Two days back,I was beading(I string beautiful waist beads for friends on request😀)and I asked Nicole to help me sort some of the beads according to their colours,while sorting them,she started humming Nicole Mullen’s “My redeemer lives” and I smiled and said,do you know the lady who sang this song is your name sake,her name is Nicole Mullen. She said oh,that’s nice,then I said,this song gives me mixed feelings sometimes. She asked why,and I said,it used to be one of your Uncle Biodun’s favourite songs and when he died,I listened to the song over and over again for all of 3 months. She sighed and said,mum,I wish I had met him,I said I wish you had too,you would have loved him and he would have loved you too😟She was quiet and I got lost in my thoughts till I heard her sobbing quietly,I held her and asked why she was crying,she said,hearing about uncle Biodun makes me sad because I know it makes you sad,I wish he had waited for me to meet him,I wish he had not died.
I sat there and wondered at her words,long after she had stopped crying and was her happy self again😟Why did Biodun have to die?I wish he had not died,he would have been 39 years on January 1st this year and on Val’s day this year,it would be 7 years since he died. 7 years just like yesterday😟I wonder if he would have relocated to Abuja from Lagos if he had not died,I have so many questions without answers😢Sometimes,I still think I am having a terrible dream😟

Biodun was my immediate older brother,he was one of those people you meet perhaps once in a lifetime,he was,still is one of the coolest people I know. He was 4 years older than me and he was my best friend and about the closest person to me.
Growing up with Biodun was fun,there was never a dull moment with him,he had the penchant to make you laugh and forget your sorrows. He had it all,he was good looking,he was tall,he was extremely intelligent,he was what you would call an ‘all-rounder’,he aced all his subjects and unlike me who loves the arts,Biodun loved all subjects and was good with all of them,especially mathematics.I hated maths and I remember his attempts at coaching me in maths,I would end up frustrated and he would make fun of me and say I still had baby brains😀was why I didn’t understand BODMAS and Pythagoras theory,o how I hated maths😑
Biodun was a ladies’ man,I guess because he was a kind-hearted person and he was always genuinely interested in people and their progress.He had a lot of friends,male and female alike and I remember some months after we lost him,someone called me from Ado Ekiti saying someone told him something that he could not believe,I said ok?he said please someone said Abbey lincon died,please it is a lie abi,I said I wish it was,but it is true,he broke down and wept like a baby while I wept along with him,till date,I still don’t know who called me and wept with me that day.
Biodun’s loss changed my life in a way I cannot explain,all of our lives,my parents have tried to move on but I see the pain in their eyes every time I see them.It is a terrible thing for a parent to lose a child,they never really recover from it,I know mine are trying hard to be grateful for the rest of us but I know it can’t be easy😞Time they say,heals every wound,I do not know if the wound has healed,I know though that some days are better than others,sometimes,I can think of Abbey without crying,at other times,I laugh out loud at some of his antics,other days I am still in shock at how Biodun could have just died on us like that😑 However,the truth is,nobody lives forever,so do all the good you can,while you can as someday,you will be someone’s memory.
I miss you B,and I will always love and remember you.Sleep on bro.
Abiodun Inosisha Olagboye
January 1st,1978-February 14th,2010
Image culled from pinterest