Today is Father’s Day. Every year this is a very hard day for me. See, when I was six years old, my father walked out of our family. So, whenever this day comes, I usually think of all the things I missed, all the experiences I didn’t get to have. I resented my father for many years, but inside I knew that the minute he would come back, I’d run straight into his arms. This is what father’s day has always been for me – the sadness of everything that I didn’t get to experience with my father; sadness about the fact that I didn’t get to know him. However, this father’s day, I have a different outlook.

Getty Images/ News/ Sean Gallup

Lately, I got to appreciate myself more than before. My confidence and self-esteem have risen drastically. I finally know just how much I’m worth. So, now, I’m not sorry about everything that I didn’t get to do with you or that I didn’t get to know you. What I am sorry about is that you didn’t get to know me. I am sorry for you that you’ve missed all of the things that have happened to me, and that you didn’t get to experience it with me. I am sorry that you didn’t get to witness the woman I have become.

I’ve been through so much without you, and I survived it all. It helped me see that I don’t need you next to me, and I don’t need your approval; I have become a great person even without your involvement. You walked out on us without saying goodbye, and you didn’t stay in touch. You were my father, and you missed out on me. Despite my unfortunate, there are many other fathers different than mine. I wish all of those fathers out there, and their children, a happy father’s day. You deserve to be celebrated.