Reddit Stories - Episode #17 - Late Night AITA Confessions and Family Drama ( Over 9 Hour Compilation )

Episode Date: November 2, 2025

#redditstories #sleep #sleepstories #bedtimestories #fallasleep #aita #familydrama #relaxingstories #sleepcompilation Settle in with Episode 17 – Late Night AITA Confessions and Family Drama. This 9-hour soothing mix unfolds tense Reddit stories of guilt, redemption, and emotional chaos. Perfect for nighttime relaxation, easing anxiety, and slipping quietly into a long, peaceful, uninterrupted sleep. Tags: redditstories, sleepstories, fallasleep, bedtimestories, relaxingconfessions, aitastories, familydrama, emotionalstories, nighttimeconfessions, longcompilation, soothingvoice, calmingpodcast, relaxingnarration, peacefulsleep, bedtimeaudio, unwindstories, nightrelaxation, sleeplistening, sleepbetter, sleepaidBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Close companion from early years departed her magical creature after her partner shared their revealing recordings on the internet without her permission. Her guardians accused me initially until they learned the actual situation. Rosie and I grew up together since kindergarten in a conservative area, and she has pretty conservative parents. Rosie was very introverted when I met her, it took weeks for her to talk to me in a normal volume. In contrast, I was a very loud and outspoken child, and over the years it rubbed off on her. Her parents are very nice people and have never said it to my face, but I know they thought slash think I'm a bad influence on her.

We were in the same school until we were around 14, when she moved away and we lost contact for a while. Neither of us had smartphones back then. We would email every month or so, but she had very limited computer time as well. When we were 18, we got into the same college and reconnected, although we don't see each other often because her studies are very demanding. We weren't as close as before but we still talked a couple of times a month, I still important friend, two years ago, she got her first boyfriend, Darius, and it was obvious she had never been happier. I had never met him in person but have only heard good things from her. Her family knows about him and approves of their relationship. But around two months ago, she found out that he had been secretly filming their Eskule activities

and posting it on PRN sites. He did not censor her face, and he had amassed a not insignificant number of followers from these videos. She was mortified and heartbroken but did not want any of their mutual friends knowing, for fear that people Earl could potentially search and see those videos. Since their social circles are very intertwined, she had no one to confide in and I was one of the few people who knew. She stressed that her parents could not find out, they were under the assumption that both her and Darius were Christians and were saving themselves for marriage, and if they did, they would likely cut her off financially. Her mutual friends with Darius did not know what happened, just that she dumped him and she was very depressed and suicidal afterwards, and having dealt with depression and suicidal thoughts myself, I took her out almost daily to check on her and so that she could have someone to vent to. Her other friends noticed she was down, but she attributed it to dealing with the breakup and the stress of impending exams.

I don't know what the exams are supposed to be called in English, but it's something like the bar exam for lawyers. It's a big deal. The day she died, I went to pick her up from her dorm for dinner, but she didn't answer her phone or the door. She lives in a single room. I don't want to go into the details, but I was the one who found her. She didn't even leave a note. I had to call her parents and tell them about it. When they came, her mom started shouting that I was a bad influence, that I gave her depression, and implied that I drove her to kill herself. I heard through the grapevine that Darius told her parents they were only on a break and were working things out, and he has been comforting her parents and helping organize her funeral slash

memorial. I am disgusted. I want to tell her parents but I don't want to tarnish Rosie's memory. I also don't think her parents will believe. leave me. I am not invited to her funeral and I am wondering if I should go anyways. I want to see her one last time, but I'm afraid I might cause a scene if I go. I also haven't cried once since the incident. I think I may still be in shock. I am waiting for the grief to hit me, but it still hasn't yet. I feel like I'm supposed to be traumatized, but all I feel is numb. I don't know if this

is the right sub for this, but I'm looking for advice on whether to go to the funeral, whether to approach her parents or confront Darius, and if so, wow, and I guess just how to navigate this whole situation emotionally. Please let me know if this is the wrong sub to post in and I will post elsewhere. And I know Reddit is the first to suggest therapy. I'm on it. I can't afford individual therapy but I'm on a wait list through my university's mental health program. I don't have an exact timeline for when I expect to be seen yet, edit. I tried replying to all the comments but got a bit overwhelmed. Thank you all for the advice and hugs.

I want to clarify a few things and share what I've decided so far. Thanks to all your help, Rosie deleted all the videos she could find when she found out and we talked mostly in person. I have some texts from her saying how betrayed she felt and how exhausting it was keeping up appearances and pretending to be fine, but nothing concrete. I have decided not to go to the funeral. I want to respect her parents' wishes and it probably wouldn't end well anyways. I'm working on finding out who else Rosie told. She said she only told two other high school friends. I did some IG sleuthing and I believe I found one of them.

I send a message asking to talk about Rosie but she hasn't responded yet. After the funeral, I want to tell Rosie's parents part of the truth so they can have some closure and kick Darius out of their lives. I want to punch his face in, seriously. I hope to enlist the help of Rosie's other friends who have more credit. with her parents. So far, I'm thinking of telling them that Darius filmed her in the shower without her consent and posted them. That way it's 90% the truth. And I wouldn't have to reveal that they had sex. I will leave the decision to pursue things legally up to them. I will still try to reply to comments but I need a small break for now. Talking about this is pretty

mentally draining. Thank you all again. Update, December 6th, 2020. Hey, everyone. Just wanted to write down my thoughts and update anyone who was wondering about how things went after Rosie's funeral. Some info that is relevant to this update. Rosie and I grew up in religious families but both de-converted around high school. She wasn't religious for the duration of her relationship with Darius, but her parents believed she was still Christian. I know firsthand how damaging purity culture can be and that was why Rosie did not want people, and her parents in particular. finding out about her having had sex, even if it seems normal for most college students. Also, I said in my last post I was very loud as a child. That was true. I was feisty and kind of obnoxious. But my personality did a 180 in high school when I got diagnosed with depression and anxiety.

Now I am introverted and do not have many close friends. On to the update, I reached out to Rosie's high school friend Maggie, who I believe she also confided in about the Darius incident. Rosie had also told Sophie, another high school friend. The three of us swapped stories and ended up reaching out to Gwen, Rosie's best friend in college. Gwen was doing an exchange program overseas at the time of Rosie's death, and she had no idea all this had been going on. Rosie had been telling her everything was fine and that she broke up with Darius but didn't want to talk about it and that it was mutual. We decided to tell Rosie's parents an abridged version of the truth.

We told them she was filmed in the shower, instead of during Sags, because we felt that where we go from here is ultimately their decision and we shouldn't make it for them. Gwen is on good terms with her parents and met with them to tell them in person. Thankfully, they believed her right away.

With Rosie's parents' blessing, Gwen blew up all of their group chats telling people what Darius had done. She also spread the abridged version. Within a couple hours, Darius's ex-Nora 21F from about three years ago reached out to Gwen to say that she had also been filmed without consent and was too scared to say anything before. Nora made an official statement with our school and the school is investigating Darius.

Nora and Rosie's parents have also went to the police. Nora had more solid evidence against Darius, so hopefully they will convict him. Unfortunately, this meant we had to come clean about what Darius had actually filmed. Rosie's parents weren't as mad as I feared and didn't hold our abridging the truth against us. There's no verdict as of now. The legal system works surprisingly slowly. And personally, I suspect Darius will get at most a slap on the wrist because his parents are well off and well connected. On the bright side, his social reputation is completely ruined.

Most people trusted Gwen and Nora's statements and gave Darius hell. He took a leave of absence from the school. and he will likely have to go to college overseas if he ever wants to graduate. Because everyone in their major knows about it now. Some alumni from their field even caught wind and got involved. It's really very chaotic. I've asked Gwen not to involve me in any of this,

besides giving the police any evidence I have and maybe being called a witness, of course. Because my mental health has taken a huge hit from all of this and I don't have the energy to keep up with all the details. I have asked her to give me any significant, updates though. Personally, I'm doing as well as one can after. All this, which is to say I'm struggling, but hanging in there, and depressed but not suicidal. Thank you for all your condolences in the last post. A few short personal updates from me, Rosie's parents, after Gwen told them.

They reached out to me and asked to apologize in person. I didn't want to see them so we agreed to a phone call instead. They apologized profusely. for lashing out at me. I forgave them, they didn't know what was going on, I was hurt, but they had just lost their daughter and were understandably very emotional. I probably won't have much to do with her parents going forward. I didn't see them very, but I'm glad to have resolved this misunderstanding. The funeral slash memorial, Gwen was not able to sit down with Rosie's parents until after the funeral. She also had to miss it because she was still overseas at the time. We waited until she came back, so sad that we were.

I missed it. Rosie was cremated and her parents gave us, Gwen, some of the ashes. Gwen took Maggie, Sophie, an eye to her and Rosie's favorite spot on campus, and we set up a picnic there. We spread some of her ashes there, had a moment of silence, and started swapping stories about Rosie and her life. I had my first real cry after Rosie left, maybe three weeks after her death. It was very cathartic and hopefully the first step to healing. Therapy, I told my parents about everything and they helped me find a therapist with a shorter weight list than the ones in school. I did an intake session, and I can expect to be seen in as little as two weeks with a therapist

that specializes in grief counseling. In the meantime, I went to some support groups with Maggie, Sophie, and Gwen. I personally don't think it worked for me, because every time I talk about it, it's like reliving the whole experience for me, so I will stick to therapy. Sophie and Maggie are still going to sessions. What next? My semester is almost over, so I'm trying to tough it out until then. I've told professors in my department about Rosie, they've heard about what happened, and they've been really kind and I've been given extensions on most of the work I missed.

I'm not sure if I will be going back to school next semester or if I'm taking a break to recover mentally from all this. Maggie, Sophie, Gwen, and I have bonded over the shared trauma. Rosie had a pretty consistent taste in friends, L.O.L. We will be keeping in touch and leaning on each other. That's about it from me. Thank you if you've read this far. Typing this out helped. Comments where O.P. has replied, commenter one. Oh gosh. Take care of yourself. You've certainly been through the ringer. I'm glad you go PT the apology and realization they were wrong. Now you need space and time to heal. Oh, O-O-P, thank you. My main goal was not to get an apology, but I appreciated the closure I got. No hard feelings towards them, I absolutely cannot imagine losing a child. Commenter too. Sometimes a public shaming is more brutal than prison time.

The Internet is forever. As you said, he's dropped out of school and won't be able to get a job in his chosen career, and I suspect many people will make sure he can't find decent work elsewhere people still bring up Brock Turner all the time and share his image. Hell he was added to a law textbook, I-I-R-C. I think he does have a job but it's not a great one. I haven't seen anything recently about him. He goes by his middle name now. I'm sorry about the loss of your friend. I wonder if your country has revenge porn laws? Maybe you guys can work towards getting it out on the books if you don't. I'm sure there are plenty of people who are willing to help OOP. I'm glad people are willing to believe

Rosie and Nora. Sometimes people don't believe victims, especially with a person who is as good as faking being a kind person like Darius was. Yes, we do have revenge porn laws. Rosie's parents are handling it right now and I haven't been involved. Next story, Sills secretly put alcohol in my drink as a prank because I never drink. When I confronted her, she called me names and said my husband was doing charity taking in orphans. I, 29F, don't drink alcohol. The short answer to the reason for this is I grew with two highly abusive alcoholic parents. It took me a lot of self-work in therapy to even be able to be in the same room as people that are drinking. When I meet new people, I just politely turn down drinks by saying something along the lines of I don't drink.

There has obviously been some instances where people ask me why, but I never go into the traumatic details. I've never had anyone push it on to me or anything. That's what makes what happened last weekend so bizarre. On the second Saturday of every month, my husband, 30M, and his sister, 32F, throw a cookout or something along the lines for all of their childhood friends. I've always thought it was really cool that they stayed close with so many people since I myself moved away from home and only stay in contact with one friend from school. I've been attending these hangouts ever since my husband and I started dating. There's never been any issues. I get along well with his friends and his sister.

My husband took my 11-year-old little brother out of town for a dad-slash Sunday. We're his legal guardians, I've had custody of him since I was 20. So I went to the cookout alone this time. I've done this a couple times before, it's always been fine. So, my sill handed out the usual mimosas, I asked for just orange juice like always. When I took a sip of the drink she handed me, I immediately spit it out. because I could taste champagne. I turned around to my sill and said, oh, you must have given me your drink by mistake.

When I turned, I noticed her and two of her friends laughing. I was so confused. I asked what was going on and my sill said through her giggles, we thought it would be funny to see how you react to alcohol since we've never seen you drink it before. You should have seen your face. I was honestly just so shocked by that my only response was what the hell? As they continued laughing, I just told them I was leaving. I honestly don't even remember that drive home because I was trying to keep myself from having a panic attack.

When I finally got home, I just broke down crying. My husband and brother got home shortly after that and I couldn't hide how I was feeling even if I wanted to. My husband immediately asked me what was wrong and I just broke down again. I hate that my brother had to see me cry. I try to keep our house as happy and safe as possible. After I put on a movie for my brother, I explained what happened to my husband. He was so mad. I've never seen him like that before.

He told me to go relax with my brother and he was going to sort everything out. I could hear him yelling at his sister on the phone and after almost an hour, he came and sat with us and told me we wouldn't be seeing her again. The next day, we told my mother and father-in-law. I've always been really close with them so I wanted to confide in them, but I was obviously scared because that's their daughter and I didn't want to talk bad about her to them. To my surprise, they were absolutely mortified and so apologetic on behalf of their daughter. I'm so glad because my little brother adores them.

It would have been devastating if our relationship with them suffered because of this. So, yeah, this past week has been so weird. I feel weirdly betrayed. I hate that my sis and her friends used me as some sort of entertainment for the day. I know that they don't know the trauma this triggered inside of me, but I'm just so confused on why they thought that was an okay thing to do. I also feel guilty because I don't want my husband to stop going to the cookouts and lose his time with his friends, and I don't want him and his sister to never see each other again because of me.

My husband is amazing and has assured me it wouldn't be my fault if they never speak again. It's just hard not to feel that way. Don't worry though, I've had a lot of emergency therapy sessions this week and I know I'll be okay. It was just such a bizarre thing to experience. It seems like such a small, inconsequential thing to have happened to me. But it's been a crash course on trauma, triggers, PTSD, etc. typing it out has been so helpful. Thanks for listening to my ramblings. Update, December 7th, 2024. Hey, guys. Thank you to everyone that left me kind comments and messages on my previous post. I'll just get right into the update.

A lot of you guessed right. This isn't the first time my sill has done something like this. She is definitely what some would consider a mean girl. My husband and his parents have had multiple falling outs with her over the years, but they've been on good terms recently until she pranked me. So, yeah. I could see how my husband's immediate reaction to go no contact seemed like an overreaction, but he's dealt with a lot from her in the past.

I don't want to give any specific examples because they're personal to my husband and his family. Hope you all understand. So here's what happened after my last post. After talking with my therapist and my husband, I decided I wanted to message my sill. I asked her if she wanted to get lunch and talk about what happened. I wanted to explain some of my past to her, my PTSD diagnosis, and why what she did affected me so much. I just wanted this to be over and for us to come to an understanding. But she never responded. A couple of my husband's friends that were at the cookout when the prank happened called us to check in on me. They said they had no idea my sill planned that and they never

would have let it happen. That's probably why she didn't clue them in on the prank. They told me that after I left, they told her it wasn't cool. After a couple days, I just gave up hope of her messaging me back and decided to start moving on. Yesterday, my sill blew up my husband's phone. She said some pretty awful things. To summarize, it was along the lines of it's not my fault your wife is a PC that has scared me a bunch of names, from everything to be T-C-H, C-N-T, etc. She said she never liked me and she wished my husband stayed with his high school

girlfriend. They broke up when they were 18, by the way, my husband is 30. L-O-L.L. The worst thing she said was, my husband was just doing charity by taking in a couple of orphans. If you don't remember, I have custody of my 11-year-old brother and we don't have any contact with our parents because they're abusive. So, yeah, some pretty awful stuff. I was honestly just shocked.

I thought we got along fine. We were never best friends or anything, but I had no idea she held this much animosity towards me. Maybe she's just embarrassed and lost. lashing out because her parents or some of her friends berated her for it? I don't know. My husband sent just one message back to her saying he never wants to see or talk to her again and then blocked her and her husband's numbers. He told his parents what happened and they were furious too. I don't know what they said to her, but they're about as done as my husband.

Since I've been in therapy and have support around me, her words didn't bother me much. I know she obviously has some problems to deal with and I'm just her latest The worst thing she did was bring my brother up. I'll never forgive her for that. He's not an orphan. He has two parents that love him. And I'm not either. I have in-laws that love and support me.

They always have my back, even when it comes to their own daughter. If I never see my sill again, I'd be fine with that. I truly hope one day she'll come to her senses and understand the way she treats people as she doesn't right. We've decided to turn every second Saturday of the month into family day in place of the cookouts. I'm going to be just fine. I'm already feeling miles better than I did writing my previous post. For everyone calling me dramatic, I'm genuinely glad you don't have experience with PTSD or triggers. I don't think it's funny to give someone alcohol without their consent even if you know the person drinks.

Anyway, again, thank you for all the kind words. I hope there will be no more updates, but if anything crazy happens, I'll let you know. I hope you enjoy this story. Father evicted me following my stepmother's false accusation of me taking my stepsisters university fund. Hello, my distant dad contacted me recently and I require information. If I did the right thing or not since a lot of people have been giving me flack for how I reacted. So for context, he and I have not been on speaking terms for the last eight years. I was 21 back when he kicked me out and had just graduated college, so I was living with my family

for a couple of months before I started working and saved enough money to move out. My parents got divorced when I was seven and when I turned 17, my dad started dating my stepmom. Becca, my stepmother, had also been married before, but unfortunately her husband had passed away six years before she started dating my father. She also had a daughter from her previous relationship, my step-sister Alexa, who was four-year-old. years younger than me. The first time that I met Becca and Alexa, I sort of got a really weird vibe from them like they were not happy to meet me. But I thought that maybe they were just shy and I didn't think much of it, but the more time I spent with them, the less I thought they liked me. After one

year of dating, Becca and Alexa moved in with us but that was the year that I moved out for college so I didn't spend much time with them at home. I would only get to see my family when I would come back home for the holidays and every time that I would come back, they would always act very weird around me. They got married when I was in my second year and even then, they didn't seem to like me. I don't exactly know how to put it into words, but it was like they did not appreciate me being around and seemed much happier when it was just them and my father. After graduation, when I moved back in with the intention of staying at home so I could save some money before permanently moving out, I decided to talk to my father about this because I didn't want to live in a house where I felt unwelcome all the time.

