I have been told there is a club.  Maybe you have heard of it.  It's an elite club and you cannot be in it, until you are in it.  It's a club I never wanted to be in.  It's called the Dead Fathers club. 
I was blessed to have my Dad for most of my adult life, but I have several friends who lost their Dads when they were still very young girls.  I cannot explain what it feels like from a son's point of view, but I can say that being a girl who lost her Daddy, that sense of security is gone.  My Dad was my rock.  I always knew that no matter what problem I had or what happened in my life, my Dad was there and he would always have the right answer, the right solution.  There have been many days that I have asked myself "What would Dad do?" Even though I am a medium and can get some of my answers from spirit, I can't get all of the answers I ask for.  It's called "Freewill" and I know that I have many decisions to make and lessons to learn, on my own, without him.  But  I know that I am never alone.
I know that my friends have wondered many times if their Dad is here with them as they continue on this life path.  The wedding, the birth of their child, their first house,  first Grandchild. "Do you think Dad would like our new house?"  "Does Dad know we named the baby after him?". Trust me, he knows.
One thing I have learned from having this ability it is that our Dads are still involved in our lives and they do what they can to guide us.  We all have freewill and they cannot interfere in that, but that little voice in your head that tells you "no, don't turn on this street".. or "slow down" as I have experienced more than once, only to have missed being involved in a horrible accident by two or three seconds.
There is no doubt that losing a parent changes you ... forever.  But they never really leave us.