DIARY OF A 75 YEARS OLD MAN

I got married at the age of 30, three years after my NYSC service.

I met my wife at the NYSC camp.

She was beautiful, hardworking, and full of dreams.

Three years later, we became husband and wife.

I secured a banking job shortly after.

Life smiled at me.

I worked tirelessly.

I gave my wife and children the best life I could afford.

I sent my children to the best primary and secondary schools in Lagos.

Nothing was too expensive when it came to their education.

I paid school fees without complaints.

I sacrificed my comfort.

I used every bonus, every savings, every opportunity — for them.

Some of my children studied abroad.

Today, they are doing well.

One is a banker.

One is a surgeon.

One is a pilot.

They all live outside Nigeria now.

I was proud.

I thought I had succeeded as a father.

But I made one big mistake…

A mistake I now live with every day.

I saved nothing for my old age.

I believed my children would be there for me.

After all, everything I had… I spent on them.

Today, I am 75 years old.

My banking job is gone.

My strength is gone.

My voice is weaker.

My legs shake when I walk.

I now live alone in the village.

When my wife fell sick, my children rushed home.

They took her abroad for treatment.

They promised they would come back for me. That was years ago.

My wife is still there — living with them.

Cared for. Surrounded band comforted.

And me?

I sit outside my father's house in the village, every evening, watching the sun set.

Sometimes I hold my phone, hoping it will ring.

Sometimes days pass… weeks pass… without a call from those children, that I effortlessly trained. They never lack anything.

When I get sick, they only send money for my treatment, without knowing what I want is attention.

When I’m hungry, I endure it quietly.

When the rain leaks through the old building roof, I shift my bed.

At night, I ask myself painful questions:

“Did I raise children… or did I raise strangers?”

“Was I wrong to have loved these kids with my life?”

“Why did I give everything and keep nothing for myself?”

The truth hurts more than loneliness:

Children grow up.

Life moves on.

Promises fade.

If you are a man reading this…

Please, love your children.

Train them well.

Give them education.

But do not forget yourself.

Save for your old age.

Prepare for tomorrow.

Do not put your entire future in anyone’s hands — not even your children’s.

Because love is sweet…

but old age is long.

And loneliness is louder when you have no strength left to cry

Food for thought!