Saying good-bye to a friend's father

Yesterday I journeyed about an hour north to the funeral of a very dear friend's father.  He had passed about a month ago.  I last saw him just about four years ago when her grandfather passed away.  Her family moved away from our hometown while we were in college, and her dad had been through two kidney transplants, strokes, cancer...just one thing after another.

Our dads were so very similar.  They were both fairly young when us girls were born, and they almost shared the shame birthday (her dad's is the day after my dad's).  They were both mostly surrounded by females in their family (her dad had one son but three girls), and both were fairly quiet, but oh so very friendly.  They both worked so hard and taught amazing important life lessons.  I think they could both fix anything.  And ultimately, they suffered so, so much with their health.  It was an absolutely beautiful service.  I'm so grateful that I was able to be there to share in the celebration of her dad's life!