When I discussed it with him, though, he told me that I was just imagining it, and Becca and Alexa loved me. So I decided to believe what he was saying and moved back in, but within a couple of weeks, he had been proven wrong. They definitely did not love me and if anything, they actually hated having me around. Becca was constantly cold to me and rarely ever even acknowledged my existence. And Alexa seemed to have it in for me and was constantly trying to get on my nerves and pick fights with me. I brought it up with my dad a couple of times, but because their behavior around him was very different, he thought that I was just reading too much into the situation and that they were probably just getting used to having me around now. This went on for a couple of months and no matter how much I tried to avoid them,

they just kept trying to make life difficult for me and after a while, I even stopped complaining to my father about it because there was no point. All I wanted was just to save enough money to be able to move out, but I was kicked out of my home quite unceremoniously because Becca and Alexa framed me for stealing her college savings. One day, I had left the house around noon to go house hunting with a couple of my friends because Becca and Alexa were driving me crazy and I really wanted to move out as soon as possible. I came back home in the evening and my dad, and my dad, was already there. He looked extremely disappointed and told me to pack my stuff and leave as soon as I entered the house. I had no idea what was going on, and I was caught off guard. When I asked him what was going on,

he told me that he had never expected me to turn out to be such a desperate low life, and he had never thought that I would stoop to such levels just for money. I had no idea what he was talking about, and I had tears in my eyes because the things he was saying were really harsh. But instead of trying to talk to me, he told me that he had no time for my act and he just wanted me to leave now. Then, Becca entered the room and started shrieking at me for ruining Alexa's future and claimed that I had done all of this because I couldn't stand the fact that my father had finally moved on. While she was screaming at me about what I had supposedly done, I was able to piece together the story and apparently, they were accusing me of stealing money from them from

a car that they had lent me for emergencies and I had instead used that for luxury purchases. Becca claimed that I had apparently come to her a few weeks ago and said that I was running short on money, so she had made me an add-on on the account where she saved money for Alexa, but I had almost drained the account entirely and now there was no money left for Alexa to go to college. Apparently, I had lied about what I needed the money for and had bought several new bags, shoes, and clothes from really expensive brands with the money that she had put aside for her daughter. I was appalled because none of this had happened and she was lying through her teeth. So I told her to show me the proof of all of this and my dad said that there was no need for that.

Because apparently, they had gone through my room a couple of hours ago, and they had already found everything they needed to confirm her story. He said that he had found all the items that had been purchased on that card stashed away under my bed secretly and of course, when I told my father that she had never even added me on the card because if she had, I would have known, he told me that she had removed me after she received a phone call from the bank that morning itself. It had taken a few hours, but now, it was done and when I told him to call the bank authorities to confirm this, he told me that he did not need any more proof to know that his daughter was a disgusting person and a thief.

No matter how hard I tried to convince him that Becca was lying, he did not believe me, and eventually, I had to leave. After that day, I did not have any contact with my father. He had shown me where his priorities were and after the way, I had been insulted, I never wanted to reach out to him again. I spent a couple of days with a friend before moving into my first apartment and I struggled with money for a couple of months, but after that, I was able to make it on my own own own life now and I'm even planning on buying my own house in a couple of months. For eight years, I've had absolutely no contact with my father and I have avoided every family event on my father's side like the plague because I just never wanted to see him. My mother and I have kept in touch and she had also cut off my father around the same time that I did because of the way he had behaved with the play. me. But right now, she's kind of taking his side, which is why I am confused. Anyway, a couple of days ago, my dad showed up at my house and I was very curious to know what he had to say, so I opened the door to speak to him and he told me that he had got the address from my mother. He told me that he was here to apologize to me for everything because only recently did he find out that my stepmom had made up the entire thing because she wanted somebody to cover Alexis College Fund. For years, she had been using him for his money and, and he had been using him for his money, and he had been and he had no idea because he thought he was just supporting his family, but after what he had just

found out from his in-laws, he wanted me to forgive him and give him a chance. Apparently, Becca had had had a fight with her parents a couple of months ago, and they had recently reached out to my father to let him know the truth about the incident over which he had kicked me out. So basically, just as I had suspected, she had bought all those things for herself and her daughter, but she instead placed them in my room to frame me and make it seem like I was hiding things. For good measure, she had even had her parents call her, pretending to be bank employees, and convinced my dad that she had in fact made me an add-on on the card. The real reason she had done all of this was because she was the one who had drained the college fund that her deceased husband had left for Alexa

with her extravagant lifestyle and she didn't want to have to ask my father to cover her expenses because she didn't want to come off as a gold digger. And she also hated me because she thought that my relationship with my father was going to get in their way and that's why she had always disliked me. That's how she came up with that plan, so she could get rid of me and also create a situation where my father himself would have to offer to cover Alexis College expenses. And she was able to kill two birds with one stone when that plan succeeded. For eight years, her parents had said nothing but recently, because of their fight, they had decided that it was finally time to dig up old skeletons out of the closet and tell my father the truth. He told me that he

had already filed for a divorce from her a couple of weeks ago with the help of his old lawyer, and now, he had come to reconcile with me. He said that he knew one of my friend's fathers was a really reputed divorce attorney, and now, he wanted me to fulfill my duty as his daughter and help him out by putting him in touch with my friend's dad because Becca and her lawyer had come up with a ridiculously one-sided petition. My dad also wanted me to get a lawyer he wanted to agree to lower his rates for my father. It was so outrageous that I literally ended up laughing in his face before shutting the door. I couldn't imagine that he had actually believed that he would just come by, apologize to me, and then ask me for help and everything would be fine again. I was obviously not going

to be helping him in any way whatsoever and if he wanted to hire my friend's father as a lawyer, then he would have to do whatever everyone else does, contact him himself, and pay the price that everyone else does. It was not my problem that his old lawyer was unwilling to fight this case because it seemed too complicated and he just wanted to retire. So after I shut the door in his face, I told him to go away before I called the cops. I didn't think that there was anything left to say, but after that, my mother called me up to let me know

that what I was doing was not right. I honestly have no idea why she's on my dad's side all of a sudden, but I got really mad when she told me that she didn't agree with my decision of not helping him. She said that everyone makes mistakes and my dad was also a normal human being, just like us, so it was not fair for me to hold him to an unrealistic standard and act like it was not okay for him to make mistakes just because he was my father. It was not that I had a problem with the fact that he had made a mistake by trusting his wife, but my problem was with the fact that he had trusted her over me, his daughter. And I still haven't forgotten the fact that he had called

me a disgusting person and a desperate low life when he kicked me out of the house. He had raised me, he literally knew me and in spite of that, he thought that I was capable of doing such a thing that I was being accused of. It was the fact that even after eight years, he was not just here to say sorry but to ask for my help. If he hadn't needed my help, I don't think he would have shown up to apologize. It took him eight years to realize that he had made a mistake and here he was, repeating exactly the kind of behavior that I had hated him for. I tried to explain this to my mother, but she just kept saying that he had accepted his fault, no matter how late it was, and that counted for something. So instead of acting like this, I should forgive him

and be the bigger person because I definitely should help him out. The thing is, I don't think I can help him out even if I want to because, granted, my friend and I are very close and I'm pretty sure that I can ask him to talk to his dad and work with my father, but I don't think I will be able to convince them to lower their cost because the best divorce attorney in town doesn't come for cheap. So why would I even commit to something that I'm not even sure I would be able to pull off. My mother and I ended up arguing about this for about half an hour, and both of us were pretty irritated with each other by the end of the phone call. She just refused to see where I was coming from and I didn't understand what she was even talking about because I didn't think she made sense. And now, we are also

not speaking to each other and I'm wondering if I made a mistake or not. I don't think that what I did with my father was that wrong, but my mother's reaction is making me think otherwise. I'd offer refusing to help my estranged father with his divorce. Update 1, so I've decided that I'm going to stay away from both my parents. You guys in the comments are right, I don't know my father anything after how he treated me, and the fact that he apologized to me literally weeks after finding out the truth just goes to show that he wouldn't have apologized if he did not need my help. Thank you so much to everyone who commented, I really needed that.

As for my mother, I don't really know what's gotten into her and why she's taking my dad's side after years of not speaking to him, but I don't really want to find out what's going on either. On the phone call, I asked her if she was talking to my dad and if she was in touch with him, she said no. She told me that for the past eight years, after I had been kicked out, she had not had any contact with my father, but he had been the one to reach out to her on the day that I slammed the door shut on his face. She told me that he had been crying and that's why she had decided to hear him out because my father is not exactly a very emotional man and it's very difficult to make him cry so she wanted to know what was going on that had made him call her.

And that's how she found out what had happened when he tried to apologize to me, but apart from that, she had never spoken to him before in the last eight years. I find that hard to believe now since she was exactly in the same place as I was, she would find it more difficult to forgive him. Back when my parents got divorced and continued to co-parent me, they were really good friends, and I suppose this incident has made them reconnect or something. Whatever it is, my My mother's reaction made me realize that she doesn't know me, as well as I thought she did and she definitely doesn't understand me because if she did, she wouldn't have gotten mad at me for not forgiving my dad instantly.

Anyway, I'm just going to stay away from both of them. It's not going to be hard not to speak to my dad because I've been doing that for the past eight years already, but it's going to be very difficult not to interact with my mother either. For several years, she has pretty much been the only family that I knew and now, I've lost her as well. I feel bad about it, but again, there's not much that I can do. I'm going to give her a week to apologize for what she said and how she reacted and if she comes to her senses within that timeline, then it's great, but if she doesn't, I don't even know what I'll do then. I might have to

cut her off permanently after that and even the thought of that makes me very sad, but I can't help it. I have to look out for myself as well. Update two, okay, so one week has not yet passed, but my mom did reach out to me. Unfortunately, it was not to apologize. I hadn't blocked her on anything because I wanted to see if she was going to talk to me or not, and she did. She texted me yesterday,

asking if she could visit me and talk to me in person because she thought it would be better to clear the air personally. I agreed to let her visit because I wanted to sort things out with her as well. And I honestly thought she was going to apologize. So when she came over, I was very nice to her, and everything. She started off by telling me that she had been thinking about the last

conversation that we had had and maybe she hadn't tried to understand me that well so she was here to give that conversation another shot. I thought it was a bit weird that she was asking me to repeat the same things, but I did, hoping that it would help her understand that I was coming, and then maybe she would find it easier to apologize to me. So we could end this once and for all. But after I was done explaining my feelings on this whole situation, she told me that now that we had calmly discussed this, she wanted me to have the same conversation with my father because she knew that I was capable of answering with dignity instead of slamming doors shut and my dad deserved an explanation for everything. Because even when he had thought that I had stolen Becca's

money, he did not call the cops on me and he even convinced Becca to do the same. It doesn't matter that everything was made up, what matters is that he tried his best to protect me even when he thought that I had done the wrong thing. So the least I could do was give him a chance to talk to me and she said that she knew she had raised her daughter who was kind at heart and wouldn't say no to this. But I told her that she didn't know me as well as she thought she did and I had no forgiveness in my heart for my father because he had treated me like crap in the past and I don't owe him anything, not even an explanation. I was very upset that even after all of this, she had not apologized to me, so I told her that after this, she should only contact me if she wanted to apologize and otherwise, I did not want to speak to her.

But then she started fidgeting and said that I shouldn't act this way because at the end of the day, family is all that we have and if we can't even rely on them to forgive us when we are wrong, then it'll be a miserable existence for us. I thought it was just a bunch of BS and I told her that I did not want to speak to her and discuss this any further, so I asked her to leave. That was when she finally told me that she couldn't leave because she had promised my father that she would get me to talk to him and unless I told her that I would talk to him at least once, she couldn't go. Because she had to live up to her promises and she really wanted me to work things out

with my dad. She claimed that she did not want to lose me and she was really sorry that I felt like both my parents had let me down, but ultimately, they were my parents and I should forgive them. Because the few things that they had done wrong were nothing in comparison to everything that they had done right in the past, and that counts for something. I thought it was ridiculous for her to even say that and I told her that it was her mistake that she had made promises to my father that she didn't even know she could live up to and it was not my responsibility to make sure she was able to stay true to her word. I asked her to leave once again, but then she finally told me that she couldn't because my dad was sitting outside in the car and he was waiting to be called inside and she didn't want to let him

down. That's when I finally snapped and I started screaming at my mother because this was a serious violation. I had made it very clear to her that I did not want to speak to my father, and she had taken the liberty of bringing him here, convinced that she could change my mind. Of course, I lost my temper and I started screaming at her, I told her that she was a terrible mother and I was done with her. She started crying, but it made no difference to me because I was furious. I just kept telling her to get out and she kept saying that she was sorry about all of this, but I was in no mood to hear it. She finally left her. after about 15 minutes of arguing and while she was leaving, I screamed at her, and I told her that if

she or my father ever came back, then I would make sure to call the cops on them. Then, I blocked her and I think I'm going to talk to a lawyer about getting a protective order against these people if they decide to visit me again. Update 3, all right, so something literally insane happened today and I don't even know how to talk to anybody about it. And that's why I'm here to talk about it because I really need to get this off my chest. So today, I was at home because I had a day off and I planned on doing nothing but then Becca and Alexis showed up. And that's not even the most crazy part of what happened today.

Of course, when I realized that they were standing outside my door, I was infuriated and I told them to get away instantly and I had even dialed the number to call the cops but Becca told me that she was not there to harass me. But to tell me the truth about my father and why exactly he needed my help. She was just as nasty and rude as before, and it was good to know that she hadn't changed in eight years, but I had no interest in speaking to her initially so I told her that whatever it is that she had to say, I wasn't interested. But then, she said that I would definitely be interested if I knew what she was here to tell me and give me an explanation as to why my mother was suddenly on my dad's side after not speaking to him for years, supposedly. I'm not going to lie, that caught me by surprise because I didn't think she would know about any of this.

And I really wanted to know what was going on so after some deliberation, I invited her in. But she refused to even step inside my house and said that she was only here to tell me the truth, and then she would be gone with her daughter. Standing right outside my door, she told me that a couple of weeks ago, her parents had revealed the truth about the incident that had taken place eight years back to my father and they got into a massive fight over it, and he decided to head for a divorce. The reason she had been fighting with her parents was because she stopped sending them money every month like she used to because even my father wasn't giving her the kind of allowance that

she wanted and she got a bit too greedy. In case anyone wanted to know what exactly they had been fighting about. And because my father had cut down her allowance without an explanation, she decided to do some sleuthing and found out that my dad was having an affair with my mother and she realized that he was probably planning on leaving her, which is why he had been saving money. So she decided to stay with him and then she would file for a divorce on her own terms eventually but before she could do that, my dad found out the truth and their whole fight happened and both of them found out about each other's true colors. Under normal circumstances, it would have been very easy for my dad to end this marriage without giving Becca anything but because he had also been cheating and had

been unfaithful to her and Becca hadn't worked in the past 10 years. She drew up a petition that would benefit her and he wasn't fine with that which is why they were fighting tooth and nail right now. The reason she was telling me about all of this was that a couple of days ago, my father had apparently threatened her on the phone and told her to back off because I was apparently going to put him in touch with the divorce attorney and then she would be screwed. Obviously, he was bluffing, but Becca did not want to take that risk so she had come to tell me the truth. I was literally shocked that all of this was happening, but, in a way, I was glad that I finally had an explanation as to why my mother had been acting so strange about my father. Once Becca had told me everything,

she told me that it was up to me whether I wanted to help my dad or not, and then she left. For the first time in her life, she had been of some actual use to me and I'm grateful to her. After this, there is no way that I'm ever going to keep in touch with my parents again. I can't believe that my mother tried to gaslight me into believing that my dad deserved a second chance for her own selfish reasons. My parents truly are a match made in heaven, they definitely belong with each other, and I'm glad that I'm not in their life anymore. I'm gonna be living on my own now and I would like to thank my lucky stars that I had the good sense not to forgive any of them.

Update 4, hi, so it has been a couple of months since I posted here and people wanted to know how things were going with me. So it's been going pretty well and I'm pretty happy on my own. I do occasionally miss my mother, but then I remind myself of how she betrayed me and then it's a bit easier for me to deal with her absence. I heard from a couple of relatives that my dad is now back with my mother again and his divorce. was finalized a few weeks ago, I think. I don't know what exactly he lost in the divorce and I'm not interested in knowing either. Some of my relatives have been invited to my parents' wedding in a couple of weeks. They wanted me to know about it, in case I want to show up and make things right with them, but I don't really care. And I definitely do not want to make anything right with them.

I'm happier and better off on my own. So that's how life is right now and I'm pretty content. I hope enjoy this story. Ignored a man on dating platform, then he began dating my closest companion just to remain nearby. Currently, he is attempting to disrupt my fresh partnership, all the while endeavoring to set me up with his friend. I, 19F, would like to start off by saying that I am in my own relationship, and although the title sounds weird, I just can't tell if I'm going crazy or not since everyone in my life has acted as if this situation is completely normal. A couple months ago, before I was in a relationship, I was on a dating app and would mainly use it unsuriously with my friends. Mainly because I would never find anything substantial in them. I ended up matching with this guy,

19M, let's call him Dave, who only used Instagram to talk to people, and therefore I ended up giving him my egg. I specifically remember talking to my friend, 18F, let's call her Leah, about Dave. My egg is full of pictures of me and my friends. I ended up ghosting Dave due to some personal issues I was going through and some mannerisms I caught onto that I didn't like, he was low-key aggressive, and I continued to post on my egg. Months later, my friend Leah comes up to me and tells me about this guy she matched with on a dating app. Surprise, surprise, it's Dave. Leah starts saying that she understands why it wouldn't work out with me and Dave because we

have nothing in common and that she's really excited for her date with Dave. I was also excited for her at first. She went on her first date with him, things were going very well. On the second date Dave tells Leah that he wants to meet her friends. He was so pushy about meeting her friends that he said he would plan the whole thing. I told Leah that I definitely did not have to meet Dave until they're more settled into the relationship and that I wouldn't take offense to not being invited. Leah told me that she wanted me to go and that all she felt she needed to do was tell Dave that I would be at this meeting the friend's date.

