A Survivor's Party

Photo credit: Forbes

Parenting is by no means an easy feat so that is why I've been writing about my parents parenting us. I really wish I could ask them one or two things this minute and also say a big "thank you" to them for giving their all to each child. 

My sons do their best to stay on course but sometimes I feel like getting physical with them. Being a parent to young adults is a full time job that requires a lot of talking, doing and praying. 

Sometimes when you threaten, you carry out that threat. And when you pray, speak out your request over them to God and let them know exactly what you expect to happen in their lives. I've returned their phones and they are abiding by the T&Cs for now. 

If I should grade the different ways of parenting, being prayerful will earn the highest point. Beatrice always prayed for us and after she passed Ferdinand upped his prayer life and stood in the gap. He understood that he was the only parent and should pray for us more to cover up for mother.

His Rosary was his companion and he held on to it till the very end. After he passed, I took back the pink Rosary I gave to him when I stayed with him in the hospital in Enugu and whenever I hold it, I feel father's presence. 

In those days when Nigeria was safer, some of the Eke's children went to school in the North and it was always an emotional experience waving them off to a very long journey from Enugu to Gongola state.

I wonder how our parents were able to do that; they never went for visiting days because of the distance and it was always a good bye armed with a lot of provisions till the next holiday.

I remember vividly that Saturday morning when one of the friends that became family came to the house. Beatrice was seated at the dining table having breakfast and I opened the door for Uche when he rang the bell.

He had a newspaper under his arm and he asked if mother was around.  Uche was a mutual friend of big sisters Ebere and Nkechi who they met when they had a brief stint at the Institute of Management and Technology Enugu. 

When I told him where Beatrice was he walked ahead of me and I walked right behind him because I saw he looked nervous. He handed over the newspaper to Beatrice and explained to her that he had read about a boat mishap involving the students of Federal Government Girls College Yola. 

There were two or three survivors while the other girls died. Among the survivors was a name that looked like Ezioma. Mother just started speaking to herself. She said it was no mistake, it had to be her daughter Ezioma for it sounded like her to be that adventurous to go to a lake. 

She immediately contacted her husband and they arranged for Ezioma to return home immediately.  Ezioma was among five students who went to a lake on an excursion to pick water lilies and algae; while in the middle of the lake the canoe capsized and they were left to fight for their lives.

The details of the mishap left no doubts in our minds that our sister was saved by prayers. A picture frame in our sitting room in those days states, "More things are wrought by prayer than the world can ever think of".  It was our favourite framed inscription after "Christ is the Head of this home, the unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener to every conversation". We grew up believing those phrases till this day; those and many other quotes said to us by Ferdinand and Beatrice formed every one of us.

After the Thanksgiving Mass, Beatrice threw a big party for Ezioma which she tagged "A Survivor's Party". The party was filled with so much fun, love and laughter that I hoped she would fall in the water again and survive again so we could have a survival party yet again😄


The full story of the fatal canoe accident coming up