My father, who has Alzheimers, is dying now (he's 85). I saw him today - he weaves in and out. Hasn't recognized me for a long time but was usually glad for the company. Today, he just wanted to sleep. I held his hand and thanked him for the gifts he gave me. Once in a while, he smiled with his eyes closed.
I'm so glad I don't believe in the Witness' doctrine about death: That, because he was not a JW, he wouldn't be resurrected. That his eternity would be an eternity of nothingness. What kind of a God would do that to one of his creations?
I believe that we have souls that live on. And on and on and on. God gave us life because he loves us and he will never take our eternal life away.
I am happy to think that he will be with my mother (gone 31 years now) and his mother and brother and step-father.
I'm sad to lose him, so very very sad, but happy to know that he will live on.
After I was DFed, I had no beliefs for many years. It felt like crap. But once I read Neale Donald Walsch's Home With God In A Life That Never Ends, I was so comforted I wept tears of joy. I can't say I ever did that as a JW. All I ever felt as a JW was a tremendous sense of guilt and burden.
Daddy, I love you. Go in peace.