Dad

No matter what we believe about the afterlife, that is, if we believe that there is an afterlife, death is always sad. There's always more we wish we could have done, more we wish we would have said, and more times we wish we should have just been there. But in the end, we all go. I believe that it was Jim Morrison who said, "nobody gets out alive"; our bodies do not appear to be built for endurance. Whether that's supernatural design or evolution, I don't know (but I have a pretty good idea), but death is part of the natural order. We're all, eventually, some day, going to die. Personally, I don't spend a lot of time worrying about what it will be like. If it's oblivion, which is a good possibility, I'm okay with that - I didn't exist for centuries, millennia...eternity before I was born, I'm cool with not existing again. If I'm wrong about my former belief in going to heaven and being with Jesus, well, I hope he has a sense of humor and isn't too pissed about the links to atheist Facebook pages that I occasionally post, or that remark about the Pope and Trump from a few weeks ago. Nirvana sounds interesting, Valhalla sounds really interesting! But I'm serious about no haunting if I'm still around after death: too much work!

Two years ago my Dad passed on. Died. We were all sad that he was gone, but I have to say, that everything about his life was "a win". He worked hard all his life, sometimes two jobs, to provide for Mom and us kids. He saved and invested so that he was able to have a comfortable retirement and so that Mom would never have to worry about money after he was gone. Although he was a man of loud and pointed opinions, he was not hurtful with his words. I never ran into anyone who actually disliked him. He and Mom raised five kids who made it safely, albeit with some bumps, bruises and detours, to adulthood. If you look at each of us, you'll see different aspects of his personality. He was proud of each of us. When Dad breathed his last, he was surrounded by his family and friends and by members of his church family as well.

I miss him every day.

But I'm not sad for him. He's...somewhere, however you view that somewhere...free of cares and pain...I'm sad for us, who no longer have him physically among us.