Today my father would have turned 86; my brother and sister are holding a memorial for him at the church where he prayed for most of his later life. I won’t be there; it’s a twelve hour drive each way and I used my leave/bereavement time to visit with him while he was alive. Both he and I preferred that.
Since he died in early December, I’ve found that he continues to teach me – a lot. I think that having the chance to reflect and process things is allowing me to better appreciate him. Teenage children never appreciate their parents’ sense of humor. I now realize how amusing he was. I can now appreciate the special bond he and my mother had, and why that worked so well. Oh, I realized these things before, but now I can truly take them to heart.
I realize how special it was that I was the last person with whom he prayed, and that I prayed over him as he died.
Better yet, I know now that he and my mom are the ones who are now praying over me, my brother and sister and all our family.
That I really appreciate.
sfnowak 
The peace, grace and blessings of our Lord, Christ Jesus, be to you, your family, and your dad and mom. I’m 57 now and my dad died when I was 14,
the month of June in the year I ran away from home to start college at UCLA. And I still miss dad, and my mom. Like one of your previous blogs mentioned, our true Christian faith tells us our mom and dad are in the loving hands of God and enjoying the peace they richly deserve. We wish for them to no longer endure life as they knew in their latter days. So now we pray with the mind in the heart–which means we accept God’s will as our
own, and we give Him great thanks also.
What do you think, Steve? Perhaps missing our mom and dad is a way of remembering them…and not hurting per se?