I grew up without a father. He left us when I was a small child, and he did not stay in contact with us.
I was lucky to have a wonderful mother, though. She worked hard for us, and she loved us more than anything. I have a huge amount of love and respect for my mother and I do not accept any disrespectful talk about her
There were times where I wanted a father, though. But I did have many people in my life growing up. I had two brothers that I was really close to growing up. We were always together and did everything together, and my older brother (whos about 3 and a half years older than me) actually taught me alot of things. Like, having to shave my face, he was actually the one who taught me how to do that, haha.
And also, I learned at a young age to forgive my father, and to not hold any anger or resentment against him. My mom did not speak out against my father, nor did she let us. I mean, she accepted that we were saddened by his leaving, and we could talk about it. But she never encouraged any hate against him. I knew at a young age that he had issues with drugs and alcohol, and that he had serious struggles in life. And even at a young age I decided I wasnt going to be angry at him, and that I would accept that I didnt have a father. And I always felt lucky that our mom cared about us as much as she did : p
I think the biggest thing is to learn to let go of any anger and being willing to forgive, because thats what helped me come to accept that, even though all my friends had dads, that I did not. Instead of having any anger towards him, I knew he was a troubled person, and now I just hope that he gets better and gives his life to Christ, and accept that even though I had a disadvantage growing up, I still had many good things in my life to be happy about.