On Leah's third date with Dave she asks him who his celebrity crush is, and Dave responds with a popular actress of my ethnicity and then continues to express how women of my ethnicity are his type. Leah has a very different ethnicity to me and Dave was well aware of this. She finally musters up the courage to tell him that she is friends with me, and when she does he tells her. Oh, I know, do you know why she ghosted me? He then proceeded to tell her that he would bring a friend and turn this next date into a double date. for us. I go to the double date, surprise his friend doesn't show up because he's too afraid of women. Then we go through the date with Dave and Leah heavily making out everywhere we went to the point where I just continued to get secondhand embarrassment. I then realized that my ex-boyfriend

worked at one of the stores nearby, and since I was on good terms with him, I decided to stop by and say hi to him. Again this is before me and my current boyfriend got into a relationship. Leah and Dave show up and Dave asked my ex if he wanted to join us, and so he did. It was a pretty awkward setup since Leah and Dave continued to heavily make out at the restaurant we went to, but thankfully I was able to get through it without dying of boredom. A couple weeks go by and this is when I start dating my boyfriend. We made it official before Leah and Dave did, and when he finally asked Leah to be his girlfriend, he sort of did it through text.

Leah then tells me that they had gone on a date in the same mall we had gone on our double date and that Dave had gone back into the store my ex worked at to see if he could find him. Leah tried to play it off as a really cute thing because apparently Dave doesn't have a lot of friends since he just transferred to this college and she believes he's just trying to make friends his own age. I don't find it as endearing since my ex was very visibly uncomfortable with Dave throughout the dinner and barely talked to him. A couple months later my boyfriend and I start to have issues. I confided in Leah, and she wasn't really helpful since all she talked about was how Dave would never do that to her.

She also brought up the fact that she had a co-worker who was looking for a girlfriend and that she showed him my egg and he seemed interested. Leah then started talking about how her coworker is actually one of Dave's new friends and how they're getting along well. Leah then puts Dave on the phone and he proceeds to tell me that I should break up with my boyfriend. Dave has never met my boyfriend. Dave also said that I should get myself a man of his ethnicity. Leah then admits to me that Dave has been continuously asking her for updates on how my relationship with my boyfriend is going and if we have broken up yet. A couple days later I get a follow request from Leah's coworker and I asked her if she had told him

to follow me. She says Dave was the one who told him to follow me and said that Leah's coworker would treat me better. Dave just met Leah's coworker. He doesn't even know him that well. A couple hours later, Dave requested to follow me on his alternate account. I don't know what else to do or say. Leah, my boyfriend, nor my friends seem to be at all upset about this behavior, or at least not at the level I'm upset.

My friends have said that it is very odd and seem to think he's weirdly involved with my life as my friend's boyfriend. Is this not weird? Am I wrong for being upset? Update 1, December 18, 2024. Thank you so much for all the support you gave me on my original post, I just wanted to update you all on the development since then. My boyfriend and I made up and I updated him on the situation with Leah, Dave, and Leah's co-worker. At first my boyfriend seemed unfazed, but the more time passed, the more it seemed to bother him. Leah came over the night I uploaded the original post and the first thing she said was so what happened with your boyfriend?

Everyone is dying to know, and by everyone I mean Dave and my co-worker with a huge smile on her face. I pointed out the fact that it was odd that they wanted to know so badly. Leah simply brushed it off and said that her coworker actually wanted to apologize to me. Leah said that supposedly Dave had made it sound like my relationship was done for, which is why her co-worker requested me. As for Dave, he just continues to ask Leah if I've broken up with him yet. Leah continued to express her disappointment with some comments Dave has started to make about her size. She specifically talked about how she had wanted to get some desert, but he had refused to get anything and then asked Leah do you get deserts with your friends every time you go out with them?

And then Leah alluded to him fat shaming her friends, specifically me and one of her other friends. A day or so later, Leah calls me and tells me that Dave has once again asked her if I've broken up with my boyfriend yet. We continue talking and she says that unfortunately she doesn't think that we can go on that trip she's been wanting to go on with all four of us. Although I had already decided I wouldn't go anywhere if Dave were present, curiosity got the better of me and I asked what changed her mind. She said if Dave was in the same room as your boyfriend, I think he would, physically, fight him. She was being dead serious. My boyfriend and I got into a pretty run-in-the-mill argument. He didn't cheat or lie or steal or hit.

It was a simple disagreement. Therefore I don't think getting physical with my boyfriend is at all warranted. Especially considering the fact that this rage is coming from my friend's boyfriend who I originally turned down and barely know. The day after this phone call, my boyfriend brought Dave up and asked if he had done anything else. I informed him and he seemed genuinely concerned for Leah. He said that I should genuinely consider intervening as things. have seemingly gotten worse. I made efforts to intervene when this relationship between Dave and Leah was fresh, however, Leah simply accused me of jealousy. If I had been single at the time,

I would have bit my tongue and taken the harsh accusation, however, by the time she made the accusation, I was in a relationship with my current boyfriend. Therefore, the accusation truly upset me, specifically because it was an insult to my boyfriend and our relationship. After reading so many of your comments, which I greatly appreciate, I think I have decided to make some space between me and Leah. Am I wrong for this? Should I try harder to intervene? Update 2, December 25th, 24. I wasn't going to make another update, but a lot of people have been requesting it. Thank you to everyone sending your feedback and support. It has been very helpful while managing the situation. I would like to say that after reading some of the comments, I decided to remove

Dave from my following and unfollow him as well. This next part will be difficult to explain while maintaining the privacy of the people involved, so please bear with me. For some more context, one of the strengths Leah and I had as friends was that we would call and text constantly, which made our friendship so strong as it transcended barriers like distance and things like that. This makes it a little difficult to get space from Leah without her noticing. Leah had called me one night and begged me to pick up the phone. I picked it, up and she expressed that she was going to be taking a new step with Dave and that she was really nervous about it. She has never taken this step before. Based on the situation and the way Dave

simply sprang it on her and just his overall treatment of the situation, I told her that she didn't have to take this step if she didn't feel comfortable with it. She said she did and went along with it. A couple days later, she came over to get dinner with me saying she really needed to talk about the situation that happened. She told me that the next day, Dave, had shown up with Leah's co-worker, let's call him Gabe, 18M, who he had befriended. This is the same guy Dave wanted to set me up with. Leah explained that she got freaked out because she realized that she was talking and looking at Gabe a lot more than she was looking and talking to Dave.

She said she felt bad, and then continued to say that Dave started talking about other girls and showed pictures of other girls he's been with. Leah then expressed to me that it really upset her and that Gabe was the one who comforted her and reassured her that Dave was really into her. Leah said my boyfriend should be the one comforting me, not Gabe, so I asked her if she had feelings for Gabe. I expected her to say a stern no and continued her story, but when I looked up from my food, she gave me that look. She then said a meek no as she looked away from me. We went down this rabbit hole, talking about the possibility of Leah having feelings for Gabe. Leah continued to tell me that she had no feelings for

Gabe and that Dave was her boyfriend. To really hammer in her point she set up, My boyfriend is Guy and then she stopped herself. Her eyes widened, as did my smirk. Leah then said, you know what I meant. She then expressed that Dave is simply a better match since Gabe isn't interested in pursuing an ambitious career. Meanwhile, Dave is on that path. In my opinion, just because you're on that path doesn't mean you'll actually accomplish it. It's still early enough for Dave to change career paths or drop out of university entirely, so I wouldn't be choosing someone with Dave's past and track record over another guy I like simply because he says he's going to be successful in the future.

Another issue I had with Leah's reasoning is that Gabe wasn't good enough for her, but apparently he was good enough for me to break up with my boyfriend and date Gabe instead. I also realized just how messy things would have gotten if I had actually done that not knowing Leah has feelings for Gabe. As finals wrapped up, I was supposed to go on one last date with my boyfriend before I left and didn't see him for about a month or so. He continued to cancel on me throughout the week, and finally canceled on me the last day we were able to see each other and simply said see you when you come back and hung up the phone. So, I made the decision to break up with my boyfriend. He would rarely text or call, so our dates were the only time we would talk to each other, and we had those maybe once, rarely twice a week. I felt like he didn't care about me.

There was more to it, but the point is that this was the last straw, so I ended it. The issue with this is that although I have many other friends, the timing of the breakup was awful, and right before the holidays, which meant I had to go home and I was a bit disconnected from my college friends. I had maintained my distance from Leah, but my mother just had to be overly critical the second I got home. My self-esteem plummeted because of this, and I felt so unworthy, taking into account that I had to had to break up with my boyfriend because he didn't care for me, and then my mother's comments really did not help. Leah reached out, I needed a friend, so I told her what was happening. She said she was sorry and that this was for the best. A day or so go by and she texts me to tell

me that Dave was really happy when she told him that I had broken up with my boyfriend, and that he told Gabe that I was single. She said he would be reaching out soon. I told her I didn't think it was a good idea since she clearly had feelings for Gabe. Leah told me that she fixed her issues with Dave and that she didn't have feelings for Gabe. He's my co-worker, Dave is my boyfriend. At least this time she got the names right. I got the message from Gabe and I decided to talk to him since I felt isolated at home. It was friendly. I asked him what he thought about Leah and Dave. He said that they were very different and that Dave just has to stop talking about other women. We started talking about my ex-boyfriend and Gabe said I can't stand fuck boys, I don't know why girls

always end up with them. Sometimes I feel like I should just be one of them. But I just can't do it. I wasn't raised that way I then asked him if he was saying that meant he didn't like Dave. Gabe then replies, well, he's changing, but have you heard him talk about the girls he's been with? I don't know what else you would call that. Leah called me, she told me that Gabe had called her asking to swap a shift. She said that when she had asked how the conversation was going with me, he simply said don't worry about it and hung up the phone. I told her not to worry then, and continued on my day. 30 minutes later, Leah calls me again, and then texts me. Why did you unfollow Dave? I asked her how she figured that out and she said I was on the phone with Dave and I

checked his following and realized you didn't pop up on mutuals. Why did you unfollow him? I didn't leave her, but I didn't know what else to say's Gabe won't tell me what you guys talked about, and now I see that you unfollowed him. What the hell is going on op? I told her to relax, and I said that I had unfollowed him ages ago. I then asked her to swear she won't say anything to anyone, especially not Dave. She told me I promise I won't tell him. You're my best friend, I won't tell him, just please tell me so I sent her the weird sly messages Gabe sent me. Leah then said so he likes me. That wasn't my first thought when I got the texts from Gabe.

I mainly felt like he knew Dave wasn't exactly the best boyfriend, but I suppose it could mean he has feelings for Leah. Yeah, I can't show this to Dave, he'll freak out. I told my family about what was happening. My mother and sister both said that Gabe obviously liked Leah, but then accused me of liking Dave yet again. Writing this out and reading over it again, I feel like I should just stop talking to Gabe and cut myself out of the situation.

I feel a lot weaker right now than I was when I first posted this situation. Next story, wife has dragged me to Disney World nine times. When she finally agreed to try a different destination, she got in an accident and now we're going back to Disney again. My wife Jess and I have been married for the past 13 years. We're both 39. After experiencing financial hardship throughout our 20, and early 30s, Jess and I are now fortunate enough to have the means to travel once or twice a year. The only problem is that Jess literally only wants to go to Disney World.

We have been to Disney nine times now, and every vacation we have ever taken together was to go there, including our honeymoon. So we go, we eat the Mickey Mouse ice cream, we wear the mouse ears, we stay in the official hotels, we see the characters, we ride the rides, we take the pictures in front of Cinderella's castle, and we come home. Every trip. I'm honestly beyond sick of Disney, and I never really liked going in the first place. Jess knows this, but she has no concept of travel beyond Disney. We're currently planning a trip for April, and Jess, as usual, said that we can just go to Disney.

I explained that it sounds fun, but hey, why don't we go somewhere like Hawaii this time? Jess was confused. She asked why we would go to Hawaii. I responded that we could enjoy the spas and go to the beach. Jess mumbled the half-hearted answer and walked away. A few days later, she approached me, saying that she made hotel reservations for Hawaii. At first, I was excited because although she did so without consulting me, it seemed like she was really listening.

But then when she showed me the hotel she booked, I found she had made reservations for Alani, the Disney resort in Hawaii. Frustrated, I told her that I'm honestly tired of Disney, and that I just want to have a different experience this time. She told me that she was compromising with me, and that I should be appreciative for the time she spent. I asked her if she was willing to consider anything other than Disney for our trip, and she said no.

At this point, I said that I wasn't going. Now she's furious. She canceled the reservation she made, and now she's looking for her. for a friend to go to Disney World with again without me. Was I the asshole here for not trying to accommodate her request? Update 1, December 20th, 2024. About a week ago, I made a post about an argument my wife Jess and I had. The TL-D-R version of it is Jess loves going to Disney World, and we have gone there for literally every trip during our marriage, which is now at an impressive nine times. When I asked Jess if we could go somewhere like Hawaii, she suggested,

Alani, the Disney resort, and I dismissed the idea immediately. This upset Jess. Here's the update, I screwed up. I know most people were giving me the NTA judgment, but Jess actually showed a great deal of openness to my idea. She took initiative by reserving the hotel because she wanted me to be happy. When I said nope. No Disney, she felt that I hadn't put any effort into taking her feelings into consideration. And she was completely right. I hadn't. It was, in a twisted way, my form of revenge for dragging me to Disney World all those times. In the last post, some people commented about how Alani barely even looks like a Disney resort at all. This is something I should have researched myself before I threw the gauntlet down with Jess.

When I looked into it, it looks like a run-of-the-mill Hawaiian resort. In my defense, going to Disney World nine times has kind of made me sensitive. and I'm fairly sure that on a Rorschach test I'd see nothing but mouse ears at this point, but I really should not have jumped to conclusions. A day after I made the post, I approached Jess and apologized. I was wrong. Yes, she might be a Disney adult, but aside from always wanting to go to their theme parks, she's never obnoxious about it.

I said I was sorry, and asked for permission to reserve the hotel again. And Jess responded that she'd love to go to Alonair. with me. When I told her that it's not really all that Disney, Jess said, of course, I knew that. I wanted to go because my sister said it was beautiful. I'm a moron. Jess and I have planned our vacation, and we're super excited to be going now. I came to this realization because a lot people pointed out some things I should have figured out myself. Thank you. Update 2, January 5th, 2025. Hi again everybody. This situation all started because my wife Jess and I had an argument about going to Disney World on vacation again. I didn't want to go because we had already been nine times,

and when I suggested Hawaii, Jess made reservations for Alani, which is a Disney-owned resort. I immediately rejected this idea, mistakenly believing it was just another Disney vacation. Eventually, I realized that I was wrong and that Alani was a perfectly fine compromise. Unfortunately, we will not be going to Alani for our upcoming vacation. A couple of days after Christmas, Jess had a minor car accident. She mistook drive for reverse and backed into our garage door. When I heard the loud bang, I ran outside, and I found Jess holding her neck in the car. I immediately drove her to the hospital, where she got x-rays done. She seemed fine, but the doctor said that based on her symptoms, headache, neck pain, and

numbness in her fingers, she could have whiplash. Jess and I figured that she would be fine in a couple of days, but almost two weeks later, she is still complaining about back pain. Yesterday, she approached me, saying that she wasn't confident she could go to Hawaii in a few months. I asked what she wanted to do, and while apologizing profusely, she asked me if we could postpone that trip. I responded that she had absolutely nothing to apologize for.

After that, she said, that she felt bad about not being able to go to Hawaii, but she might be able to make it to Disney World. While I didn't understand at first, she told me that it has very high accessibility and, in a worst-case scenario, ECV rentals. She doubts that will be necessary, but assured me that we could take it easy there. I know that this isn't the conclusion people here wanted, and it's certainly not what I wanted to do with my next vacation, but Jess's health has to come first here. We've made our reservations. It's not where I want to go, but Jess is super happy right now, and that's what matters most to me.

Thank you all for your input. I hope you enjoy this story. My relatives undermine the lavish 50th celebration I organized for Mill, so I assumed control of the gathering for my own benefit and now there's no birthday. I, a 26-year-old female, have been wed to my husband, 29M, for almost three years now and I've always known that my husband's family doesn't really like me. My husband has two younger twin sisters, 23F, and a younger brother, 21M, and none of them seem to like me very much. The same goes for my mother-in-law as well. I've never been able to figure out why exactly they dislike me so much, but I was determined to fix it since I wanted to build a good relationship with my in-laws. So I decided to plan my Mills' 50th birthday party this year.

