Sunday December 10th 2006, I woke up and sluggishly got off my bed, Power Holding Company of Nigeria was holding unto the power again, I had to prepare for Church in Semi-Darkness but nevertheless I had to go to church. It was Pastor Bimbo's Memorial Service and I wondered what the day will bring, little did I know that the day had one more surprise to unfold as it passed.
Pastor Taiwo didn't allow for any teary eyed service or sad countenance rather we celebrated Pastor Bim's life on earth as we all knew it. It made me wonder how I will be celebrated at my demise... I made up my mind to live well while I still had the chance. In the course of the service my phone rang, but after checking the caller identification, I quickly switched off the offending handset,the call couldn't have been important, I thought to myself as the caller was an old course mate from the University, I chatted with him on friday, so it couldn't be important, If it was he would have told me about it on Friday "I reasoned"
After the Service , I got home, cleaned up the house, Ironed my clothes and settled down to a good movie, as I was beginning to get engrossed in the plot of the movie , my phone rang again...the caller Identification should have warned me that it carried dreaded news.. it read "private number" and that usually fills me with foreboding, after I identified the caller at the other end (another course mate and friend from the University), his next words made my heart skip a beat " Mercy brace yourself, we have lost someone" as I asked him who it was my mind began to scan the faces of all my course mates from the University, people I read with, fought with played with and laughed with..then he dropped the name that sent me reeling he said "Mercy ID is gone"..
All I could think of was "I didn't get to say goodbye". He died in pursuit of a dream, a dream that will never be realised. I wondered how he felt when the robbers attacked the bus he was travelling in, when they asked him and the other passengers to lie across the road, what was going through his mind as he hit the asphalt?, how did he feel when he heard the engine of the approaching vehicle.. what were his last thoughts??? A dream shattered , a candle snuffed in the prime of his youth, our very own Idowu Adewunmi is gone.. I couldn't cry, my heart was too heavy yet the dam refused to burst....
I remember your laughter, the way you teased no end, the way you tackled courses with so much ease and no care in the world... Idowu, I cannot ask God why He allowed it, I cannot ask Him why He allowed your dreams to be cut short in an instant. All I can say is that I am grateful for the life He allowed you to live albeit short, It touched my life and enriched it.
