My husband lost his best friend a couple of weeks ago, from a sudden heart attack. He left, among others, a 17 year old special needs son. My husband had already established a uncle/nephew relationship with the boy, in the American Indian way. He has now promised him he would be like a father to him, but, of course, there’s no way to completely fill those shoes.
I was a single dad in the ‘80s-’90s. In my only child’s younger days, I would take him to the park and we’d have fun. Sometimes I’d just sit and watch him go wild with the other kids. There were no other dad’s there, just moms.
Invariably, a young boy (never a young girl), would come up to me and want to interact. It was obvious what was going on...and painful to see.
Losing a dad is also hard on daughters.
I was eight years old when my father suddenly died in his sleep from a massive heart attack. I still remember the shock when I awoke to my mother’s hysterical screams. When I heard her tell my older sister that our dad was dead, I went into shock and major denial.
That was in 1979. Of course, time has helped but I still feel his loss, especially on Father’s Day.