Please, if this is offensive or weird, please forgive me. I almost feel like I'm KUI, even though I haven't had a drop. Please delete, mods, if it is overtly inappropriate, but I feel like I have a few "friends" here, even virtual ones, and I just kind of want to get this out.
My father died this morning. A humble, hard-working man, he set aside his dreams of attending medical school to drive a truck so that he could marry, start a family, and see his 8 children have a better life. He was the love of my mother's life, and they had 62 happy, really happy, years together. They were each other's best friends, truly, in every sense of the word.
Dad never felt the need or desire to be a "friend" to his children. Instead, he was a provider, a giver of gentle reprimands and always, always, an example. I've never met a more sincere, more generous, or more intelligent person. I miss him.
ETA: Thank you all so much for your kind words and sympathies. Dad was 84, and in failing health for at least a couple of years. Over the last couple of months he took a hard turn for the worse, so this isn't unexpected, but still somehow a shock, if that makes any sense.