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>>Now he's at peace. The fondest times he had in his life were when he was an Irish Guardsman, doing duty at Buck Palace and all that. If I know him he'll be there in his red tunic and bearskin, standing guard at the pearly gates :-)
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>My dad died about three years ago. It didn't really make me that sad, other than for my selfish reason of not wanting to lose him. I didn't really lose him, because I'll always have his memory. He was 76 when he died. He worked in his garden during the day, ate dinner with my mom, went to bed and never woke. At least he didn't wind up in a nursing home, or have a prolonged illness.

My dad went the same way (21 years ago), and oddly enough, at the same age of 76. He and my mom went bowling, came home, went to bed, and he didn't wake up.

My mother is 87 now, she's somewhat weak and all, but thankfully retains all her mental faculties. It's a little hard to tell sometimes because her hearing is not so good, and even though she wears a hearing aid, she still sometimes has trouble hearing what I say. However, she does the daily crossword in the newspaper in under 6 minutes and is aiming to get it under 5. The best present she can be given is still a good book.

>I felt blessed to have a father that I could count as my hero. He was old school. When he told you something, you could count on it. He was the reason I wanted to become a cop and the reason I wanted to be the best cop. I figure I was luckier than most because I loved my dad, and he loved me. It sounds like you felt like that about your dad. So many today don't have good fathers, or have "issues" with their fathers, or don't even know them.
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>I still catch myself thinking, "I'll just call dad and see what he thinks!" Now, I guess our job is to be that kind of dad to our kids.