Val's Bliss of solitude

Adieu! Shiny mi (Charles Ikocha):rose::rose:

8 Comments

, Aug 5, 2012 at 12:11 PM (1399 Views)

Every time I log on to NVS the yellow RIP Shinycoin banner hits me and I do a retreat. Maybe because I am still in denial. Unwilling to accept that Shiny mi as I fondly call him here has really been taken away from us. But I suppose it is a reality that I just have to painfully and sadly come to terms with.

Whenever you hear or read Shiny there is always such vitality and boisterousness about him that says here is a man who has everything to live for and intends to live it as full as he possibly can.

It was so evident in his voice when he spoke to me last Friday updating me on his progress since graduating last year. We talked about his latest successful project and the next one he planned to embark on. We laughed and teased each other a lot as we do ending with his usual advice for me to have fun but be careful at the Olympics games I was attending then. I promised to update him when I get back only for me to hear 3 days after that he has died.

I have been repeating to myself since "impossible Shiny coin can't just die like that. No" as if to cancel the fact that it happened. I remember during the recent shooting incidence in a mall in Canada when I checked here and out of NVS on him and other friends living in Canada to make sure they or their persons were OK. How Shiny mi came back to me on phone and Face book not only thanking me that I checked after him, but said that God will continue to keep him away from places of disaster. God why didn't you yield his desire and keep him away from that water on that fateful day. Why?

I have asked myself again and again why Charles? Wondered if it could have been prevented, and why wasn't it? I have cried and cried at his death and if crying would bring him back, I would cry my eyes out. But it hasn't and won't and I must just go on living with the memory that I have of Shiny mi as a deeply caring and great friend.

Only that, memories however golden, cannot fill an empty place, like the silence which remains unbroken by his voice I will never hear again. I keep expecting to read or hear him call me " Val of the Teena" his term of endearment for me, and the only person that called me that, in and outside of NVS. I keep expecting to hear his voice call me "fine babe" and "Princess" as he does whenever we talk. I remember as if it was yesterday how the fond name "Princess came about.

When I lost my dad in 2009 Charles Shiny mi was so supportive and comforting. He checked on me so regularly to see how I was coping, sharing his own experience of coping with a similar loss, the loss of his mum. It was during that period that he took to fondly calling me princess a term of endearment he knew my late dad used for me.
To paraphrase him, he said "since your dad is no more here to call you Princess, and I know you will miss being called that by your dad, I will from now call you "Princess" not only to fill the void created by you not hearing the word from your dad anymore, but because you truly are a princess to me.

That is the type of person Shiny mi is, deeply sensitive and caring. Simply a beautiful person. In so many people who appear beautiful their characters and personalities are the opposite. Beauty to be compelling must come from the heart and soul and Shiny mi embodied this.

As we go through life, we meet and make friends, those who will come to know us and by whose side we will developed, change and experience the joy and pain of living. Those friendships are the real prizes we gain in the world-school in which we seek experience. Because at the end of one's life and indeed all through it, the friendship of one's fellow men and women come to matter. The hand clasp when one is afraid, the encouraging word when in doubt, the comfort and kindness in sorrow and the warm friendship at all times. Charles Shiny mi became one of such friends to me in the four or so years we knew each other in and out of NVS. And I will miss him dearly.

In so much as it pains me deeply to say it, it is Goodbye for now Shiny mi and sleep in peace.

Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace of the son of peace to you

So go and run free.
Go and run free with the angels
Dance around the golden clouds
For the lord has chosen you to be with him
And we should feel nothing but proud
Although he has taken you from us
And our pain a lifetime will last
Your memory will never escape us
But make us glad for the time we did have
Your face will always be hidden
Deep inside our hearts
Each precious moment you gave us
Shall never, ever depart
So go and run free with the angels
As they sing so tenderly
And please be sure to tell them
To take good care of you for me

- Author unknown

Categories: Reminiscence

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Comments

emj - Aug 5, 2012 06:46 PM
Hmmm, i called his number several times...more than a dozen times on 1st August with the hope that the incident of the 31st July will be far from the truth....i deluded myself just like i did 7yrs ago when my beloved departed suddenly.....his phone funny enough kept ringing and i cut off each time his voice mail kicks in...painful hmm

It's so surreal that he bears the same first name as my late husband...
I treat him like a son though he's too old to be one except if i were a child bride.
A friend had asked why a son. I viewed him as one of my children of which it's(not was) my responsibility to guide and watch closely.

He's gone to a place where nothing can touch or rub off on him in a bad way. And like i said to someone God had better need of him than us.
Remember when Jesus sent out the Apostles to go seek out a donkey for his triumphant entry into Jerusalem...he entreated them to tell the owner that he has need of that animal.
Whosoever God has need of he takes...it hurts badly right now, but when we receive full understanding we will rejoice. There is always something that can always be used as a catalyst for death...it might look good or bad to us....but at the end of the day is held as a reason for the passing of a loved one.

