At the end of the road…

My friend, I have known you most of your life.
I have been part of your family for the greater part of our lives.
Not so long ago, we were teenagers and we shared our parents.
My father took you to our cottage.
Your father took me camping.
They both brought us skiing.

At every step, on the path of our lives, we’ve shared our joys and our sorrows.
I’ve seen you grow from a kid into a man.
I have been proud of you and you of me.
Thirty and some years later, our friendship still stands.
We now both have some grey hair.
We are not old, so we say, but we are not young anymore. …
Forever we expected our fathers to be with us, strong and supportive, as always.
A part of us knew that every life ends eventually.
We lost family, and we lost people.
Accompanying a father at the end of the road is one of the most difficult things every son has to do.
It’s a time to sit down and tell stories.
A time to hug, to look inside, to tell our fathers how much we love them,
It is a time to cry together.
To shed tears of sadness but also tears of love.

One of the most beautiful gifts you can give your father, at the end of the road, is to hold him in your heart, fill him with your love, and let him go, peacefully.