How to avoid the awkwardness of this loss?

[Forever]

I saw on my friend's sister's facebook a picture of her dad and something like "i miss you papa" and I thought maybe that meant their dad died. So, I msged my friend saying I still care about her, etc.

She invited me to her party tonight, I am not sure her dad is alive or not so I don't want to be like "sorry for your loss." I don't want to say How's your dad because if he's passed on that's insensitive

What do I do?

[mxBabe <3]

Don't bring up her father unless she brings him up first.

Say "so how you feeling?"

if he died, she would take it towards that, if he didn't she would take it as your just asking how she is

[mejaki]

If you want to find out if her dad is alive or dead, you could try asking through a mutual friend; or you could look up obituaries in her local paper to see if he's listed, or check with local funeral homes to see if they've had/are having a service for him.