Lesli Brower on Father’s Day: ‘My father chose to walk away’

Father’s Day came and went and I avoided Facebook for most of the day like the plague for fear of having to read the stories about everyone’s wonderful, loving, “heroic” dad.

For the past month I have taken the longer route to the checkout line at the grocery store to avoid the card aisle because the thought of enduring the Father’s Day cards screaming in my face conjured up a flood of emotions that were just too much to bear. As in every year, my emotions about this day flip on and off like a light switch between anger, sadness, regret and empowerment.

Strange entry for Father’s Day, huh? You see, my father chose to walk away and not be a part of my life or that of my two siblings after my parents’ divorce when I was 10. And for years I needlessly carried the shame and burden of his actions.

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