Thank you Lady Val-T for giving us an insight into your friendship with Charles.
There are people i've come to respect through my interactions with in and out of NVS..you are one of them. Thank you very much for checking up on me. It's been a very difficult and agonizing week. One feels helpless and wished could do something...something as crazy as raising him from death...this is when one remembers the exploits of Smith Wigglesworth...such old bravado....great faith....but then i remember it didnt catch God unawares.

It is well as the coin that shines is at rest...May the peace of God that surpasses all understanding be with us all....
Big-K - Aug 7, 2012 03:27 PM
Thanks Valteena
Idahota - Aug 7, 2012 09:36 PM
It was his time to go. May you all find peace and comfort. Amen.
Beam - Aug 30, 2012 02:10 AM
Lady Val,
You captured Shinymi, Everything he was and more.... I come into the village and see that yellow banner and refuse to believe it.... However as days draw closer to the 1st of September I realise he is not going to skype me any more ... he is not going to tease me about my Nemesis on the last word Game any more.

Words will never be able to explain how I felt when you let me know... Then I had to confirm, however I still thought it was a lie!!!!! How can shinymi die I have not tied my gele for his wedding we have not named his daughter Iyabo after his mum!!! Words sometimes is better not said so I end this with Shinycoin Good night for now, but not goodbye. God know best
Anioma777 - Sep 3, 2012 03:06 PM
I only ever spoke to Shinycoin twice on skype, but that was enough for me to endear myself to him.

HIS PHYSICAL BEING IS GONE, BUT HIS SOUL AND SPIRIT LIVES ON

Nice blog Valteena.
valteena - Sep 4, 2012 01:45 AM
Originally Posted by emj

Hmmm, i called his number several times...more than a dozen times on 1st August with the hope that the incident of the 31st July will be far from the truth....i deluded myself just like i did 7yrs ago when my beloved departed suddenly.....his phone funny enough kept ringing and i cut off each time his voice mail kicks in...painful hmm

It's so surreal that he bears the same first name as my late husband...
I treat him like a son though he's too old to be one except if i were a child bride.
A friend had asked why a son. I viewed him as one of my children of which it's(not was) my responsibility to guide and watch closely.

He's gone to a place where nothing can touch or rub off on him in a bad way. And like i said to someone God had better need of him than us.
Remember when Jesus sent out the Apostles to go seek out a donkey for his triumphant entry into Jerusalem...he entreated them to tell the owner that he has need of that animal.
Whosoever God has need of he takes...it hurts badly right now, but when we receive full understanding we will rejoice. There is always something that can always be used as a catalyst for death...it might look good or bad to us....but at the end of the day is held as a reason for the passing of a loved one.

Thank you Lady Val-T for giving us an insight into your friendship with Charles.
There are people i've come to respect through my interactions with in and out of NVS..you are one of them. Thank you very much for checking up on me. It's been a very difficult and agonizing week. One feels helpless and wished could do something...something as crazy as raising him from death...this is when one remembers the exploits of Smith Wigglesworth...such old bravado....great faith....but then i remember it didnt catch God unawares.

It is well as the coin that shines is at rest...May the peace of God that surpasses all understanding be with us all....

Yes indeed he is and Amen IJN. Thanks Countessa mi, you are very very much appreciated by me too.

Originally Posted by Big-K

Thanks Valteena

Thanks Big-K for thanking me.
valteena - Sep 4, 2012 01:48 AM
Originally Posted by Beam

Lady Val,
You captured Shinymi, Everything he was and more.... I come into the village and see that yellow banner and refuse to believe it.... However as days draw closer to the 1st of September I realise he is not going to skype me any more ... he is not going to tease me about my Nemesis on the last word Game any more.

Words will never be able to explain how I felt when you let me know... Then I had to confirm, however I still thought it was a lie!!!!! How can shinymi die I have not tied my gele for his wedding we have not named his daughter Iyabo after his mum!!! Words sometimes is better not said so I end this with Shinycoin Good night for now, but not goodbye. God know best

Yep Beamy your shock was palpable over the phone and even as I was relaying it to you I didn't believe or want to believe it was true myself.
He is in his final resting place now at peace. It is well.
valteena - Sep 4, 2012 02:01 AM
Originally Posted by Anioma777

I only ever spoke to Shinycoin twice on skype, but that was enough for me to endear myself to him.

HIS PHYSICAL BEING IS GONE, BUT HIS SOUL AND SPIRIT LIVES ON

Nice blog Valteena.

Thanks Ani my good brother.
Alexa - Sep 11, 2012 01:00 AM
Wonderful tribute, Val. You did capture him very well. It's so hard to look at a picture of someone who appears so full of life and realize that they are no more. Ah, Shiny, so full of life, so friendly, so kind. Hmmm...