My husband advised me against it, saying that if his family doesn't seem to like me, then I should just let it be instead of of going out of my way to be nice and win them over, but I ignored it since I really wanted to be on good terms with them. I'm just a people person and I couldn't stand the thought that these people seemed to dislike me for no apparent reason and I had to make it right. So a few days ago, I started planning for the party and even tried to get my husband's siblings involved but they weren't interested at all and told me to do it all myself if I wanted to. I booked one of my mill's favorite restaurants where she and her late husband used to go on dates all the time and paid for all the food and decor well in advance. In fact, I even overlooked it all myself and made sure that

all of it was up to my mother-in-law's taste and standards as she was really particular about things like these. I even invited a few of her closest friends and some of our relatives after consulting my husband regarding who she'd want there. Basically, I paid for everything and planned it all out on my own with a little help from my husband while her own kids did absolutely nothing to help and didn't even contribute financially. Yesterday, on the evening, of her birthday, we visited her even though my husband didn't want to. Anyway, once we got there, we noticed that her other kids were already there and they looked pretty surprised to see us but didn't say anything. After a bit of small talk, I finally came to the point and told her that

we'd be expecting her at the restaurant and the evening tomorrow since we had something planned for her. She smiled and thanked my husband for it, but he told her that it was all me and I was the one she should be thanking. Her face soured instantly and I was pretty confused for a second. She's second. I told her that I'd invited all her close friends and some of her family members and I'd made sure that I picked out all her favorite food as well, in an attempt to get her to acknowledge my efforts. But a nasty look took over her face and she proceeded to say thanks in the most false sugar-coated tone before telling me that while she appreciated my efforts, she was sorry that I wouldn't be attending. I was shocked and asked her why, to which she replied that she wanted her 50th to be

special so she wanted it to be a family-only event, and while she did consider her friends as family, she didn't consider me family at all so she'd appreciate it if I made myself scarce the next day. My husband and I looked shocked to the core and I realized, in that moment, that he'd been right all along and I never should have put in any effort at all since she was clearly never going to appreciate any of it ever. My husband's siblings, on the other hand, looked like they were going to burst out laughing any second which is what pissed me off even more. So I got up, told her that she could go to hell and if she dared to show up tomorrow then out of security escort her out. That wipe the smug looks off all their faces and my mother-in-law told me that I

was being cold and cruel so I just laughed in her face and said that it was pretty rich coming from her. After a bit of back and forth where she tried to convince me that I was wrong, I told her that she didn't deserve anything nice and that my decision was final. She and her kids looked furious and right before I left, she started crying, probably as a last-ditch effort to make me feel. sorry but I didn't care anymore. I was livid on the drive home and tried to cancel the reservation, but since it was too late, there was nothing I could do. My husband looked pretty uncomfortable about this whole thing but refused to make any comment apart from saying that I did the right thing

and then went out for a smoke once we got home which was fine by me since he'd never been too expressive when it came to his family and preferred to stay out of these things and moreover. I was the one who had ignored his advice so it was nice of him to not rub it in my face. Anyway, since I'd already paid for the place and food, I decided to cancel all the invites which was pretty last minute and ticked off a lot of the guests but they were mostly my mill's friends so I didn't care. Instead, I called over some of my own friends to make it all worth it since I was pretty annoyed about everything that had happened. My husband also joined in and I also got him to invite a few of his friends so that we could party. We got rid of the decor just in time

before they came and had a total blast. I posted all the pictures after I came back home today and my sister-in-law texted me saying that I'd ruined her mother's birthday and said that it was incredibly selfish of me to use the venue for myself especially when I knew how much it meant to my mother-in-law. I don't feel particularly sorry about what I did and think it was perfectly reasonable, though I'm just hoping I'm right. I'd for canceling my mother-in-law's birthday party that I'd planned after she told me

that I wasn't welcome there? Update 1, I told my husband about the message's sister had sent to me and asked him if I should apologize to his family and he said absolutely not. In fact, he told me that he'd had enough of their behavior and thought that it would be for the best if we decided to cut them off entirely. This was a huge deal since his family relied on him a lot for money and stuff, especially my mother-in-law. My husband is relatively well off and runs his own company so cutting his mother off would mean that she'd have to rely on her other kids instead, which was a problem as my husband's siblings were good for nothing and all switched jobs every few months.

Truth be told, all of them were very dependent on them for money and stuff so this was a huge decision. I'd tried to discourage him from doing so, but he was pretty adamant. I'm sure that there's something deeper at play here because truth be told, I've always noticed that his family grew apart from him the longer we dated, and by the time we were getting married, he was quite detached from his family. It wasn't his own fault since I remember him telling me several times that he would invite his family over for dinner while we were dating and even in the initial stages of our marriage,

but they'd always make up some excuse to avoid it. I was sure that I was part of the reason as well and that was another factor that made me so desperate to build a relationship with my in-law so that my husband could also reconnect with his family. I'm quite sure that there's something that my husband isn't telling me or hasn't told me because he's not the kind of person to simply abandon his family.

He used to tell me earlier about how much family meant to him and so this sudden decision, although fair and light of how my mother-in-law treated me a couple of days back, is very strange and out of character for him. I'm determined to get to the bottom of this because I don't want my husband to be miserable because of me or resent me in the future. I'm just hoping that he finally feels comfortable enough

to tell me what made him take such a drastic measure now. Update 2 after a lot of pestering him, my husband finally opened up as to why he's cutting his family off after all these years. I knew that his father had passed away when he was 21 and his siblings were all in school back then. His mother had never worked a day in her life so naturally. It was on him to get to work and be the breadwinner of the family since the money his dad had left them wouldn't be enough to cover it all. He worked hard day and night and finally, when he was around 23, he found some investors for his start up and things finally started looking up for him. He went from just getting by to flourishing,

which was great for him, but it made his family immensely lazy and materialistic. Now that he was making more money, they started getting more and more dependent on him, but he didn't say anything about it or protest since he felt that he owed them this as this is what his father would have wanted him to do. They also treated his girlfriends quite badly since they believed that having other people in his life would distract him and his soul aimed should be to provide for his family. This is why when he met me and it became clear that I wasn't someone they could just mistreat and drive away since I was just that determined to be with my husband, they started getting annoyed by my very existence and tried to poison my husband against me. However, by then, he'd had enough and there

was a lot of fighting and bickering while we were dating that happened behind my back where his family wanted him to break up with me but he was intent on marrying me. Eventually, they started distancing him from themselves in an attempt to guilt-trip him but they still came to him for money. This tactic also failed to break us apart and several years later, here we are, still doing strong. After the whole birthday fiasco, my husband told me that while his sister texted me to guilt-trip me, his mother had called him up to do the same to him and was trying to emotionally manipulate him into leaving me since I'd insulted her. That's why he decided that he'd had enough of this and it was time to let go.

I'm still in shock that his family put him through all of this even though he was the one who's been supporting them throughout and I've pretty much lost any respect I ever had for them because they're just plain greedy. I'm really happy that I decided to stick it out with my husband despite his family's attempts to separate us and drive me away so they could hog his money. Truth be told, I don't care how much money he is because I love him for who he is and his bank balance has nothing to do with it. Now that I know the whole story, I'm surprised that he was able to put up with this and even keep it all a secret from me for so long to spare my feelings since I'd wanted to have a good bond with my in-laws, but he knew that was never going to happen.

I think he's making the right decision now and that his family deserves to get cut off. They're incredibly selfish, and greedy, and have no respect for the one man who had their back for so long against all odds. Update 3. Today, my husband finally called his mother up and told her that he doesn't want to hear from her or his siblings unless they change their ways, and they'll also have to find their own source of income since he isn't going to continue supporting them his entire life. Just as I'd expected, this decision was met with uproar on their end and I could hear my mother-in-law screaming at my husband even though his phone wasn't even on loudspeaker. There was a pretty nasty argument that broke out between them and since I was in the same room as my husband, I heard every single word of it.

My mother-in-law, obviously, tried to blame me for this and said that I must have influenced his decision to cut them off somehow. She also accused me of trying to break their family apart and said that my husband shouldn't let himself get manipulated by his wife. Again, the irony of her telling my husband to not allow himself to get manipulated was pretty funny to me. Obviously, my husband defended me to the best of his abilities and even told her that his siblings need to find decent jobs because they're all adults now and it's pretty pathetic that they still have to rely on him to provide for them. She started accusing my husband of letting the money and power of being in such a high-paying

position get to his head and that I was also probably encouraging him to cut his family off, which is why he was treating his own blood so cruelly. It was all classic manipulation and emotional blackmail to keep him under her thumb, but I wasn't going to let that happen anymore. Now that I knew what she and her other kids had been up to. When things started getting too heated and I could see my husband getting flustered and teary-eyed out of sheer frustration, I decided to intervene. I told her that my husband's mind was made up and if she and her kids didn't get in line soon

then they'd be losing my husband's support forever. Now the ball was in their court. They could either behave like decent human beings and respect me and my husband to continue being in our lives or they could be the blood-sucking materialistic ayes that they were and get cut out of my husband's life entirely. Having said that, I hung up and muted all notifications on my husband's phone so that he wouldn't have to deal with them for a while

and had time to calm down. It's been an hour since the call ended and we've kept our phones aside to watch a movie and keep ourselves distracted for now. Update 4, since harassing my husband and ruining his day wasn't enough, my mill decided to bother me instead. After the movie ended, my husband decided to finish up some pending work and I decided to check my phone.

I had several missed calls from my mother-in-law and innumerable texts saying absolutely disgusting things to me that were full of curse words from my husband's siblings. I wasn't surprised in the least, though, since this is exactly what I had expected they'd do. I just took screenshots of it all for later and ignored it. I continued to reply to work emails and stuff for the next ten minutes, but that's when my mother-in-law called again and I accidentally ended up accepting the call. She then proceeded to say the nastiest things about me and my upbringing, calling me a manipulative and selfish gold digger who was out to ruin my husband. I didn't even respond to any of her accusations and simply waited for her to be done with it. When she finally seemed to run out of steam, I told her that everything that she said,

she accused me of doing was things that she herself was guilty of so before pointing fingers. She should probably just introspect a little. I also told her that I was glad that my husband was finally getting rid of freeloaders like her and her other kids since they didn't deserve to even breathe the same air as he did. Then I hung up and blocked her and my husband's siblings everywhere that I possibly could, so that they couldn't get to me anymore. It's just sad that people are willing to stoop so low just to be able to avoid doing any work for themselves. I haven't told my husband about his mother calling me up yet because I just don't want to stress him out even more. But if this happens again, then I'll definitely be letting him know

and ensuring that they're out of our lives forever. They have absolutely no right to disturb our peace in this manner. I don't know what they're going to do next, but I'm sure that my mother-in-law is definitely not going to stop until and unless we decide to take legal action against her or something. I'm praying that it doesn't have to come to that since that'll be a huge ordeal for my husband emotionally, but if it does, I'm ready to make sure that we see it through. They're not messing with my husband anymore, that's for sure. Update 5, almost two weeks have passed since the last update and so much has happened since then. After I blocked my mother-in-law, my husband and I had dinner and went off to sleep, hoping that there'd be some peace and quiet the next day. But the

very next day, my mother-in-law showed up at our doorstep with her three grown children and demanded an explanation for everything that had been said and done so far. She looked pretty angry and so did my husband's siblings and I knew for a fact that this was going to be very stressful for my husband. I decided to stay in the room, despite their protestations, saying that I had no right to be there because this was a family issue and I'm not family. I let them know that they were intruding upon my privacy and were standing under my roof so they had no right to tell me if I could stay or not. Then, they started verbally attacking my husband, bombarding him with accusations of being selfish and unreasonable and even going to the

extent of saying that he was abandoning his family just to keep his wife happy. My husband had stayed silent and was already looking pretty red in the face so I knew that was my cue to take over since my husband is a really sensitive man, especially when it comes to his family and loved ones. I knew that he wouldn't be able to fight them and defend himself against their false accusations and manipulation because that's how soft-hearted and kind he was. And while they were just using him for his money, he genuinely and truly did love his family. So I told him to compose himself and told his family to leave because they were pissing me off and more importantly, they were making my husband cry. My mother-in-law started arguing with me, saying that I don't get to push her around, especially in her son's house, and that she can stay for a long as she wants to. She still didn't stop speaking to my husband, even though he looked pretty

upset with everything. It was disgusting to see that she couldn't care less about her own son's feelings and what mattered to her most was the money. So she started telling him that she hadn't raised him like this and that she was disappointed that he was choosing his wife over his own family. His brother even said that the only duty he should be fulfilling was that of a son and a brother since I was a gold digger anyway and didn't deserve to have a husband like him in the first place. That pissed me off and I lost my cool at that point. I snapped at him and told him exactly what I thought of the lot of them. They were all lazy, good-for-nothing idiots who were surviving solely on the kindness and generosity of my husband since they themselves were incapable of doing anything for themselves

and that they were pretty much the definition of gold diggers. Moreover, not only were they hovering around my husband constantly for money, but they also had the audacity to be so ungrateful and target him after all that he's done for them. They were stunned into being silent and I could see that they were struggling to fight back but had nothing to say. Taking advantage of that, I told them to get out before I reported them to the cops for showing up uninvited and then refusing to leave. So they left, but my mother-in-law still believed that she could convince my husband to choose them over me, so she said that his father would be disappointed had he been alive to witness the way they'd been treated by their eldest son today. I thought it was really just low and disgusting to play that

card constantly to emotionally blackmail my husband and by the time they'd driven away, I could see that my husband was barely holding it together. He started sobbing uncontrollably as soon as they left and I had to spend hours calming him down. I felt terrible about this whole thing and wished that I'd never tried to throw my mother-in-law a birthday party in the first place at all. But then again, that was what had led to this kind of worms being opened and I'm great to that this happened sooner rather than later. Anyway, after his family left, I blocked them everywhere from his phone and social media as well and made sure that they couldn't get to us online.

After he had calmed down enough, I told him that it was about time that we started looking into lawyers because I was sure this wouldn't be the last that we would be hearing from his mother and siblings. And he agreed with that because as much as he hated to admit it, he was well aware that his family was willing to go to any lengths to get some money out of him. So we started looking for family lawyers, just to be on the safe side. And we were definitely right to have done that because, within days of that fight, my mother-in-law sent us a legal notice demanding that he pay them an extravagant sum of money

as compensation for stealing tons and tons of money from them after his father's death to start his business. It was appalling to me that she and her children were willing to lie about something so huge and defame my husband. He'd never taken a single dollar from whatever his father had left them but had only used money that he'd earned himself. He was completely self-made and even claiming such a thing was an insult to his integrity and I was furious that they dared to propagate such a lie. And since my husband's company is a pretty big one, it got a lot of people talking as well which

did affect his business too and that was dumb on their part. However, we were able to prove after almost two weeks that they were lying and not one word of their claims was true. So now, they're the ones who have to pay us a huge fine for trying to defame us and jeopardize my husband's career. Last I heard, my mother-in-law and her kids had been ostracized by the rest of the family because of their nasty little stunt. And all three of those lazy idiots are scrambling to find jobs so that they can pay the bills that my husband has been taking care of so far. I'm glad that this is happening to them because they totally and absolutely deserve this. We can finally move past this whole episode and forget about them altogether. My husband and I are a lot happier now and I intend to keep it

this way forever. I hope you enjoy this story. A peculiar sibling absconded with my partner and tied the knot with him on our special day after encountering him only once. 12 months later, his mother phoned me in tears to reveal the reality. Life has been very difficult, especially over the last year. I have faced trauma I never expected, and I've had to do it practically without any I had finally brought myself to a better place mentally and emotionally, and now all that progress has come crashing down. I don't know what to do. I, F-27, have had a strained relationship with my family for as long as I can remember.

I have a twin sister, Talia, and it had been clear early on that she was the Golden Child. I don't know how this happens with a pair of twins, but here we are. I always believe that the Golden Child is either an overachiever, shares simple. interests with the parents, or is somehow different in a positive way from other children in the house. But in this case, Talia and I were mirror images of each other. We had the same interests. We both did well in school everything was similar, so I could not, for the life of me, understand why my parents loved her more. Because they did. They used to try and hide it initially, but I always felt this way, even as a kid. I remember breaking down one day and telling them that I felt overlooked and unloved,

but nothing changed. It was always Talia first, Talia over everyone and everything else. The favoritism was subtle at first. If they got us toys or clothes, Talia got the first pick. Even if these things were identical, they were not always the same color, and Talia always made the choice. I had to just make do with whatever she decided wasn't worth her time or something she didn't like. And if I protested, I got lectures about how I was being selfish, about how the gifts were the same anyway, and about how I'd never get far in life if I acted so entitled. Then, gradually, it got worse. Talia enjoyed the attention and pampering, and I hated her for it, so we were never close. This rift between us widened in middle school when she isolated herself from our

friend group and started hanging out with the cool kids. In a way, that was better for me because I could now at least have my friends to myself and live in peace at school. Initially, our friends were shocked at her sudden change, but they grew accustomed to it, and my friendship with them grew stronger. Throughout middle and high school, the rift between Talia and me kept widening. By the time we graduated, we had completely different interests and distinct social circles. This worked for me because it meant less interaction with her. She was still mean, especially in school because she wanted to look cool for her peers, but I was very used to her bullshit, so it never phased me anyway.

It was at the end of school that things between us escalated to levels I will never recover from, and I haven't been in contact with her since. I worked very hard on my college applications because I knew what I wanted to do, plus almost all my friends wanted to go to good places and do well for themselves. I hadn't known about Talia's preparation for her essays, and I wasn't nosy, so I never asked, but she looked way too confident about her admissions for someone who wasn't prepared or at least didn't know what to do. To my dismay, she got in, and I didn't. Long story short, I found out, in the nick of time, that she had stolen my essay and submitted

it. I was furious and didn't want to tell my parents because, as always, they would have said that I needed to suck it up and that now nothing could be done. I was done being nice and trampled on. I decided to go nuclear. I emailed the university with details about her plagiarism, showing them how this work was mine. I also told them about the situation at home and requested them to be mindful if and when they responded to her. Well, they did, and they blacklisted her, citing that they had found she engaged in plagiarism during her application. When she got the email, she sat in disbelief and looked at me with such hate I thought I would collapse. But she couldn't admit anything to mom and dad.

What could she have said? That she stole my essay? I knew I had caught her in a bad position, and I was more than elated that she was getting her due. The situation was tense and hilarious, at least for me. I knew what she had done, and she knew what I had done, and I didn't want to go to mom and dad for resolution, and she couldn't go because that would mean admitting she stole my work. Unfortunately for her, mom and dad were heartbroken by this injustice. They were sure they wanted to take it up with the university, insisting there was no plagiarism involved.

It's here that things got messy. My parents sent the email, and what they got in return was a detailed reply about her application and the source she stole from my work. I foolishly hoped that when they saw what their precious daughter had done to me, they'd finally see her for who she was, and maybe, just maybe, I would become an important part of the family. What happened was quite the opposite. I was yelled at for days, for purposely ruining Talia's life and career. The moment they learned I was the one who reported the plagiarism, they found someone to hound. No matter that she stole my work, no matter that she was in the wrong, and no matter that it was because

of her that I couldn't go the only thing that mattered was that I outed her without consulting them. They called me every name in the book and said the right thing to do would have been to talk to them about it, and then they would have come up with a solution. I told them their only solution would have been to let her go scot-free, and I would have been asked to just suck it up and apply elsewhere. It was a mess at home, and no one was even willing to see my perspective. It had become clear that no matter what I did, I'd be the black sheep, and no matter what Talia did, she would never face the consequences.

