If my parents were around they would have been chief mourners.  Mama met Mrs. O in the early 1960s, when she was a young teacher in Takoradi, she lived with her father, then. 

Mr. O’s passing has been a blow to our family, too. We became neighbors and grew up with their children. Many fond memories of our childhood are shared anytime we meet. For some of us the stories are still fascinating.

When we went to share our condolences, Mrs. O told us many interesting stories about the past. Some of the stories we had heard once or twice before but were now being retold with more important and meaningful details. Is it because we are older that she felt the need to share them with us? Or was she just reminiscing because she had just lost her husband? She has a superb memory for her age and even remembers dates and names. We kept nodding and trying to relate what she was narrating to what we already knew.

She would start, “I guess you knew that…”

That got us thinking;

“Oh, that is why Daddy did this.”

“Now we understand why Mama said that.”

We had the opportunity to ask her many niggling questions. The answers filled the gaps of stories we knew but were still unclear, some of which we had packed away, as we had no clue if anyone knew about them.

Many stories get lost when our dear ones leave us. I hope we can salvage some more about our parents and our childhood from Mrs. O after all the celebrations are over.