After demolishing a mountain of pounded yam and vegetable soup with bush meat and assorted fishes prepared by my wonderful wife, my mind took a stroll to how she proffered a solution to my dream career pursuit with ARM Savings Plus. I smiled across the dining table at her and counted my numerous blessings. Thanks to her ingenuity, I started ARM Savings Plus and it was easier than we thought.
“Daddy, I will like to buy new jeans and a white dress to take along for my trip to grandma and grandpa’s place for Easter.”
I gave a non-committal grunt.
The end of the school term drew near and Nifemi has used every opportunity to remind me of my promise that she’d spend the Easter holiday with my parents.
I joined my wife to clear the dishes and she told me about some cabinet designs she saw online knowing I’d be interested in looking at new designs for my weekend clients. She promised to show them to me when we were done in the kitchen.
After placing the last plate neatly in the rack, my wife poured us a cup of grape juice each and we went to the living room to relax.
As soon as my bottom touched the settee, Nifemi sat at my feet and started all over again to chatter non-stop about how she wanted to spend the holiday with her grand parents. I was almost beginning to regret making that promise. I and my wife exchanged glances above her head and my wife giggled as I rolled my eyes in frustration.
“You know she’s never going to stop talking about this until you call mum and dad to inform them, right?” my wife said.
“I better get right down to it then before my ears begin to ring in protest”, I responded.
I asked Nifemi to get me my phone from the room and in a split second, she was gone and back with it.
Predictably mother didn’t pick the call the first time. Probably she’d kept her phone deep inside her purse as usual. I redialed and she picked on the second ring.
After the initial pleasantries, she asked about Nifemi and Chinedu.
“Oh! The kids are doing great, in fact, Nifemi has been hounding me about spending the Easter holidays with you.”
My mum was elated and I heard her passing the message happily to my dad close by. She handed the phone over to him after and left to attend to other issues.
I and father had a brief chat about the visit and other stuff. When I asked dad about his work, I noticed he wasn’t really excited. His response was a flat ‘fine’ which in itself was unsettling.
“Is anything the matter?” I pressed.
He sighed deeply, “Honestly, son I am not looking forward to retirement. My surgery last year took away a chunk of my savings and I can’t help but worry.”
I was silent for a moment.
“I see…”
My dad was 52 and close to retirement. He had been saving over the years but a serious health challenge and operation had eaten really deep into that money last year.
“I don’t mean to bother you with this though. I will find a solution soon I suppose.”
We moved on to other topics but I couldn’t remove my mind from the talk about his retirement. My parents have been hard working all their lives and they deserve a comfortable retirement.
With this thought, I vowed to seek for a solution.
