Fathers Day FWIW

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I never got to celebrate Fathers Day, my old man walked out on my brother and I when I was 6-in the Good Old Days of the 1950s. Ran off with his girlfriend, started a new family with her. We didn't see him again till I was 10. My parting memory of him is unpleasant-he was two-faced. Nice to us in front of the 2nd wife and other family members, when they weren't around, he showed his real face. The joke with my mother and brother was Wife No. 2 was our revenge, they had 5 kids, he was in his 60s and still had kids in school.
What happened to me has become the norm, since this board is non-political I will leave it to each member to decide what the causes are.
A phenomenon I have noted over the years is the number of people I have met for whom the early death of a father or stepfather was no tragedy.
And there is the widespread rejection by men of the role of protector and provider. Passed on fatherhood myself, so many guys have told me I didn't miss anything.

 

[LVSteve]

Can't put a like on your tale of woe, but I understand how it shaped your life. My folks split when I was 14. When they told me it was happening the words "It's about damned time" left skid marks on my tongue. The days in the 5-6 years leading up to that announcement varied from going through the motions to outright tense. I consider myself fortunate that there was no violence involved. I actually chose to live with my dad, but fathers' day was a non-event for him, as were most "holidays". His choice.

As for fatherhood, I also passed, but I have some nasty genes that I was not about to inflict on another human.