The next few months were brutal, but I was just waiting for college. I knew that the minute I stepped out of the house, I wouldn't be coming back. There was nothing to come back to anyway, and that's what I did. I left for college and immediately went low contact with my parents, and no contact with Talia. She was dead to me after her little stunt, and I didn't want anything to do with her ever again. College was a refreshing change. I made good friends, had a good life, and wanted. worked hard. I met Matt in college, and we hit it off instantly. Matt and I were friends for a

couple of years. He was my senior in college, but we shared the same friend's circle. Right before he graduated, he asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said yes. He was one of my closest friends, and I was extremely happy in his company. So to me, the logical next step was a relationship. When I said yes, he told me he'd had a crush on me for years and had been trying to muster the courage to ask me out. I honestly thought this was adorable, and I told him I would have said yes even if he had asked me earlier. We had a good relationship, for all it was worth. We were already very good friends, so we knew each other well. There was a level of comfort and honesty, and it just came naturally. I also told him about the entire situation with my family.

I explained that I was extremely low contact with my parents and absolutely no contact with my sister, and nothing could ever make me talk to her again, and I asked him to respect that. He thought it was absurd that a family could be so dysfunctional because his family is picture-perfect. His parents are madly in love, he's the oldest of four siblings, and they are all close and supportive. My ordeal was alien to him. I respected that, and I respected and enjoyed the family dynamic he came from. It was honestly adorable, the love they shared. I had always been deprived of it, so I couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

But I made it clear to him that he should never expect me to go back to my family and try to sort things out, just because it was impossible for him to conceive of dysfunctional families. He seemed okay with it, which is why I trusted him. I never knew that this was going to end up being the worst time of my life. Two years ago, when I was 25, Matt proposed. I obviously said yes. We had been dating for close to four years by then, and I was sure he was the guy I wanted to spend my life with. He introduced me to his family earlier, and they accepted me with open arms.

I felt like I finally had a family. Even his siblings, two sisters and one brother, were extremely welcoming, and I developed independent relationships with each of them. It was like I had become a part of the family before I even married him. marriage was the next step, and I was very, very happy with my relationship and the life I had built. We were supposed to get married last year. The entire year before that was spent planning for the wedding, the honeymoon, and everything else. It was a stressful time, and it was also a little challenging for our relationship because that's when I realized there were differences between us, and working through them

required effort. Nonetheless, we pushed through, willingly. We had one of our biggest fights while finalizing the guest list. I wanted a small, intimate wedding, but he had a lot of guests he wanted. His immediate family, some uncles and aunts, his siblings' partners, and others. I, on the other hand, had no family I wanted to invite. I wasn't close with anyone. I told him I would only be inviting my friends, and I honestly did not want my family anywhere

near me on my wedding day. At first, he agreed, but I could see his hesitation. I asked him if there was a problem, and he said no, so I dropped it. A week later, however, he came to me and said that I needed to invite my family because there could be no wedding without family present. I looked at him with wide eyes and told him I had always made it clear that my family wasn't a part of my life. They didn't even know I was engaged. And that the only two people needed for a wedding are the bride and groom, so there was no reason to be worked up about my parents not attending. He wouldn't back down. He said that whatever fight I had with them could be set aside for one day and that he wasn't asking me to start a relationship with them or forgive them, just to invite them to the wedding.

I told him that any invitation would mean I wanted to mend things, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. In hindsight, I should have left him right there. I could see that despite claiming to understand my reality in childhood, which I was always transparent about, he had chosen to throw this at me. But I was a fool in love. We fought a lot and I almost stopped talking to him, but deep down, I knew we needed to reach a compromise. After a lot of back and forth, he finally told me why he insisted on inviting my family.

He said he didn't want his family to think he was marrying a woman who didn't have a good relationship with her family. His family is very conservative that way. They have always lived with a family first rule, and he felt that my parents' absence would reflect poorly, and he didn't want that for me. At that time, I thought his thought process was caring and thoughtful, but I gradually realized how problematic it was. He was more worried about the impression his family would get especially his extended family, because his parents and siblings already knew I didn't get along well with mine than about what it would do to me psychologically. The show was more important to him than his bride, and I should have seen that.

I didn't, and I paid the price. After a lot of back and forth, I agreed to call my parents, but that was where I drew the line. I told him I would have them there, but no other family members, especially not Talia. There would be no father-daughter dance, and my family would not be allowed to give speeches. That was the only condition for inviting them, and he had to meet. me halfway. Thankfully, he agreed, and he knew he didn't have much of a choice. I also warned him not to contact anyone on his own. Only I would call them up and invite them, and only when I felt the time was right. I knew if I gave them the information too early, they would make something up and

get Talia to tag along, which I just couldn't agree to. And honestly, I also hoped that if I told them late enough, maybe they wouldn't be able to make it, so I would technically be in the right and still end up having my way. I think Matt suspected this, but even if he did, he didn't say anything, so that was that. I informed mom and dad six weeks before the wedding, and they said that obviously, the entire family would be there to support me on my special day. I cut them off right there and told them that there was absolutely no way Talia was coming to my wedding. It was just the two of them invited, and if they tried to be sneaky and brought her anyway, I would escort them out myself. They tried protesting, saying it was the perfect time for the family

to reunite, that I needed to stop being a baby, and that I had had my revenge and should be satisfied. I told them this was my only contact with them before the wedding. They knew the venue and the time, and if they wanted to come, they could. However, if they tried anything, I wouldn't hesitate to take necessary steps, and I disconnected the call. I thought that was a stern enough warning to deter them from planning anything, but I was very wrong, and I should have known that Talia would turn up and make a mess of things. She did make a mess, but it was much bigger than I expected. A week before the wedding, my parents flew down and checked into a hotel. They had informed me that they'd come a week early, wanted to give me something, and wanted me to come along with Matt.

I was reluctant because I didn't want all those feelings and angst resurfacing just a week before my wedding, but Matt said I should go, and that he would come with me, and at the sight of any misbehavior, we'd walk out. That made me feel a little better, and we decided to go. To my surprise, but I'm sure many of you guessed it, Talia was there. This was what they wanted to give me a chance for a heart-to-heart and a reconciliation. The moment I saw her, I wanted to get up and leave, but I somehow stayed frozen. I looked at Matt, and he sat down, and then they got to talking. It was all a load of bull crap, and honestly, I don't even remember what they said. I was just zoned out and mentally paralyzed.

All I could see was an ambush. I think I snapped back to reality a few minutes later, and I got up, grabbed Matt, and told him we were leaving. He resisted. He said we should just sort this out, and I told him I was going, and he was free to play happy families with them all he wanted, and I stormed off. I checked into a hotel and sent him a little. a text that I was there and would talk when I felt better, then switched my phone off. I think I downed an entire bottle of wine, and I woke up feeling dizzy the next day.

I turned my phone back on, expecting a few texts at the very least, but there was nothing. Matt had not reached out to me. It felt weird because he generally isn't the kind to give me space. He likes to resolve issues instantly. I waited a few more hours to see if he'd text, but he hadn't. I called him that night, and my call went to voicemail. He had ghosted me a week before the wedding. I still don't have it in me to recount what happened in those seven days, but I knew the wedding was off. He was completely unresponsive, and he wasn't talking to his family either. Nobody knew what was up with him.

It was like he had vanished. So, I called the caterers and everyone else and told them the wedding was off. I blocked him on the day of our wedding and stayed with a friend until I saw him. sorted my stuff. Two months later, I found out he had married Talia on the same day he was supposed to marry me. It was outrageous. I felt like I was in a horror movie. I just couldn't understand how something like this happened and why he would behave like a moron and end up marrying my sister, whom he had met just a week ago. It made no sense to me, and I was a mess when I found out. It felt like she had won again, and there was nothing I could do. It was just horrible,

and I was in one of the darkest phases of my life. I had to rebuild myself emotionally from scratch, and it took every ounce of strength not to keep tabs on them. I was doing better, much better, and then yesterday, I got a call from Matt's mother, Nancy. She said she wanted to meet me. I don't want to meet her, I don't want anything to do with them anymore, but I just cannot go through this again.

She was in tears, begging me to meet her one last time, and I don't know what to do. I have never seen her this way, and maybe meeting her will help me get some closure, but I don't want all my progress to shatter. I feel so helpless right now, and I need advice. Update 1, I read all your comments and decided to go and meet her. It was therapeutic and saddening at the same time, but I finally learned what had really happened after I left. It's a mess, and even though I feel vindicated, I feel bad about everything that's happened. She told me that after I stormed off, my parents and Talia fed Matt some bullshit story about my

childhood and why I was no contact. And the worst part is that he believed them. He believed every single word, which is why he didn't reach out to me for days after. She said he was in too much of a mess to think rationally. By then, I had called the caterers and decorators and canceled everything. He received confirmation calls from them, and he panicked. He thought I, I was canceling the wedding, and in some twisted way, he took that as confirmation of me being in the wrong and believed whatever my parents told him. Nancy said Matt was a mess after finding out, and he stupidly went to my parents for advice. They suggested he could marry Talia for the ceremony, so he wouldn't be ridiculed by his family, and then Talia and he could get the marriage annulled or

divorced once the fuss died down. Nancy said the entire family was against this stupid decision and kept telling him that canceling the wedding was better than marrying my twin, but he seemed to lose all sense. He went ahead with the plan because he didn't want to deal with the shame of being left at the altar. And ever since, Talia has refused to divorce him. She's been dragging the marriage along, saying she won't divorce him and if she does, she'll demand a hefty alimony. It's a train wreck through and through, and Matt had no choice but to continue, but a few days ago, things changed. Talia, in a drunken state, told Matt the truth about everything how they had trapped him and how foolish he had been. She also revealed the essay she stole from me, admitting that everything they

told him about me was a lie. Matt has been depressed since then. He hasn't gone home, hasn't picked up her calls, or anyone else's for that matter, and only two days ago did Nancy finally get hold of him. He's devastated. He told Nancy he made the biggest mistake of his life and had no idea how he could ever apologize to me. He said it serves him right because of how he broke my heart, but he said all he wanted was a chance to talk to me so he could explain his side, and we could then see what to do. I looked at Nancy with wide eyes. We? I told her that there was absolutely no we between Matt and me anymore, and he was delusional if he thought otherwise. I told her I was not open to talking to him at all. He dug his own grave and can lie in it. He's my sister,

husband now, and whatever the circumstances of their marriage, I was not going to intrude or help him. Nancy cried when I said this and begged me to reconsider, but I told her my decision was final. I wasn't up for this, and nothing could change that. I've left that part of my life behind, and I don't know if I should reopen it again. She kept insisting I talked to him just once and then decide, but I told her I would think about it and left. It was all so overwhelming, and she has texted me a few times since, but I haven't responded. I don't know what to do. I just can't deal with all this anymore. I don't have it in me to get back into that mess again. Update 2, I've been a mess these past few days, so I apologize for the late update. This will be my final update. Nothing dramatic

happened, if that's what you were expecting. I decided against meeting Matt for the sake of my mental health. I told Nancy that while I was sorry for what happened, Matt deserved it for believing strangers over me and choosing to protect his reputation rather than talk things out. I told her I was in a much worse position a year ago, with nobody to help. I had no parents to cry to or who would check on me. Matt has that luxury, and he doesn't deserve my forgiveness. I didn't wait for her reply and blocked her because I don't want her guilt-tripping me anymore. I know it makes me seem brutal and heartless. not helping him out, but I can't help but feel its karma coming back to him. I was alone, too, with no one, and I had to pick up all my pieces myself. It's only fair that he gets to feel this,

too. I hope they don't reach out again, but I have a feeling they will. However, I know for sure that I won't respond to any texts from them. Whether he stays in that marriage or goes forward with a divorce is honestly between him and his wife, and I have no love for either of them anymore. This is it for me, and I think I've now got some closure because I can see how it has devastated him to no end. At least it will help me sleep better at night, knowing he realizes what he has done and what he has lost just because he couldn't bear being the center of gossip for a while. That's what you get for being stupid, I guess. I hope you enjoy this story. Sibling prohibited our mother's latest spouse from attending her wedding in order to maintain the illusion that our mother was in a relationship with our harmful biological father.

When our mother declined to attend, the sibling requested my presence instead. Lie to her eel my sister Kristen just got married this week to her husband Jacob naturally. You'd expect her to be floating on cloud nine enjoying every moment of her newlywed bliss, but things haven't quite gone that way for Kristen rather than soaking in the excitement of this new chapter in her life she has been blowing up my phone for the past few. Days you see Kristen had extended an invitation to our mom to be there on her big day, but there was one notable catch mom was not allowed to bring a plus one. our parents got divorced when we were pretty young and ever since then family dynamics had been tricky to say the least growing up my parents' marriage was nothing short of a. Nightmare they fought constantly as the oldest child born just a year into their marriage. I had a front row

seat to all of it I have witnessed both my mom and dad at their worst their arguments were intense filled with anger and bitterness and as young as I was I understood that something was deeply wrong between them Kristen my younger sister. Came along four years later and by that time I had already seen and heard far more than any child should have Kristen being the youngest was naturally frightened by the chaos in our home the shouting the slamming doors and the constant tension it was a lot more terrifying for her while I was more used to it hence as her older sibling. I felt it was my job to protect her even though I was still just a child myself whenever

our parents would argue I would try to shield her from the worst of it distracting her with toys or stories anything to take her mind off the screaming match going on in the next room I remember holding her close whenever she'd get scared or nervous telling. Her everything would be all right even when I wasn't sure if it would be as you can guess. I don't really like talking about this part of my life. It's painful and honestly. I've tried to push a lot of those memories to the back of my mind. It wasn't just the verbal fights in our home that made it so unbearable. It was also how my dad would sometimes get violent. Especially when he was drinking I've lost count of the times I saw him hit my mom or use a belt on her his anger completely out of

control he would lock her in the bathroom and refuse to let her come out until the early hours of the morning our mom as much as she could try to protect us from it when she knew he'd be coming home in one of his crazy. Moods as she sometimes called it she would wake me up and tell me to lock my bedroom door to take care of Kristen and keep her safe during those nights, even though I was scared too. I would try to stay strong for my sister I'd hold her in my arms praying that somehow this would all end and that our mom would be okay those nights felt endless and they left such emotional scars that I don't think ever fully healed. However, one of the hardest things about living with my dad was how he could switch between being a

monster one. Moment and pretending everything was fine the next after a particularly violent, drunken night. He would wake up the next morning acting as if nothing had ever happened he'd go about his day talking to us normally as though he hadn't been screaming, hitting. Or locking my mom in the bathroom just hours earlier it was maddening and if my mom ever tried to confront him about his behavior about the beatings, the yelling, or the way he treated her he would act like he had no memory of it he'd blame the alcohol or just flat out deny that anything had occurred and give excuses like I don't remember or I don't think I behaved that way to make matters worse, if mom ever brought up divorce. He would then start following up with

false promises he'd swear up and down that he was going to change from that day forward he'd promised that he was done drinking, that he would stop hurting her but those words were hollow it was all part of his manipulation he never followed through on any of those promises the cycle would just continue another night of drinking, another outburst, another morning of denial and for my mom, it must have been soul-crushing to hope, even for a moment. That maybe this time her husband was going to change, only to be let down again and again if you're wondering whether my dad had some sort of mental disorder that made him act the way he did. I wish I could say yes because that would have given us a way to understand his behavior, maybe even a bit of clarity or closure, but the truth is

He didn't have any diagnosable condition that we knew of he wasn't suffering from anything that could explain the years of abuse. He was just a deeply narcissistic, manipulative person who seemed to take some sort of sick pleasure in causing pain, especially to my mom it wasn't about mental illness. It was about control and cruelty. I think what finally made my mom leave dad the moment that broke everything was the day when he raised his hands on me she had endured so much abuse herself. But when it came to us, her children, she had a limit that limit was crossed when she had to attend her mother's funeral she could. couldn't take us. Me or Kristen with her because we had school the next day and she didn't want us to miss it before she left, she had talked to dad repeatedly, pleading with him not to drink for just two nights while she would be away it was her mother's funeral, after all. And she couldn't handle the added stress of worrying about us on top of everything else my dad, of course, had no

interest in attending the funeral with her begrudgingly. He agreed to stay home and take care of us, however, the very first night she was away. He came home drunk I was asleep in my room when he stumbled in, reeking of alcohol. Slurring his words he started yelling at me, asking where mom was, clearly too drunk to remember that she was at the funeral my heart was pounding in my chest, and I tried to answer him calmly, my voice shaking I told him that mom was away at the funeral, but he was staggering around the room, knocking things over and kicking furniture. Completely out of control I was terrified that he would wake Kristen, who was sleeping next to me so, in a shaky voice, I asked him if he could keep it down and get out of our room as he was

starting to scare me that apparently set him off he exploded in a fit of rage. Screaming at me for having the audacity to tell him what to do in his house and how he could talk as loud as he wanted he kept ranting about how I had no respect for him, how I was just like my mom, defying him I could see him losing control, and I knew where this was headed I tried to calm him down, to de-escalate the situation. But it only made him angrier he lashed out, and before I knew it, he slapped me hard across the face I fell down on the floor clutching my face, Kristen, who had woken up by now thanks to Dad's yelling, started to cry, clutching onto me in fear, her small body trembling I was terrified to my heart was pounding in my chest.

And I could feel my hands shaking, but I knew that if I didn't do something if I just stayed frozen in that moment, things were only going to get worse. Dad was on the verge of completely losing control, and I couldn't let him hurt us or worse, hurt my sister I made a split second decision grabbing Kristen's hand, I pulled her along with me. running out of the house as fast as I could while Dad stumbled behind us, still yelling, his words slurring from the alcohol my only thought was to get us somewhere safe, and I remembered what Mom had told me in moments like this go to the neighbors. They were the only ones nearby, and we needed help. Fast I ran straight to their house.

