When we talk about gifts, certain key points must be noted. Gifts can be tangible things or a talent inborn in someone. For the sake of the prompt, I'm to deal with the tangible form of gift. Another point to note about gifts is that two individuals or more individuals must be involved. One can't give himself a gift, there must always be a giver and a receiver. So now we are cleared on these key points, let's get to the real discussion.
The most unforgettable gift I have ever received in my life is the radio I inherited from my Dad. Being the last child of the family, I spent many years with my parents. At age four, all my siblings left home for the city for greener pastures so I had to live alone with my both parents. We lived in a happy home because I am a very obedient and hardworking boy. I lived with my parents in my hometown while I was schooling.
A few months after I was promoted to grade five, the last grade before graduation from primary school, my mum had to travel. My eldest sister had delivered a baby and my mom had to visit her for the usual practice called “Omugo”. “Omugo” is a practice whereby a woman's mum visits her on her first delivery to help her take care of her first baby since she is new in the "business" of childcare. So Mum had to leave my dad and me alone.
When Mum left us, my dad and I had to manage life. We were bad cooks, we couldn't even turn on the cooking stoves. We had to manage the food Mum cooked for three days just to avoid going to the kitchen to try cooking “dog's food” in the name of food, lolz. We had to call in a neighbor to guide us on how to turn on the stove. I didn't know how to put on the stove because Mum never allowed me near the gas to avoid any bad news and Dad, felt the kitchen was for women not men like him. But he found out that he was wrong all those times.
Though mum left us, we were still three at home. Sometimes in school, my friends ask me, “How do you two survive in that house alone? I always answer them by saying, “We aren't just two in the house, we are still three”. And they would ask, “Who's the third man?” Guess my answer, “The Radio”. My dad's Radio was our third companion. Dad told me everything I needed to know about the radio, he said that was the first thing he ever bought with his hard-earned money. He said during his youthful age, any boy who owned a radio was a “big boy”. Ladies were most attracted to guys who owned radios because that made them look like they could be independent.
Whenever Dad and I go out to the veranda to sit and receive fresh air, we often sit side by side with the radio in between us. One funny thing about our third companion is that it's never tired of talking unless the battery goes down. So whenever my dad and I gists and tell stories and we get tired, we give our third companion the turn. But our companion had one problem, beak in transmission. Sometimes when their a break in transmission or we can't get the right frequency of the radio, our third companion makes us feel bored. In attempts to restore the transmission, I always pushed the long antenna in and out. We lived a cool life full of happiness and minimalism till Mum returned. The “Omugo” lasted for just three months.
A few years later after Mum returned, Dad began to develop some health challenges with the liver. He was taken to the hospital but he kicked the bucket at the end after everything was done to keep him with us. But before he took his last breath, he gave me a gift, The Radio.
Dad: My boy, don't cry, ok.
Me: …..sobbing with heavy tears oozing down my dimples.
Dad: When you get home, go to my room, climb the chair there and get up to my wardrobe. When you open the wardrobe, you'll see my radio. Take it, it's now yours, use that to remember me and I will always be there with you, ok.
After Dad passed away, it was one man down for me. When I got home, I headed straight to his room and took the radio. It's my best and most memorable gift. It's a gift I would never sell for even a trillion dollars. Anytime I remember Dad, I would always take the radio to the veranda where we used to sit together, arrange the sits and place the radio as it used to be.
I've missed that, his stories of adventures when he worked in the zoo about how he had confronted wild animals and all of that. His words of encouragement that I will become a rich man in the future and buy him cars are always in my brain every day.
I have vowed to never let anything happen to the radio, not even a scratch on it. I hope to also pass on the radio to my children and tell them it was from their grandpa. No other gift in the world can surpass the feeling attached to this Radio as it will always bring back memories to my brain.
Thanks for reading friends.
This is my entry for the #nexianprompts.
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