Growing up Father’s Day was really difficult for me. My parents split when I was very young and my dad wasn’t exactly someone I looked up to, as he was never a part of my life after that. As Father’s Day approached each year I remember feeling jealous of my friends who had fathers to celebrate. I didn’t mind not having a father the rest of the year, but Father’s Day was always a blaring reminder of the father I never had.
Years later the man who I now call “father” came into my life and was able to fill that void for me. Until that point my dear mother had played the role of both parents. For me, Father’s Day will always be a day to celebrate both of my parents. One who stepped up to be the dad that he didn’t have to be, and the other who made sacrifices to fill both roles for so long. I will be forever grateful to both of them for the example they set for me and now my son. They have taught and continue to teach me so much.
They both have taught me on countless occasions how important it is to set aside my own emotions to do what is best for my son. My mother set the example early on, after her own difficult divorce, of setting those feelings aside so that her children always had something to give their father on Father’s Day. Did she really like spending what little money she had on a gift for the man who had put her through so much pain and agony? Of course not, but she did it anyway because she knew the importance for her children. She didn’t do it for him, it was for us. At the time she had no idea of the example she was setting. She couldn’t have known that years later I would be in the same situation with my own child, but nonetheless, the example was set and has never been forgotten.
Father’s Day will always be a little bittersweet for me, but I am thankful to celebrate the amazing people in my life that have helped shape me into the woman I am today.