As your Facebook timeline is bombarded with Father's Day articles from the lovely creators here at Odyssey, mine is something a little different. Everyone will share about how amazing their dad is and how thankful they are and how their dads don't get recognized or appreciated enough. But for me, I can't say any of those things about my father. I'm not here trying to throw a pity party, I am here to share my experience. To show that while you're Father's Day is a special time, mine is celebrated in a different way. It's celebrated in thanking my father, for leaving.

My father left my family when I was two. I can't share how heartbroken I am over the experience because I was too young to even understand it. While I am not heartbroken over him leaving, I am thankful. There is an abundance of lessons that I learned from this experience. Today, I want to share with you some of them.

The first lesson that I was taught: everyone can be a father, but not everyone can be a dad. Many people associate those words with the same meaning, I can't say the same. A dad is someone who is there to love you unconditionally, who is there when you're at your highest high and your lowest low. He is someone who would do anything for you and who protects you; that's a dad. A father is merely someone who helped create you but has no ties with you besides those. I will always refer to him as a father because he has never done anything for me that would qualify him as a dad.

Lesson number two: my father leaving has also taught me how strong my mother really is. My whole life, my mom has been a person I admire. Her strength is extraordinary, and her love for us even greater. It takes a special kind of women and person to raise three kids on her own. She showed me that you don't need someone else to be strong. Everything a man can do, so can a woman. Things in life don't come easy, and that you have to work hard for the people you love. People will let you down, but you can't focus on the negatives. She is the most incredible person I have ever met. Every day I grow more and more appreciative of her. So, mom, thanks for everything you do.

Lesson number three: how much a family can really love you. Even though our family “lacked” one person, there was always an extraordinary amount of love. It's like nothing you have ever seen. Him leaving brought my family closer. It made us love one another because it was all that we had. It was shocking to see everyone in my huge, extended, family come together to help raise us. Uncles and aunts turned into second parents. Holidays were full of cheer and love. For “missing” someone, there was never any love missing from my family.

Lesson number four: the most important one of all, it taught me how to be strong. It made me realize that sometimes people leave and there's nothing you can do about it. You don't need a father there with you. That my mom loves me more than anything on this Earth. There are many challenges in life, things never come easy, and I couldn't get everything I wanted. Financially, things would be rough for awhile, but I am stronger than I ever thought. That only things that you can handle and overcome, are given to you.

Not having a father or a dad, made me thankful for every person that came in and out of my life. I'm thankful for the people that taught me lessons. I'm thankful for the challenges that I have been able to overcome. But most of all, I'm thankful that you left.