Every child believes their father is invincible.To a large extent I believed he was immortal till I touched his cold brow at the morgue the day before his burial. He was stone cold. I had been wrong. My father was a mortal man.
I remember my father for many things but today I choose to remember the following.
- My father imparted to us a reading culture. He always had a newspaper, a book or magazine near him. I recall finishing his forbidden James Hadley Chase collection with him being non the wiser.
- He had his strong views that he stuck to. He believed Dr Joshua Nkomo had been shortchanged and did not belive the Unity Accord thing. I know he would have had a mouthful to say in view of the exciting things happening in our country today.
- He did not believe that one’s spiritual level should be measured by one’s frequenting of church and the only two times he went to church was on a wedding day and they day we involuntarily took him for his funeral service !! That was my dad. Yet in all he espoused God and always humorously intimated that he had a life pass to the Pearl Gates.
- My father suffered no fools and took no prisoners. When he ventured his opinion he made sure it was weighted and he was economic with words hence most people thought he was antisocial.
- He was an intelligent man with a soft heart. All his nieces adored him and he had nicknames for everyone. Surprisingly he had a very short fuse !!
- He sacrificed for our education. His favourite statement was that the best legacy he could bequeath us was an education and we a really grateful to him for that.
Then one day on 24th November 2005 my father had an asthma attack and passed on before medical help could reach him. He slipped away quietly and no one knew he was gone till a neighbour turned to where they had sat him in the yard against the wall to tell him an ambulance was on the way.
Too late. He had departed.
There are many conversations I recall.
There are many incidents I recall.
His legacy lives in us.
Today we remember our father, Dickson Luke Phindela Ncube 17 July 1940 – 24 November 2005.
Fondly remembered.
[…] http://phindelamuses.com/2017/11/24/i-remember-my-father/ […]