Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. This is Bola Shokunbi here. And today I wanted to share

something very personal with you guys, a life update. Recently, I lost my dad. And these past weeks

have been filled with reflection. So me reflecting on life, on loss, on losing a major life figure,

a major figure in my life, and on navigating grief. Grief isn't something that is foreign to me.

Over the years, I've lost friends, I've lost relatives, and obviously as you get older and

real adulting starts, then you experience grief more often. So last year, we lost three of my mom's

siblings back to back. Earlier this year, we lost my dad's younger sister. So it's something

you kind of deal with, but this has been my closest loss. My dad's younger sister. So it's, it's something you kind of deal with, but this has been my

closest loss. My dad had recently faced some health challenges, and during that time, he had

told us outright, point blank, that he felt that his time was near. And my dad had called me,

and he said, Bola, I just want to say goodbye to you, just in case I don't get a chance to.

And at the time that he made that phone call, he was fully able.

He wasn't sick.

He wasn't in hospital.

He was walking around.

He was fully himself.

And, you know, when I think about it and what I felt when he made that phone call to me,

I took him seriously because my dad has never been someone to say what he doesn't mean.

And so when he called to say goodbye, I was like, Daddy, I'm going to come see you. Will you wait?

And he said, okay. And so because of that, in many ways,

I feel like my grieving started earlier before he left because I knew he was leaving because he

told us he was leaving. And we all kind of had that sense that, you know, like, yeah, he didn't want to go, but he had made peace with himself that, you know what, I feel like this is going to happen soon.

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