I had very poor relationships with both my step dad and my biological father. For me both served as examples of how not to parent and I think I did ok with my own son.

My step dad was an abusive alchoholic, but having gotten my son to 20 I now have more appreciation for everything he did to keep our family afloat, even if I still disagree with a lot of how he did it. He died 15 years ago, when my son was only 5 so I never got a chance to express that appreciation to him and I'm a bit saddend by that.

My biological father was just a horrible person (my mom did not have great taste in men) and I was very lucky to never have had him as a part of my life. I tried in my early twenties to build a relationship with him and got a much better idea of why my mother kept him away from me. He is, unfortunately, still alive, I keep very far away and made sure he never had any contact with my son.

All that to say Father's day is pretty complicated for me, and a giant salute to the dads out there doing it right.