I've spoken to family, had bereavement therapy and have run this issue over and over in my head so many times but this is the most helpful piece of information I have had. Thankyou.

Right-Track's already hit it spot on there, what's important here isn't to understand the details of why you saw your dad but to realise that you he will always be with you as a spirit/memory or however else you choose to understand it. Although somebody has passed, it doesn't mean that their existence has been erased altogether. You're dad's still carried around in you, in your thoughts and also in your biology(!). In the same way, he's carried in your family, his friends and everybody else that knew him. Whether it was him speaking to you in a dream, or you speaking to yourself via the image of him, the message was still the same - that he's always going to be there in some way, shape or form. And that message is certainly true.

And I'm just about the most sceptical atheist cynical bastard you'll find...

chills were running through everywhere when i was reading the story.

Imagine what it was like for me!