MY TRIBUTE TO YOU, BROTHER... I see you in the stars`

 

Every day, the reality that John is gone becomes more and more true. It just happened so fast. How could it be? I have not had enough of you... every single day I see you whenever I am alone. You were a friend then a brother. From Oyefia compound in Orogun to Government College, later Lagos, Ughelli, Port Harcourt and finally Asaba, fate always put us together. As close as we were, we were also very different. I somehow live an, I don’t care life, but John was a perfectionist and neat. Thank you for taking care of me while we were in Lagos.

As a Corper in Guiness  Plc. Ikeja, he carried on like an aristocrat. He barbered his hair at Spikes, one of the best barbing saloons in mainland Lagos then. If he bought a shirt, trouser or shoe it must be designers. In fact, it was through him that I learnt the meaning of designers. His briefcase was aristocratic. While I patronized Tejuosho market for my stuffs, John shopped in Allen Avenue, it was not about having the money. It was about his perfection. He believed in quality as against quantity. Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

His perfection was in everything about him, which led to his neatness. He was neat to a fault and enjoyed doing everything by himself, because that is the only way, he can achieve his desire. His dresses were always well laundered with good fragrance. Whenever, I entered his car, I teased him that the car is cool for picking girls, because it was always neat with good fragrant smell. If he drove out and there was stain to the tyres, he made sure it was cleaned up immediately.

But here we are John is no more. Only God knows why. Now, we must embrace the pain and burn it as fuel for our journey, believing that he that conceals his grief finds no remedy for it. And I ask: why do we feel pain when we lose those we love? I think the true answer is because we believe that we cannot be happy without them. It is not what happens to us that cause us to feel pains; it is what we say to ourselves about what happened. 

 Now I see you in the stars… Go well my dear friend and brother, till we meet to part no more. Adieu!