Published in: Alberta news

Re-Imagine with Tee Adeyemo | Father’s Day

Author Tee Adeyemo

Published on: June 19, 2022

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Our summer edition was a tribute to the men in our lives.

You spoke and we acted. We had the Mayor of Edmonton on the cover of the magazine as he is the First man in Edmonton city.

Many people have asked why did we make that move. It’s Father’s Day today.

We wanted to salute the dads and the stepdads. The absent fathers and the fathers who stayed.

We did this through our write-ups on the Mayor of Edmonton, Mack Male and Andrew G.Parker.

Happy Father’s Day to dads everywhere.

We lost our dad 21 years ago.

I wrote this poem as we planned our summer edition but the poem did not make it into the magazine:(

Here is the poem:

Remembering Dad

I love you dad

You were my strength

My rock

When you transitioned, nothing could fill the vacuum

My earliest memories were standing on your shoulders

Feeling like I could conquer the world

I conquered the world

Whilst the world placed barriers

You showed me that I was limitless

You made me see I was enough

You encouraged me to spend time with myself

To value my own wisdom

You taught me to believe in myself

To stand tall and walk with pride

Your faith in me strengthened my voice

And made me walk taller

You left too early

But your work was done

It’s been decades since you passed

I still remember you

I still love you

Journey well, till we meet again.

If you have not read the magazine yet, please read it here.

If you are reading this and you are trying to survive as your father recently passed or today is hard, here are some ideas that can help to ease the pain.

1. Find other male figures in your life to celebrate: Father’s Day is not necessarily about biological fathers. Everybody would have a male figure in a teacher or spiritual leader. Celebrate them. Celebrate the ones who watch after you.

2. Connect with loved ones: Try not to spend the day alone. Connect with as many family members as you can.

3. Create a new tradition: Father’s Day is pretty much anything you make of it. Why don’t you start a new tradition that honours the spaces you hold dear?

4. Read quotes about loss: the best way to deal with Father’s Day is to equip yourself mentally by reading books and quotes. The right words can sometimes be hard to find. It is okay to find solace in other people’s words and quotes.

5. Forget the past: Every day is an opportunity to begin again. As much as you can, try to begin again. After grieving my dad, I decided in the tenth year, I was going to let go of the tears and actually lay him to rest in my heart.

It helped.

The tears have stopped and the memories are no longer as painful. My daughter knows a lot about him because I speak about him so often.

For me to heal, I had to let him go. Maybe, that could work for you.

In 2021, we had a Father’s Day Panel:

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Re-Imagine with Tee Adeyemo | Father’s Day

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