1. My dad was such a funny man. There was never a dull moment with Mallam Idris Gold. He used to tease my mum incessantly to the point that all the vessels in her face vasodilate with some semblance of blushing. We were reminiscing about him recently.

2. Top on that memory was the time he went for Shell interview about 23 yrs ago.
Now for oil companies then, an interview there especially after you've passed the first screening stage meant that you get a lot of accompanying privileges. Flight, accommodation and feeding.

3. All top notch. Mallam Gold went for the 2nd and 3rd stage while his wife Abeke was home awaiting her beloved's return. There were no GSMs then so it was just the landline.

He called her after his flight landed in Lagos before heading for Ibadan. '

4. Abeke Afunmilayo....oya gbesu kana. Iyan lo ye ka je pelu efo elemimeje. Mo ti n bo. (Please put yam on fire.. its pounded yam we should eat with well garnished vegetables). My mom was ecstatic. Idris ti rise mi! Infact, I'm sure she was planning her move to Port Harcourt.

5. She was the typical man wrapper. My father stays for more than one year in a place and God knows she's moving there. We all started jubilating. New status tinz.

He got home about two hours later and immediately he opened the gate.....

6. (He had a particular song he used to sing then to usher himself in)...Kiakia..Abeke put the yam in the mortar and started pounding gbas gbos.

He was so excited and in high spirits. He ate the food with so much gusto.

7. When he finished...he then said 'Solu alanabi yulkarim'...we all replied 'Salalawa leiwasalam'...while rolling our eyes internally for him to come out with the news.

'Abeke....ise o bosi o. A lo, a bo...pelu alafia...o tope, o ju ope lo

8. (Abeke...I didn't get the job o. We went and came back with no mishaps. This is more than enough reason to be thankful). If my mum could bring out her pounded yam from his stomach....she probably would have. Lol

9. Till the very end, they made each other laugh. He had his flaws which included being exceptionally blunt, never going back on decisions once made amongst others. But he was a man of integrity, honest to a fault and a loyal friend and husband and an even more fantastic dad.

10. I wrote a post about him one day and a friend who served with him as a corper and had been looking for him wrote a comment that made me weep. It was such a glowing one and he ended by saying that he named his first child after my dad.

11. (a Christian who named his child Idris because of my dad) despite the fact that they only had one year together that made a lasting impression on him. I have met people who just want to do things for me because of the parents that brought me forth into this world.

12. The favors I have gotten in life because of them?Too much to mention. Integrity and a good name will take you places.

One of the greatest blessings life gave me.The family I was born into and the one I have made.
'Which of the favors of my Lord will I deny?' Absolutely none!