Remembering Remi: A Tribute To My Father

Daddy…

Where do I start?

You would have been 72 years old today, so let me start by wishing you a happy posthumous birthday.

The past few weeks have been like a dream, one in which I have been vacillating between reality and disbelief.

As we concluded the rites of committing you to Mother Earth, I looked to my friend and said, “So now I am fatherless…”

I had always dreaded the day I would lose a parent. I wondered how friends and acquaintances who had lost theirs felt; needless to say, now I know.

I’m not certain I have come to terms with reality; the reality that my siblings and I will never see you in the physical realm again. But I know you would have wanted us to be strong in the face of what has happened.

And we are trying, dad. We are trying, even though it’s undoubtedly the hardest thing we have ever had to do.

But I reckon today’s not the day to slip into melancholy. It’s one to celebrate the exemplary life you lived.