My heart racing and started pounding on their door, ringing the doorbell over and over again I must have looked like a mess shaking, crying, desperate, but I didn't care when they opened the door. they looked at us and already kind of knew that we needed help they had heard my dad yelling at us before, seen glimpses of our chaotic home life. And had probably put the pieces together a long time ago without hesitation. They let us inside and immediately called 911. We also called my mom and asked her to come back home. She must have heard the panic in my voice because she promised right away that she would be on the next flight home I felt a small sense of relief. Knowing that help was finally on the way our neighbors reassured me that I did the right thing by getting away from dad as there was no. no guarantee of what he might have done to us in his drunken state it was a night I'll never forget when mom came back and found out what had happened. She first hugged me and cried profusely for what had happened to me she had endured years of abuse, but when it was directed at me at her child,

she couldn't take it anymore. It was like something inside her snap that was the moment she decided to leave him for good after CPS was called. My mom had to step in to reassure them that both my sister and I would be staying with her from that point onward my dad moved out with some of his belongings while my mom began the process of filing for divorce throughout this time, mom would apologize to me over and over again. Expressing her profound regret for not having left dad sooner I never really blamed my mom, but I know she still carries a lot of guilt for what happened despite all that dad had done to us, true to his manipulative nature, he didn't simply just go away he kept calling my mom

repeatedly even after he had moved out and she had filed for divorce. Insisting that she should reconsider leaving him sometimes he would even insist on speaking to me, where he would attempt to guilt trip me for the whole thing he'd say things like, you're the reason this family broke up. And lay the blame squarely on me and Kristen for the way we ran out and called the police that night as if it was our fault for wanting safety and peace as if we were wrong for not wanting to live in that environment any longer. He would constantly insist that, even with the divorce.

He was still our father and would forever be in our lives. Even if we didn't want to see him, I was terrified at the thought of ever being close to my dad again. I would pray every day to God that I never wanted to live with him again, Thankfully, when it came time for the courts to decide, the judge listened to us they granted my mom full custody. Which felt like a victory not only that, but they also issued a restraining order against my dad for the repeated instances of abuse he had subjected on us this decision by the court changed our lives forever. It was a huge relief knowing that we were legally protected from him and that he couldn't come near us anymore for the first time in a long. Time, the three of us, Kristen, Mom, and me, had the space to heal away from the chaos and fear

that had dominated our lives for so long, of course. It wasn't all easy to live with Mom since she did have her own issues, but it was much better to live without Dad during this time. My mom became deeply depressed she had just gone through the devastating loss of her partner, my dad, and was still in the painful process of healing from the emotional and psychological scars left by the abuse she had endured on top of that. She was also dealing with the added pressure of finding a job to support herself and her two children. It is a lot for anyone to handle, and watching her go through it all on her own was incredibly hard. Thankfully, there was a bit of relief for her because my dad was ordered to pay child support for both me and my sister, Kristen, at the very least.

We knew we could rely on that money to help meet our basic needs so that took one burden off my mom's shoulders a few years after the divorce. My mom started dating Felix. He worked with her at the restaurant, and from the beginning, he was always there to help her out. asked her out multiple times. But she had always turned him down until she finally gave and she came back from their first date beaming with excitement and I knew that my mom was finally moving on what stood out, though, was that Felix was significantly younger than my mom, and I think that made her feel a bit self-conscious I remember asking her about him once. And she got visibly embarrassed it was clear she felt people would judge her about the age difference, but from my perspective, I was just happy for her I had seen her break down in tears so many times during her marriage

to my dad. Feeling trapped in a toxic and painful situation that seeing her smile and of fun again was a huge relief for me throughout all of this while I've always been supportive of my mom and her relationship with Felix my sister Kristen has had a completely different reaction in fact. She hates Felix with a passion and it's not because he's ever done anything wrong to her her intense dislike stems more from the idea of our mom moving on and being with someone other than our dad for some reason Kristen has always held on to this twisted almost idealized belief that our mom and dad were destined to be together like they were soul. Mates are something despite everything that happened between them she somehow expected that

after a few years apart, they would eventually reconcile and get back together I've thought a lot about why Kristen feels this way and I honestly believe most of it comes from the influence of our dad I blame him for planning these ideas in her head even. Though I haven't seen much of him over the years, Kristen continued to visit him from time to time after the divorce whenever he would make some time for her it wasn't a regular thing but when she did see him. It seemed like he took those opportunities to manipulate her thinking he would tell her that he was changing or improving himself for the sake of the family and that he would eventually get back together with our moms. So every time Kristen came home after spending time

with him, she'd be full of hope and dreams about how the four of us are, me. Mom and dad would one day be a family again. It was hard to hear her talk about it because deep down I knew it was never going to happen. I tried to reason with her. Try to explain that the relationship between mom and dad was over for a good reason, but she was completely convinced that our dad still loved mom and that only he deserved to be with her, however, none of the fantasies Kristen clung to ever came true as time went on and Felix became a bigger part of our mom's life. It became clear that mom had moved on for good I think that reality seeing mom happy with someone else shattered the dream Kristen had been holding onto for so long and that's where

her grudge against Felix really stems from in fact four years ago. Felix and my mom finally got married. It's been amazing to witness the transformation in my mom's life seeing her go from being in such a dark place to finding happiness and stability with someone who truly cares for her Felix is a wonderful guy and has been there for me and my sister whenever we needed him this year when my sister Kristen got engaged to her college sweetheart. She shared with me that she planned on inviting our dad to her wedding hearing this really caught me off guard I haven't seen or had any contact with our dad in a long time and honestly I've never understood why Kristen continues to have a relationship with him he was abusive both emotionally and

physically yet. Kristen seems to have this inexplicable attachment to him, however. It was her wedding and I knew it wasn't my place to dictate who she should or shouldn't invite so I kept my thoughts to myself. But then something happened that really bothered me when Kristen sent out the wedding invitations she decided that our mom wasn't allowed to bring a plus. One mom called me after receiving her invitation confused and upset asking if I had been denied a plus one as well, I was shocked because as far as I knew everyone else was allowed

to bring a guest Kristen knew full while that Felix was a significant part of our family. Now He wasn't just some casual boyfriend he and mom were married so it was incredibly strange even hurtful that he hadn't even received an invitation and worse that mom wasn't allowed to bring him as her guest when mom confronted Kristen about it things quickly escalated

Kristen demanded that for the sake of her wedding She basically wanted mom to play happy family with our dad in front of her future in-laws Kristen didn't care that mom was now married to Felix in her mind she saw her wedding as a chance to force this fantasy reunion of her mom and dad mom was absolutely stunned by this demand and understandably refused to go along with Kristen's condition after. All, how could she possibly pretend everything was fine with my dad?

Let alone play the role of his wife again after what he had put her through it was an unfair and unrealistic expectation and she was deeply hurt by it. I tried to step in and talk to Kristen myself hoping to make her realize how unreasonable and hurtful her demands were I wanted. To remind her that mom had every right to be happy and had moved forward with her life, but instead of listening Kristen completely blew up on me as well she lashed out accusing me of never liking our dad and even blaming me for their separation hearing that accusation from her was devastating as her older sibling. I had always been the one to protect her from dad's abuse when we were growing up I shielded her as much as I could from his anger, his manipulation and

his violence yet here she was twisting the narrative making me out to be the villain and her story in the end. My mom made the difficult decision to stand her ground and refused to attend Kristen's wedding after everything that had happened the arguments the unreasonable demands and the emotional strain mom knew she couldn't pretend to play the role Kristen wanted her to especially not when it meant disrespecting her own marriage to Felix as for my dad he did attend the wedding but it was far from a pleasant experience the moment he arrived I could tell he was already drunk he reeked of alcohol and his behavior was erratic just like I had expected him to be I made it a point to stay as far away from him as possible and didn't even make eye contact with him the entire time

it was hard enough being. In the same room with him and I just couldn't bear the thought of interacting with him, things got worse when it came time for the speeches. Dad was expected to say a few words to congratulate the couple, but instead of delivering a heartfelt message, he ended up slurring his way through the speech because of the multiple glasses of whiskey he already. Had it was embarrassing to watch and I could see the discomfort on people's faces clearly inviting dad to the wedding had been a huge mistake other than him. The wedding itself was fine overall now after the wedding the situation with Christi,

and his in-laws has grown complicated they have started asking questions about our family, especially about why mom didn't show up for her wedding since they have met mom before and have seen how she is always so supportive of her children, I guess they are starting to. Suspect that Kristen might have done or said something instead of being up front with them, Kristen has started spinning a narrative painting mom in a bad light. She has been telling her husband's relatives that mom was uninterested in attending the wedding and that despite multiple pleas mom didn't care much to attend. Obviously this is a big fact. lie, but what makes this worse is Kristen has now asked me to get involved she's planning a lunch with her in-laws after she returns from her honeymoon and she wants me to be there to back her up in front of them basically.

She's expecting me to support her version of events and help her convince the in-laws that mom's absence was something inexplicable as if she had no real reason for not attending Kristen doesn't want them to know the real story that she had placed unfair demands on mom which led to the fallout instead she's looking for me to cover for her and keep. the blame away from her. This is why I am on Reddit today, on one hand Kristen's my sister and I want to support her especially now that she's starting a new chapter in her life, but on the other hand, lying to cover up the truth only prolongs the problem and will only get Messier if we keep pretending Kristen's in-laws deserve to know the real story. If they're asking and I'm not sure I can be part of a charade that makes Mom look bad just so Kristen can avoid taking the blame Ida if I refuse to go along with my sister's lies

Update 1. My sister Kristen has always been embarrassed about our mom's relationship with Felix Felix is six years younger than mom. Which honestly isn't a huge gap, but for some reason Kristen thinks this is something inappropriate and believes that mom shouldn't have married a younger man also. The truth is that Kristen has never really told her in-laws that mom and Felix are married yes. Her husband Jacob knows, but not the rest of the family mom and Felix had a simple court wedding with no big ceremony or celebration they've never posted pictures or made a big deal out of it. Which has allowed Kristen to always pretend that Felix isn't a permanent part of mom's life. Kristen has even gone so far as to repeatedly ask Mom not to mention her marriage to Felix to any of her friends or her in-laws telling her how embarrassed and awkward she feels by it,

Mom being as patient and understanding as she always is used to agree to. Kristen's requests for a long time she never pushed back and kept Felix in the background whenever Kristen asked respecting her feelings even though it wasn't fair since she believed that Kristen would eventually grow up, however, things changed when Kristen didn't allow Felix to attend her wedding. I guess that was the breaking point for Mom she had already compromised so much to accommodate Kristen's discomfort, but this request crossed the line after years of adjusting herself to make Kristen feel comfortable Mom finally put her foot down she had reached her limit and I don't blame her at all for standing up for herself as for my dad. I've long come to the conclusion that he never truly loved anyone except himself if he had really loved Mom. There's no way he would have

put her through the kind of abuse that he did part of the reason Kristen is so stuck on the idea of seeing our parents reunite is that she doesn't really remember the full extent of the abuse dad inflicted on us. He was younger than me when it all happened and her memories are fragmented mom has always asked me not to bring up the past with Kristen to spare her from the painful details of what we endured because of this she remembers only bits and pieces of the toxic environment hence she is able to downplay the seriousness of what we went through update. 2. Thanks everyone for all your advice I showed the post and comments to Mom and she finally agreed to sit down and talk to Kristen this week about everything long story short mom showed Kristen the hospital records and the divorce filings and told her in detail about the abuse she received at the hands of my father Kristen who had vehemently. refused to accept the truth for so long was left speechless I could see in her face that this shattered the illusion she had held onto for years for so long she had convinced herself that our family's problems weren't that serious that maybe mom and dad just had a few rough patches but now confronted with hard evidence she couldn't deny what had happened however christin still tried to argue by claiming that maybe dad had changed after the divorce and maybe he wasn't the same person he used to be she urged mom to give him another chance by at least being friends with him but at that point both mom and i

I were firm with her, we told her that if she truly believed. That dad had changed and wanted to keep glorifying him in front of us knowing everything we had suffered then maybe it was time for us to take a break from each other. It wasn't an ultimatum, but it was a boundary. We were tired of hearing Kristen idolized dad this deeply offended Kristen. She wasn't expecting us to be so direct and has asked for some time to think about everything I understand why she is hurt, but I also think she needs to hear it. It's not that I want her to stop talking to dad.

She's entitled to her own relationship with him, however. What I do want is for her to stop worshipping him and let go of her unrealistic expectation of reuniting the family update 3 so it's been four months since my last update eventually Kristen came clean to her in-laws about the real reason why mom didn't attend her wedding I think after. Learning the full extent of the truth she realized that hiding it and blaming mom wasn't just unfair it was damaging to their relationship. It must have been hard for her to admit the truth. But she did it anyway once her in-laws understood the real estate.

of what our family had been through, they were much more understanding about mom's absence since then Kristen has taken a huge step forward by also apologizing to mom-mom in her usual way was gracious and willing to forgive. She also took the initiative to speak with Kristen's in-laws. Smoving things over and clarifying any misunderstandings for now Kristen has gone low contact with dad. It has been such a relief to see this whole messy situation finally settle down. I hope you enjoy this story. Wealthy guardians consistently made me feel inadequate during my formative years. Later, they showered my child with presents valued at $50,000, along with a message indicating their imminent visit.

My boy. Well, as the title suggests, I 27F have always had a tumultuous relationship with my parents. It was not easy growing up around them. You see, both of my parents were overachievers. They competed to be the topper through their high school. and got into the same university. Not knowing anybody there, they stuck close to each other, and over the next few months, it translated into something more. Both of them are extremely talented and clearly geniuses. They have high-paying jobs and we have quite a comfortable life.

The only thing that they both failed at was being a parent to me. I was the result of an accidental pregnancy. My mother has since told me from time to time how she and my dad both didn't want any children, but after going for their first ultrasound and hearing my heartbeat, they just couldn't give me up. They also have religious parents who would have probably had a fit had they not continued with the pregnancy. As a result, nine months later, I was born. Now my parents, being both over-achievers, had their first fight about who would be staying at home.

Ultimately, it was decided that since my mother had sacrificed enough while she was pregnant and earned more than my dad she would be the one working while my dad would take care of me at least until I was old enough to be taken care of by a babysitter. As a child, I remember my parents would make me go through insane tests to judge whether or not I was a genius. I have heard from my grandparents that my parents would only allow me to play with blocks or card games. I was not allowed to paint as they didn't want me to develop an affinity to become a painter as an adult. I was also not allowed to watch TV like any other normal child. They would let me play with the piano in the hopes that one day with proper training I could sit down and master it.

Everything that I did or ate was also closely monitored by them. I was not allowed to eat any junk or chocolate whatsoever. I remember going to birthday parties and not being allowed to eat cake or any junk since my parents would have notified the host regarding this. As you can already guess, my childhood was pretty horrible. I would watch everyone else have a normal childhood while I was treated like a science. project in the hopes that I would one day turn out to be a genius. The only happy times I remember were when I spent my weekends with my grandparents. I was lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents who would spoil me silly and they didn't

care about my parents' so-called rules. I would sometimes watch old black and white movies with my grandfather when I was with him which I absolutely loved. I guess it's true when they say that the stricter the parent is the sneakier the child becomes. Despite their efforts to control every aspect of my life, I developed a rebellious streak, fueled by a desire for normalcy and the freedom to make my own choices. As I started to get older, like any other teenager, I realized that I could do anything that I wanted as long as I didn't get caught by my parents. So I would sneak out to go to parties try out makeup in our girls' washroom or take up pottery classes in school as a form of rebellion which were everything that my parents would not

have allowed me to do had they known. Of course, sometimes I was caught doing these things and they would then give me a lecture about how I needed to buckle up and concentrate on math and science as they wanted me to have a career revolving around these subjects. One particular day, while I was out doing pottery, a cute guy from my class asked me out. I was quite taken aback since being a geek who was hardly allowed to make a lot of friends. I never thought I had any qualities that other girls of my age had so being asked out was a big deal. He was cute and we had a fun time on the date, but when he came to drop me off, my parents saw us while we were about to kiss. They looked pissed off, to say the least. That night, they let me know how disappointed they were by seeing me waste my time around a boy and how I needed to buckle up and concentrate on my studies.

My mother told me how she didn't waste months of her life so that I could go around and be a school slut. I had tears in my eyes hearing her harsh words. My dad joined her and said, how I was too young to go out with boys and that the only thing that I should be doing at this age was reading my books. I tried to protest and say how everyone in my class went out and dated while also maintaining good grades which I could do also but my parents were not having it. They told me how they already regretted having me and the only thing that they wanted was to see me achieve great things in my life like they had. It was frustrating to hear my own parents talk about me as if I was some sort of a pet to them and had no life of my own. They told me to go to

bed without any food that night so that I could think about what I had done wrong. I was so conditioned to listen to them that I never even thought how traumatizing these incidents were. As if things couldn't be worse, that night, I accidentally heard my parents talking about me in the dining room. This is when I found the real reason why they hated me so much. I stood frozen in shock as my parents discussed how they regretted having me and my dad wished that they would have had a son instead of a daughter because at least then they would have had something to be proud about. My heart sank hearing for the first time how much they really hated me. I remember going to bed feeling absolutely numb.

Since that day, I never did anything that my parents didn't like. To be honest, at that time, maybe I was trying to get back into the good books of my parents and hoping that one day they would love me and be proud of me but that day never came. They never cheered for me during graduation and refused to allow me to go to our graduation party saying how it was a waste of time and that this is where girls end up pregnant. When it came time for college, I had already gotten into a reputed university in our state with a full scholarship and they were extremely proud of it. My dad, who had a degree in the same field, wanted me to spend my months leading up to college by meeting his peers and hopefully

doing an internship so that I would be better prepared than my peers. Looking back, I can see how extremely crazy and controlling they were and I wish I could have stood up to them but at that time, I really believed that they knew what was best for me and I didn't want to disappoint them further. As you can expect, college was hell. Although I liked studying biology, during college, I realized that I never wanted to pursue a degree in this. No matter how much time I spent in the library cramping the syllabus, I hated this subject more and more. During my second year, I fell into depression since I knew that I could never talk to my parents about this and my grades were suffering. It was during this time when I was at the lowest point of my life that I met Gerald,

who would later become my husband. He is the funniest, carefree person I have ever met in my life, and spending time with him always makes me feel light. Unlike my parents, Gerald came from a warm and supportive family. His parents were the antithesis of mine, loving, caring, and understanding. They embraced me into their family, providing the warmth and acceptance I had craved for so long. Looking back, I can see how Gerald came at exactly the right time in my life. He taught me to not take life so seriously all the time and has always made me laugh. When I finally opened up to him about my life and my parents, he was shocked, to say the least. He was the first person who pointed out how abusive it was for my parents to not let me have my own identity or have any friends.

