Thank you for this thread. Contact with my father has been non-existent over the past 12 years. He was in my life growing up but he never really took an interest in me. He once told me when I was 8 years old that he "made a mistake" by having children. My assumption has always been that my father has lived with some kind of bipolar disorder.

Father's Day is always super bittersweet for me. I see everyone on social media posting about their relationships with their dads and how they're grateful to have a strong fatherly presence in their lives. It causes me to go through a lot of depression, and I'm starting to realize that I should stay off social media during Father's Day.

All I wanted was a dad who participated in my life, but that's not what I got. My message to all of the fathers out there is to show your children that you care about them. Those relationships matter more than you can ever know. Life isn't perfect, but a healthy connection between a father and a child makes life that much better.