Everything & Anything

To my brothers and sisters - Ayo, Ovesi, Oziofu & Onimisi. We all cannot believe that Opani is not physically here with us any longer; that we cannot pick up the phone to call him, to tease him about him missing Mummy or to just ask him how he is and listen to his anecdotes about life. In the 30 days he's left us for that one way trip we all must make, we have been in shock and consumed with a myriad of emotions - sorrow, grief, panic, fear, joy, pride, regrets, confusion and gratitude. I doubt that any of us really believed we would ever have to do without him; that a day would come when we would have to talk about him in the past tense (I am still unable to do that though); that a time would come when we would have to rely solely on what he taught us because he would not be around to advise us on what choices to make. I know it sounds crazy, but we have to do away with the grief and the mourning. We have to remember who he was and what he would have said to us. I doubt he...

This is by Ovesi, brother mine. The grief & sorrow will ease, and as Yemi says, you will adjust to the "new" normal. I am beginning to understand what she meant. Love you, kid brother: I am not sure where to start. My Father, Opani “Tuturutu” Akerele (that was his preferred moniker) passed away on August the 5th 2010. I don’t know how to talk about it. I don’t know how to begin. I know how much I miss him. I know that a month later, I still cry myself to sleep some nights. I know that I still try to call him sometimes. I know that when I want to do something, his approval is still very important to me. I know that his text messages and voice-mails will forever be on my phones. I know that if I miss him this much my Mother misses him even more. I have read all kinds of articles about how to deal with the loss of a loved one and I am deeply disheartened by what I have read. I am scared that one day I will not remember the sound of his voice or his laugh. If that day eve...