Spending time with him more and more made me feel like I finally woke up from a long slumber and was finally able to see clearly. I started to realize how I had lived all my life trying to please my parents by doing everything that they wanted when in reality I should have stopped and thought about if it pleased me also. Because my grades were suffering during this time, my parents decided to meet up with me. As usual, without even asking about how I was doing or whether or not I was well. They launched into a lecture about how disappointed they were to see my grades and how they were embarrassed that their friends and family might find out that their daughter was securing such poor marks. I scoffed hearing how ridiculously self-obsessed they were.

They had the audacity to worry about others when I was clearly not doing okay. This is when I finally stood up to my parents and told them how much I hated studying biology and I had been thinking about changing my degree to psychology. They freaked out and told me how they could not allow me to waste away my life by choosing such a demeaning degree. To them, pursuing a degree in psychology. was equivalent to being a failure in life. However, I told them that I was an adult now

and I was going to study something that made me happy rather than study biology and be depressed for life. We had a huge fight and in the end, I had to involve my grandparents as my parents started threatening me saying how they would make my life hell and they would never see my face again. My grandparents stood by me and warned my parents to not pressure me into doing something that I didn't want to do.

They threatened my parents saying that if they cut me out of their lives, they would do the same with them. It was a long fight, but ultimately, I was able to change my degree. It was liberating for me to finally study something I was passionate about. This is when I was finally able to enjoy my college. I was able to wake up in the mornings without feeling anxious or eat my food without worrying about my future. I would spend my mornings at class or working hard at the library and my evenings with Gerald exploring the city and having a good time with him. After dating him for two years, I thought it would be a good time to introduce him to my parents since his parents already knew about us.

When my parents met Gerald, they immediately had a problem just like I had already anticipated. They hardly interacted with him and kept quiet throughout dinner. After he left, they immediately told me how I needed to stay far away from men like him since he came from a lowly background and was pursuing a degree in arts which they absolutely hated. They even went as far as to tell me that he was probably with me because he wanted his hands on their money in the future and they wanted me to break it off. I found their reasoning absolutely ridiculous and preposterous since Gerald and I had been dating for a long time and he had never asked me anything regarding my parents' assets. The only thing he knew about my parents was from

what I had told him about my childhood. He clearly loved me as much as I loved him and it was sad that my parents couldn't see the love between us. My grandparents, on the the other hand, had a completely opposite reaction when they met Gerald for the first time. They were so happy to meet him and couldn't stop gushing about how well-mannered and respectful he was. As much as my parents hated and protested about it, I went on to marry Gerald after we both had graduated from college and had our own jobs. Marrying Gerald has been the best decision of my life because no one has ever taken care of me the way he does. I remember when I used to live with my parents, I never felt at home with them since they were always so

cold to me but after marrying Gerald, we have been able to build this home for ourselves in another state thousands of miles away from my parents, where I feel warm, fuzzy and comfortable. Fast forward a year later and I got pregnant. I had been traumatized by my parents and my childhood as they never wanted me to begin with so I was afraid at first to tell Gerald that we were pregnant in case he would react like my parents but to my shock. Gerald was over the moon after hearing the news. He hugged me and said how excited he was to become a parent. His reaction was totally different from what I had expected, and it made me feel so much better about starting our little family. His happy reaction made me reflect on my own upbringing.

I realized that I wanted something different from my child, a loving and nurturing environment, free from the suffocating expectations and tests my parents had subjected me to. Once when we went for my gyno appointment during my pregnancy expecting the usual checkup, the doctors shared an unexpected news with us. We were going to have twins. I couldn't believe it at first. The ultrasound screen showed two tiny heartbeats, and I remember looking at Gerald with a mix of shock and excitement. Twins It meant double the joy, but it also meant preparing for a bigger family than we initially thought. As reality sunk in, Gerald and I started adjusting our plans.

We needed to make space for two cribs in the nursery and buy double the baby clothes and diapers. It was both overwhelming and thrilling to think about race. raising two little ones at the same time. Throughout the pregnancy, we attended prenatal classes, read parenting books together, and even turned a room in our home into a cute nursery for our babies. Gerald's excitement made me feel more and more sure that we could do this whole parenting thing together. During my pregnancy, my parents also showed some interest in our impending parenthood. Surprisingly, they told me how excited they were to meet my children, however, my guard was up, and I couldn't help but wonder about their sudden change in behavior.

When it was time to reveal the gender of our babies, Gerald's parents set up a small celebration with all our close family and friends. My parents had flown in to be there for the celebration and were staying at a hotel nearby. The atmosphere was buzzing with anticipation as everyone gathered to learn the genders of our twins. The moment arrived and Gerald's mother handed us two sealed envelopes containing the gender details since she had talked with our doctor and already knew the news to prepare everything for us. As we opened the envelopes, excitement filled the room as we saw each had a card inside a pink card for our baby daughter and a blue car for our baby son. Our eyes widened in shock as we realized

that we were having both a son and a daughter. The joyous cheers echoed as everyone ecstatically hugged us. Gerald's parents were brimming with pride, my grandparents were thrilled, and our friends congratulated us warmly. However, amid the celebration, I noticed something odd, my parents' faces fell in disappointment. While everyone else was hugging us and expressing their happiness, my parents remained quiet and distant. They didn't come forward to congratulate us, and their lack of enthusiasm stood out in the room. After the celebration, I couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling caused by my parents' strange behavior. I decided to confront them, seeking an explanation for their unexpected reaction.

We sat down, and I asked them directly why they seemed distant during such a joyous occasion. Their response caught me off guard. They confessed that they were disappointed with the gender reveal. According to them, they had hoped both my children would be boys. I was taken aback by their absurd thinking and couldn't believe that they would express such disappointment about the genders of their own grandchildren. Suddenly I remembered the conversation between my parents that I had overheard about how they had always wanted a son. It was then that I realized that they had not changed much over the years.

I don't know whether it was my pregnancy hormones or my instinct kicking in as a mother, but I was extremely pissed that they dared to think like that about my unborn daughter. I started to yell at them loudly to get out immediately. My mother retorted back saying how I should behave more laid alike, but I did not care about her opinions anymore and almost shoved them out of my house. Gerald came running to be by my side clearly concerned. I told my parents that clearly they had hated the fact that I was born so now they wouldn't have the pleasure of ever knowing their grandchildren because I didn't want their sexist attitude polluting the minds of my babies. I shut the door to their stunned faces.

Over the months, they tried to backtrack and send a half-hearted apology, but I remained firm about my decision. When their lame apologies didn't work, they tried to manipulate me by making me feel guilty saying how as grandparents they needed to be in our children's lives but I refused to yield. Gerald has had my back throughout this and even he doesn't want our children to be anywhere near my parents. I just gave birth last week and it has been a surreal experience, to say the least. I think I have never been happier than the moment I held my two babies for the first time. Gerald was by my side throughout the birthing process and has been an incredibly understanding partner. His mother has been staying

with us to help me out with the babies since, unfortunately, Gerald couldn't get more days as leaves at his office. Yesterday morning, out of nowhere, I received a package in the mail. Inside were extravagant gifts, each with a hefty price tag. Accompanying the gifts was a note that read, flying to see you soon, my boy, your grandparents. I stared at the note in confusion and looked around at the gifts, suddenly realizing that all the gifts were meant for my son only. It was clear that somehow my parents, despite our last fight, were delusional enough to think that I would allow them to have a part in my son's life when they couldn't even bother to wish my daughter or me as a mother. Taking a deep breath, I composed a thoughtful but firm message to send to them on the phone.

I straightaway made it very clear that their presence in our lives was not welcome anymore and that they would get to see their grandchildren. I warned them that if they showed up on our doorstep, then I would be calling the police on them. I knew it would ignite a storm, and it did. My parents responded with a barrage of messages and calls, accusing me of being ungrateful and stubborn. I have ignored their calls and left their messages on red. According to them, I am trying to be controlling by not allowing them to have a relationship with my son when clearly they have all rights as a grandparent. I don't think I can allow them to disrespect my daughter like that, hence I don't want their presence in our lives and believe cutting them off is the right decision. I'd offer cutting off my parents from our lives after what they have put us.

through? Update 1. Wow, I did not expect so many comments in a matter of a few hours. I am glad to see a majority of you agree that what my parents have done cannot be forgiven. I quite agree since I don't want my daughter to grow up to see them favor my son over them. I don't want her to have the same trauma or self-esteem issue that I have as a result of my parents' toxic upbringing. It boggles my mind how my parents can be so educated yet have such predated opinions. They made my life a living hell while growing up and I know if I continue to allow them in our lives, they might impose their beliefs on my children and I don't want that. Fortunately, Gerald, his parents, and my grandparents have been there for me during this time. My grandparents are furious that my parents

are favoring my son over my daughter and have made it clear to me that they supported my decision to cut them out of our lives. They have also talked with our parents but I don't know how well that has gone. Gerald and I have come to the conclusion that I should send the gifts back to my parents so as to send a clear message to them that we don't need anything from them. I agree and we'll be sending back the gifts tomorrow. Update 2, after I sent back the gifts to my parents, they kept calling and texting me insisting that we needed to meet. So, this weekend, I asked them to fly out here so we could talk for the last time face to I had invited them out for lunch at a nearby restaurant. When my parents arrived, my mother, without even listening to me, started going on a rant about how I had no right to keep them away from their grandchildren. I told them straight up how as the parents, I had every right to keep them away from whoever I deemed was toxic and they could go and cry to the walls if they wanted to.

My dad tried to justify saying how my mother didn't mean that and that they just wanted to see their grandson. I scoffed hearing this and asked them straight up why they kept on mentioning my son when I had a daughter as well. I told them how I had already told them that I didn't like how they favored sons over daughters and that I didn't want that for my daughter. My parents hearing this said how I should be more forgiving towards them since they are still learning and that if I wanted them to meet my daughter, then most definitely they wouldn't mind. It infuriated me how casually sexist they were behaving and the conversation got pretty heated after this. I made it clear that their biased attitude was not acceptable, especially when it came to my children. I explained that I didn't want their negativity around us and that I didn't want them anywhere near my children for the rest of their lives. My parents started screaming about how they could go to the courts over it and I told them that they were welcome to do so since it would give me an opportunity to recount my childhood stories where they had abused me and gotten away with it.

My parents stared at me in horror as I continued to say how I would not just stop there and would then continue to tell our entire family about what my parents had done to me. I knew their reputation was extremely important to them, so they were at a loss of words hearing my threat knowing that I wasn't messing around. There were several minutes of arguing back, but ultimately I told them firmly that I couldn't have them in our lives anymore and they could crib about it as much as they could since my decision was never going to change. I walked away from them that day with the satisfaction that my children could never be traumatized by them the way that I was while growing up. It hasn't been an easy decision, but I had to prioritize the well-being of my family. Gerald has been a huge support throughout this. We have blocked them so they have no way to reach out to us. It is a challenging situation for me to permanently cut off my parents,

but I'm holding my ground for the sake of my kids. I appreciate all the support I have received from this community during this tough time. Update 3, several months have passed since I sent back the gifts and made it clear to my parents that they were no longer welcome in our lives. Thanks to a lot of comments about my parents possibly going to court over not being allowed in our children's lives. Gerald and I decided to consult with a family lawyer to explore legal options and we were assured that there was no way that their claim would hold any ground since I have thousands of text messages of how abusive my parents are towards me. We feel assured now that they can't do anything to us now. On a positive note, we've been enjoying the time with our twins and creating beautiful memories as a family.

My daughter and son are thriving and we are slowly learning how to manage twins. We visit my grandparents whenever we can or video call them so they can spend time with our children. The support from Gerald's parents has been invaluable during this time. They babysit our children whenever I and Gerald need to spend some time together or if I am too exhausted. Our little family unit is strong and we're determined to shield our children from the negativity that affected my own upbringing. I appreciate the ongoing support from everyone. It reinforces my belief that prioritizing the well-being of my children is the most important responsibility I have as a parent.

I hope you enjoy this story. The second wife successfully settled a legal case worth a million dollars and established trust accounts for her children, including myself. After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, my biological mother began a romantic relationship with my father in order to benefit from his resources. The money. My 17F. Stepmother Jane is a wonderful, wonderful woman. She and my father got married when I was four, and she's been a rock in my life ever since. My mother was always my primary caregiver, but up until that point her relationship with my father was acrimonious and I

basically never saw Jane was the reason they developed a stable co-parenting relationship. She encouraged everyone having a good relationship with each other and was always there to support me and my mom when things got rough. Jane was always a really hard worker. When she met my dad, he was living out of a hotel and my mother was doing everything in her power to keep me away from him because she was petty and angry that their relationship didn't work out. Meanwhile Jane had a great job, a nice house, helped my dad get back on his feet, negotiated

a visitation schedule with my mom, who hated her for a long time, and made sure my dad sent us money every week because neither one of them could afford an attorney to negotiate. child support payments. Jane had no reason to do any of these things, but as I got older she made it clear that she loved me as much as she loved my half, brothers who were born a few years later. I even have my own room in her house because at the time we lived with my grandparents, various boyfriends of my mom and Jane felt that I needed a more stable environment than that. She's like the opposite of the evil stepmom. When I was 15, Jane won a big lawsuit against an airline company and got awarded upwards of a million dollars.

She used the money to build sizable trust funds for me and my brothers so that we would be taken care of later in life. Despite having a lot more money she still wanted to live a fairly modest life, so she paid off the house she has and has been living there ever since with my dad. Sure she bought a new car and they went on a few nice vacations but she didn't blow all her money on stupid things, which I respected. About a year ago, things started getting really weird. Whenever I saw Jane she seemed to look sicker and sicker, but no one would tell me or my brothers why even though I know they knew. All we knew is that she was at the hospital a lot. Around the same time, my mom has been coming around my dad a lot more and acting really strange,

basically like she was trying to romance him. Whenever Jane was in the hospital my mother would insist on spending the night at their house and playing mom to my brothers, which was so weird to me because she never liked them or Jane. She'd be the perfect little housewife and my mom is not like that at all. It was super fake. Worst of all, my dad started falling for it. I'm not stupid, I'm pretty sure they were sleeping together. I tried to shield my brothers from it, but they're not dumb either.

I tried talking to my dad too, but he insisted it wasn't like that. Then a few weeks ago, my mom started talking about all the places she'd like to visit, how she wanted a new car and was looking to invest. which is weird because my mom has been a bartender her whole life and has lived paycheck to paycheck since before I was born. She was acting like she was about to get a lot of money, which started to make me really suspicious. Between Jane being sick and my mom acting all Nouveau Riech, I had a lot of questions. Finally I decided to visit Jane in the hospital and ask her about my trust fund. I found out that if anything happened to her, that my dad would inherit all the money

including full control of the trust for me and my brothers. She asked me why I was so interested in the trust fund, so I told her what's going on with my parents and how my mom has been acting with my dad. I didn't want to, but after everything she did for me, she deserved the truth. It really hurt me to break her heart like that, especially once I found out that she was basically in hospice at this point

because of irreversible kidney failure. She's only got a few more months. We both cried so much. Then, two days ago everything came to a head. My mom stormed in furious and started arguing with my dad. Apparently Jane met with her lawyer and changed the trust so that my dad would get nothing and all of the trust would be controlled by my step-aunt. She demanded to know how Jane found out about their relationship and I came out and told

them that I told Jane everything. I told them that if they wanted to play stupid games they would win stupid prizes and that I wasn't going to let them screw Jane over after all the help she gave me. family when she didn't have to. My mom slapped me and my dad just looked so defeated. Then my mom told my dad that she didn't really love him, that she was just pretending to so he would marry her and she could get all of the money. The worst part about it is that my brothers witnessed the whole thing and now on top of their mom dying they have to deal with a cheating dad and his vindictive ex. Our whole family is in ruins and I feel like it's my fault even though I know it's not.

Yesterday I visited Jane again and told her about the fallout. She apologized and said that she had to dissolve my trust fund to make sure my mother didn't get a hold of the money, but that is her oldest I will inherit the house slash property after she is gone and that's worth more than the other two trust funds combined. My father won't get anything because she's going to divorce him before she dies, and honestly I'm happy for her. She made me promise to take care of my brothers and told me that once I turn 18 this summer I can kick my dad out of the house if I want to to. And I fully plan to do that BTW. I haven't talked to my dad since and I can't even look at my mom. I can't believe they would conspire to do this to Jane after all this time. Just proof that they deserve each other and I'm embarrassed that they're my parents. Once I turn 18 I'm going to cut my dad out as much as I can and cut my mom out completely.

I hope she rots. Meanwhile I'm going to try and be at the hospital as much as I can until Jane passes away. away. Anyways, I just needed to vent. I'm really messed up about the whole thing and I feel super betrayed, although I can't even begin to imagine how Jane feels. I'm going to be so effed up when she dies. I can't even think about that right now. But at least she's not surrounded by people who just want to bring her down. Thanks for reading. Edit. Some people are asking a lot of the same stuff, so I'll just clarify here, my brothers. My plan is to use some of the estate money fight for guardianship for my twin brothers so that they can live in the house while I kick my dad out. If I can't get guardianship, then I will have to let my dad stay in the house. However,

once I turn 18, I will technically be an adult, so even if my dad leaves, I'm still legally able to be responsible for them. The only thing I won't be able to do is stop him from taking them if he leaves. But they will be 18 in six years so even if they do have to leave they will always be able to come back whenever they want. In a perfect world my dad would just leave and let my brothers stay with me which I'm sure my bio-mom would be very supportive of because right now she hates all of us and I doubt that will change anytime soon. The trust, from what I understand, my brothers will inherit one-third each of the estate and the remaining one-third will be used to keep the house running until they turn 18. After that it will be up to me if I want to

keep the house or sell it. At that point my brothers will still have money left in the trust so they can branch out or do whatever they want, otherwise I will not sell the house and just pass it on to them or keep it and maintain it myself and they can just stay with me as long as they need to. Edit to the edit, so I just spoke to Jane and she told me that the reason she dissolved the trust is because originally it was going to be split three X between us kids and my dad would inherit the house. She dissolved my third and switched it over to make it to take care of the house maintenance, and instead put the house in my name so my dad wouldn't get it. Plus by doing that at least financially I would be getting a much bigger share, the house is

worth about 1.5x the amount of my brother's trusts, I just wouldn't be able to do anything with it until my brothers are 18, which I'm totally cool with. Sorry if I don't have a better answer, but I'm just trying to translate what she told me. My parents, the big fight happened on Sunday and I haven't spoken to either of my parents since. I think they're both at my mom's place right now, but that's fine with us because we're all still mad at them so they can stay gone for all we care. I know technically that's not legal to just leave us alone, but I've been taking care of my brothers for over a year I can handle a few days while he gets his shit together. Screw both of them. Hope that clears some stuff up.

