I had 2 parents until I was age six. I adored my father. But he was seeing a woman outside of his marriage to my mom, and one day he just disappeared. I was devastated. I became extremely depressed and anxious.
After that, I saw him one or two times per year, but he was a stranger to me.
I never did cope with my father's absence well. It hurt then and it still hurts. I'm in therapy; something I'm learning is that it was not my fault that my father left me. He had major issues that he hadn't resolved.