I was 28 when my dad died. As a matter of fact, he died this year— a few months ago now. I'm still 28.
I haven't lost anyone that I've been as close to as I was to my dad, Jim. The realization that my dad is gone continues to hit in waves as I think about him, or as I think about reaching out to him with a question, or as I think about seeing him for lunch.
James 4:14 asks, for what is our life? It states that our lives are like a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes. That is the experience of witnessing the loss of someone you love; it has been my experience.
We don't get to choose
As with any relationship, my dad and I had our differences at times. Those differences drove feelings in between our relationship that we, thankfully, worked through and settled through hard conversations. I'm learning that relationship problems can happen so quickly, often unintentionally, and they can last for as long as we allow them to. In my experience, we have, at least, some capacity to attempt to fix those problems. If I give real effort to try to resolve a relationship with someone and it does not work out, well, at least I have given it a real effort. Thankfully, that was not my experience with my dad. After all, no one ultimately replaces a dad.
Death can come suddenly; to say the least, it sucks when it hits close to home. I'm thankful to continue to go about life knowing that we fought to resolve those differences. It's what I have to do in any relationship throughout the rest of my life. It goes without saying that some relationships aren't worth mending, some are. If I'm getting at anything here, it's that I am thankful that my dad professed to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not all "dogs" go to heaven, but I know that Devil Dog did.