid memory of seemingly irrelevant growing up moments with you daddy. I remember when I was in kindergarten (that school with red and white checkered dress lol) and I would get back from school, we ( you and i) would stand in a straight line in front of the television and match on the spot singing: we are H A P P Y, we know we are, we are sure we are, we are H A P P Y, happy!. Ok this must have been days you were either off duty or on night shift cos I am not sure how come you were at home when I got back from school. I recall too sometimes late at night, the very rare times when there is power failure in NEPA estate, you would carry me to sit on your shoulder, each leg dangling on both sides. Hmmm. And you would walk with my elder sister in stride to that expanse of space towards the 1st gate. We would laugh through and when we got there, we always delighted at the echo of our voices that seemed to come through from the trees across the fence. I remember when you want to wake me up from a short nap, either to get up for school (after the main waking up, lol) or in the evening when I dosed off on one of the sofas, you would sing this song:’ are you sleeping (2ce), Adebola. Morning bells are ringing, ding dong bell’’. Whenever I slept off in the parlor instead of going to the room, you would also carry me while holding one hand and one leg. Haahaa. I wonder if you did it for me to enjoy the ‘ride’ but it was always fun even though I pretended to be fast asleep. It was you who told us the story of the farmer who had a little dog named bingo. Yes I remember that. There were nights I would wake up and come knocking on your room door. I must have been between 4 and 6yrs at this time. ‘Daddy mofe mu ti (daddy I want to drink tea)’. You would take me to the sitting room, make a cup of cocoa drink, sometimes just water with sugar dissolved in it. lol and hand me a slice of bread. You would lift me up and sit me down on the dinning table and wait till I am done then take me back to bed. When I was much younger and would refuse to eat my rice with stew because ‘I don’t like pepper’, you would dissolve margarine in my hot rice. I recall once you even put okro soup on my rice and I ate it. I actually enjoyed it! I don’t know but whatever you served me I always believed was the best delicacy. Hahhaa. I always loved hearing when your friends would say how much I look like you. even our feet look same. The genetic flat nose cannot be missed. I would compare our fingers without you knowing and I always saw the similarity there too. You are such a wonderful daddy. You thought me to be contented with anything I had at every point in time. I remember when I was in the university and I told you that I needed a small fridge. You asked me how many of my friends had one and unfortunately non of my close friends did. So you asked again if they weren’t surviving without it. it was almost annoying because I knew you could afford one without a blink yet mummy had to persuade you before she went and got one for me. Because of your position, my friends always expected and thought I should always have a fat bank account. However, my monthly allowance was just enough to sustain me. As I grew older and wiser, I realize you were only teaching me to be prudent in spending and not live a flamboyant and extravagant life style. Anytime you wanted to call me in a sweet way, you would leave out the ‘Adebola’ and opt for Fauziyyah. I started writing very early even without knowing that was what I was doing. Heehee. I would do an on the spot essay writing in my primary and secondary school and my teachers would say things like ‘a very good on the spot work, I read your work and I felt like taking you to heaven; if I had money I would have published this work.’ Then I started seeing some of your write up. Some of your poems and I knew I got that from you as well. You are just one shinning example and with your exemplary character, sincerity and fear of Allah, you have really raised the bar high for your children. While growing up, you had zero tolerance for us missing our five daily solat. You taught me that only Allah makes anything possible. You taught me that the best route is the normal route no cutting corners. You are such a loving husband to mummy. you never crave what you cannot have. You taught me to believe in the powers of prayers. I always felt and I still feel I have this special connection with you. I love you so much daddy and I hope today is a wonderful birthday for you. I pray Allah make al janna (paradise) your final abode. Happy birthday daddy.