Additional information from OOP on her parents, stepmom's health, trust funds, OOP.P. Why isn't Jane on dialysis? I don't remember the exact details, but Jane has a genetic condition where she gets cysts on her kidney. She already had a transplant a few years ago, but now she developed problems with her arteries or something in her legs so she doesn't qualify for dialysis. She could get another transplant, but she doesn't want to because the last time was so traumatic, rejections, etc., so she decided to just let herself go on to maintenance medications to prolong her death until she gets her affairs in order. She has a few other health problems that make the typical treatments really dangerous and according to her she'd rather die surrounded by loved ones than on an operating table. Dissolving the trust fund, Jane told me she didn't technically have to do it but she didn't trust my bio parents not to do something shady and get a hold of the money before I turn 18.

Even if my aunt controlled the fund my dad would still be able to collect if something happened to Jane before I turn 18. Her lawyer suggested it's better safe than sorry and I agreed that it was the best option. I'm not an expert though I don't know the details. How my mom knew, like I said before, I'm pretty sure Jane told my dad, who then told my mom and that's how the argument started. I can't think of any other way and I didn't really care enough to ask. Jane's thoughts on my mom, she didn't know my mom was doing all of that. My mom has her own place and would only come over whenever Jane was in the hospital for a few

days at a time. I've been living with my dad for a little over a year so he probably told Jane. that my mom was there to spend time with me, if he told her at all. Besides, she didn't move in until a few months ago, which I guess is when they started hatching their plan. Jane never outright banned my mom from visiting so there really wasn't anything she could do. Hope that helps. Edit for the last part.

The remainder of the money belonging to the estate that hasn't been put into trust for my brothers is going to be used to maintain the house, utilities, taxes, etc. until my brothers are 18 and then I can either choose to sell the house or keep it and maintain it myself if I'm able to. I plan to go to school in that time and get a better job with the goal of keeping the house, but if I can't then I have the option to sell it. Not that I will, but that's how it was explained to me. Oop on her stepmom and their relationship. Provides thoughts on her bio mom. Oop, honestly, it's because she's more of a real mom than my actual mom.

My bio-mom is kind of ambiguous about my existence, but Jane was always extra involved, sending me to sports teams and paying for dance classes and just showing interest in my hobbies as I got older. Plus as the only girl I think we bonded on a level she can't with my brothers, so she always made sure to let me know I was on equal terms with them. When I was younger, we would watch movies and have girl time where it was just us one-to-one and those are some of my best memories with her. Jane is also really mature and someone I want to be like when I get old.

whereas it feels like my mom is a teenager in an adult's body. She was constantly picking fights with my dad about dumb things and Jane was always there to smooth things over and keep my best interest at heart over her own feelings. I know my mom made Jane's life really difficult for a long time, but Jane never complained or said anything to me about it whereas my mom constantly complained about Jane. As I got older, I just always felt more at peace when I was around Jane than when I was around my mom. If you want your stepkids to love you just be there for them and treat them like your own.

Ignore whatever drama you have with your husband's ex and just love your kids. Trust me if you really care about them they will know. Update 1, Hi guys, it's me again. A lot of you asked me for an update on my situation with Jane and my family, so I've come back with a few things that have happened since I initially posted. I will try to organize this in a way that addresses the major points of last time. Jane is still alive and doing surprisingly well considering the circumstances. She's always been a fighter and although her disease has been progressing, she's keeping a positive attitude with everything that is going on.

She says she's grateful that she was able to see everyone's true colors before she passed so she could go into the next life knowing the truth. We have become so unbelievably close in the past few months and it's getting harder and harder to know that she's getting close to the end. She doesn't ever talk about it though and I know it's been. because she doesn't want to hurt me, but we both know the situation, so we're just making the best of our time. I'm also not being completely transparent about all of the drama at home, but TBAH I don't think she needs to hear all of that. We did end up having that surprise celebration of life that I planned.

A lot more people showed up than I thought, but they all got an Airbnb near the hospital where Jane is, and we were able to take her out and spend some time at the lake near the facility. It was super low-key, which I know Jane preferred, and I was even able to get her old college friend to come after I found him on LinkedIn, L.O.L. We had food and there was music and we played games and it was overall a really great time, except Jane started crying at the end, but she promised me it was just because she was grateful. My brothers are also doing okay, my aunt, Jane's sister, is currently paying for them to go to therapy and they'd become a lot more open about talking about the situation. They just turned 13, but a lot of the time it feels like I'm

talking to actual adults, LOL. They've become really in. independent lately, in a good way, and aside from me driving them places I don't really have to do much for them anymore. Their grades aren't super great but they're not failing and considering the circumstances it could be a lot worse. They still hang out with friends and I'm keeping an eye out for like depression symptoms and stuff. The situation with my mom is as funny as it is embarrassing TBH. She spent a few weeks ignoring us and then she tried to crawl back into my life basically begging me to let her move in because her lease is about to expire. and she has nowhere to go. That convo went about as well as you'd think

and she ended up calling me an ungrateful bee and that I couldn't just ignore her because she's my mom. I told her to get out of the house before I call the cops and to go back to my dad, who at that point was only coming home every few days to check on us and grab some clothes, after that she tried coming by a few times and when I wouldn't open the door

she would lose her mind and start yelling through the neighborhood. After three instances of this I finally called the cops but because I'm 17 they told me there's a possibility that I would have to go home with her since technically I'm a minor and need to be with the custodial parent. I told them no way because I was the only one watching my brother's ATM. That led to a whole thing where after a few hours my dad basically showed up and I was allowed to stay there because there was finally an adult present and I'd basically lived there for over a year. After that the cops firmly told my mom that if she keeps showing up and causing drama, my neighbors confirmed that she'd been there a few times screaming that they would arrest her for trespassing since technically it was Jane's house and not hers.

She left and hasn't tried coming to the house anymore, but for a while she would call me constantly telling me I owed her and all kinds of stuff. She's now blocked on everything and anything she needs to say to me gets filtered through my dad. As for my dad? Well, since he's basically required to be here for another two months until I turn 18, we've basically just avoided each other. It's not too bad though because I've been heavily relying on guilting him for everything to get my way. For example, he was going to contest a divorce, but I threatened to kick him out when I turn 18 if he does that. So he just signed all the paperwork for a quickie divorce and is basically doing whatever Jane tells him to do. I don't openly disrespect him or anything.

He's still my dad, but I've made it clear that I have no intentions on doing anything he says ever again and he doesn't fight me on it. Most of the time he's just in his room and sometimes he'll go back to my mom's but only for a day or two before they argue and she kicks him out again, L.O.L. I haven't decided whether or not I'll kick him out yet and we haven't talked about it either, so I'm kind of playing it by ear. As for me, I'm handling everything as good as I can. I found a new job where I make a little more money so I've been focusing on saving as much as I can and just being there for my brothers. Between working in school and visiting Jane I've been so busy I have been so busy I have. haven't really had time to really stop and think about everything, but I know it'll come. One of my friends has really stepped up and helped me manage everything and I'm super grateful to him for being there for me and my brothers, so we'll see how that goes. Anyways, I wish I had something more exciting to share, but that's what's happened since my last post smile. Thanks again for all the support on my last post. Final update. December 14th, 2024.

Hello everyone, it's me again. I've gotten quite a few messages in the past months asking for an update, so I'm going to post my final update here and hope that it's enough to answer the questions everyone has been asking. I'm sorry that it took so long to update, but a lot has been going on. As many of you may already assume, Jane passed away early fall of this year. It was very traumatic and sudden, but the silver lining is that she exceeded every doctor's expectation for her life and when she did go, she was surrounded by family, including me, my brothers, and my dad. She was on palliative care and felt no pain except for a brief moment right at the end,

and we are all very grateful for that. Towards the end, Jane was physically pretty much done, but her mind was as sharp as ever. I took the advice of many of you here and recorded some voice notes for my brothers. I originally wanted to do video, but by the time we were able to do it, we both decided they didn't need to remember her wrapped in tubes and in a hospital gown. She also wrote many letters for her friends, family, and even for me to open. when I reached certain milestones. She gave me one to open right after she passed away,

and while I won't share too many details, I can say with absolute certainty that she is and forever will be who I consider my mother without question. It was very, very emotional for everyone, and although it has been a few months I am still very heartbroken about her no longer being with us. She was a kind, gentle woman, and in my heart she is who I aspire to be.

My brothers are obviously very hurt about our mom dying, but just like before they are taking it surprisingly well. They are still going to therapy both together and separately, and we have a lot of conversations whenever they feel like talking. We've always been close, but I feel like we're closer now. Even though I work we hang out as often as we can, and I'm doing everything I can to be the support that they need. They don't know it, but I definitely need them as much as they need me

because they're the only ones I can really talk to about anything. Ironically now that our family glue is gone, were pulling together stronger than before. My dad and I mended the fences, so to speak. We went to a few therapy sessions together where he took full responsibility for his behavior, and I've forgiven him as much as I can especially since he eventually started doing everything he could

to be there for Jane at the end, even though they still went through with the divorce. He's still living with us and things are a little tense, but they're much better than before. He's my dad and I love him, but he was also broken by Jane's condition and he wasn't able to cope in a healthy manner. Her dying really brought some light into his eyes, so to speak, and now he's really stepping up to be the man he was supposed to be.

A lot of people commented saying too little too late, but again, he's my dad and for my own mental health I have chosen to forgive him. As far as I know my bio-mom pretty much vanished off the face of the earth when I turned 18. She tried a few times to convince me to let her live with us, but I wasn't having any of it. Even my dad told her he's officially done and after we all blocked her on everything she stopped reaching out. She doesn't have any relatives who talk to her so I don't have to worry about that. But I did hear from people who follow her on Facebook that she has a new boyfriend that she's living with. I don't want to stalk her or anything, I really don't care. She hasn't come to me with any kind of apology so T.B.H. she can get bent.

It's a little hard for me to think that she'd just walk away the second I turned legal just because she didn't get any of Jane's money but oh well, true colors and all that. Guess 18 years was too long to pretend to care. I'm just so angry with her I don't want anything to do with her anymore. Maybe that will change one day but I'm not holding my breath. As for me I'm doing pretty okay, I decided to take a year before I start college to handle all of this bullshit and I'm still at my same job so I'm saving up money wherever I can. My friends have all been great supporters and I'm so grateful for everyone, especially you Reddit folks,

who have been checking in on me and making sure I'm okay. I'm taking things one day at a time and that's been working great to keep my focused. My goal is to go to college next year and study journalism but I'm playing it by ear. I can always go back to school but right now my family needs me and if that takes longer than a year then so be it. Thank you everyone. This will be my last update and I very much appreciate all the love and support you've shown our family. Jane I know was very grateful for all of you too and all I can say is hold your loved ones tight and be careful of anyone who seems too good to be true. Much love and blessings to you all. I hope you enjoy this story. Sibling came to live with us and continue to

disturb my infant at 4 a.m. When I set a bedtime for her, she insulted me and then took my high-priced diaper. Bag for her beach trip. I, 25F, live in a three-bedroom apartment with my fiancé, 27M. We have a six-month-old son. My younger sister Mia, fake name, 20F, recently started attending a university that's closer to where I live than both my parents' places. Because she needs to get to class early in the morning, my fiancé, and I allowed her to move into our spare bedroom. She's been living with us since January. There's a set of rules I've been having Mia follow since she moved in, mostly to make sure everyone can live peacefully.

One of the most important rules concerns arriving after my son's bedtime, usually between 19 hours and 20 hours. Mia is allowed to come home however late she wants, as long as she doesn't make too much noise. The door to the apartment has an electronic keypad lock, and the one we use also has a normal lock under it. Everyone has a copy of the key, but we all prefer typing in the password. However, the keypad is very noisy, and my son's nursery isn't far from the door.

Every time the keypad is used after I've put the baby to sleep, he wakes up. So naturally, the rule about getting home late includes not using the keypad. Everyone, including Mia, has known about this since day one. At first, we had no problems. But now that Mia has gotten used to college, life, she's been going out at night frequently. This past month, she has arrived home after midnight every Friday and Saturday night. She always forgets the don't make too much noise rule, and she has, on multiple occasions, used the keypad. My son wakes up crying every damn.

Time. I'd sit her down and remind her of the rule whenever this happened, but she'd continue to do it. My fiancé and I got tired of putting our baby back to sleep because of that, so I changed the password and told me she was no longer allowed to use the keypad. She agreed, and promised to try to make less noise. On Friday night this week, Mia went out with her friends. She came home very drunk at 4 a.m., and forgot that I'd changed the password. Not only did she use the keypad, she also got the password wrong so many times that she triggered an alarm. I was furious. Not only did my baby wake up crying, but I also got complaints from my neighbors. The next morning, I told Mia that I'm establishing a curfew, while living with me, she needs to be

home by 20 hours. She won't be allowed to go out at night for the rest of the semester. Mia put up a fight, saying I have no right to ground her, edit. I never used that word like this or dictate what she does with her free time, but I held my ground. I told her she'll be free. to do as she pleases when she has her own place and raises her own family. While living with mine, she has to do as I say. She told our parents about this. Our mother and stepfather are both on my side. Our father is on Mia's. He's saying I'm not her mother, and I have no right to treat her like a child. He also thinks it's unfair to do this to her over a drunken mistake. Ida. Comments where Op has replied, Oop clarifies, she is living here for free, but only for now. The deal is for her to start

paying a small portion of rent once she gets a job. Comment her, what if she never gets a job or takes months? What if she gets a job but doesn't tell you because she prefers free loading? Oop, if the latter happens, I will find out. She tells our mother everything, and my mom would tell me. I know my family. But honestly, I don't need her to pay me right now. now. My father still gives her some money for personal expenses, so I'm not spending too much on her. Comment her, I'm having genuine trouble how on earth to pay her. I'm having genuine trouble how unlocking multiple locks and jangling keys into a door is quieter than a keypad, excluding the alarm, and also wouldn't wake the baby up. Oop, it's only one lock. It's not noiseless,

but it's quiet enough that it doesn't wake the baby. The keypad makes very loud noises every time something is typed in, as well as another one once the door is open. How loud it is. Boop, very. It makes noises whenever something is typed in, as well as another one once the door has been unlocked. And she's not just quietly typing in the password, she's being loud besides that, slamming the door, knocking stuff over, etc. Comment her, I believe some electronic locks have a silent function.

At least my alarm system's keypad does. although I'm not so sure. I don't have electronic door locks, which is why I asked the question in the first place. Boop, the one we use doesn't have a silent function. Update 1, May 10, 2024. It's very hard to explain my relationship with my younger sister in proper detail, but I will say that, while I love her dearly, Mia has always been a very inconsiderate person. I have countless examples. She almost didn't attend our cousin's wedding last.

because she didn't want to walk to the venue, which was two blocks away from our mom's place. We shared a bathroom when we were younger, and she'd insist on having the top drawers because she didn't want to crouch down, but she was cool with me doing so. She slept through my college graduation, and didn't apologize for it.

I'm bringing this up now because whenever I asked Mia why she kept forgetting to use her key, her excuse was that looking through her bag took too long and the keypad was quicker. In her head, bothering other people Bothering other people is better than slightly inconveniencing herself. After I established the curfew, Mia tried different ways to make me change my mind. She'd talk about not being able to cancel her tickets for party X, or about the fun her friends had at party Y.

She'd show me her developing LinkedIn profile, and tell me she had learned her lesson and would be more responsible. At first, I really didn't want to have to kick her out, which many of you suggested, but I have limits. A few days ago, I heard her complaining to her friends on the phone about her bitch of a sister who wouldn't let her do anything. Later that day, I asked her which of our parents she planned on moving in with. Q. More fighting. I managed to tell her that I had no obligation to continue housing her, for free, if she couldn't respect my family. Mia could either move back in with our parents or continue living with me for the low price of respecting my infant's son or stop complaining about it. We did have a very productive conversation afterwards. I managed to get a lot off my chest, as did my sister.

Mia apologized for everything. She admitted she'd been selfish, promised she'd make efforts to change and mature. I'm a strong believer that people can change, which is why I'm not kicking her out right now. But I made it very clear that Mia is on thin ice, and the next time she does anything like this will be the last time she ever sees the inside of my home. The curfew will continue until the end of the semester, as originally planned. My father also agreed to pay for Mia to go back to therapy. It helped her a lot when she was younger, so I'm hopeful about the future of this living situation. I also want to thank those who suggested a white noise machine.

My son is not a light sleeper, the keypad is just very loud and startles him awake, but my fiancé and I are still looking into getting one. Anything that helps our baby sleep better is welcome. Thank you, Reddit. Update 2, October 4th, 2024. Okay, you guys called it. A little under a month ago, my fiancé and I kicked Mia out of my apartment. This actually had very little to do with the keypad thing. After my last post, things were relatively peaceful for a while. And then June came, and Mia decided to go back to her old ways. At first, it was just run-of-the-mill entitlement. She started taking my stuff without permission, whining whenever my baby cried and complaining about having to do everything, literally just her own laundry.

All of that was more annoying than unbearable, so I just take my stuff back and let her clothes stink. Then, early in September, Mia went on a holiday beach trip with her friends. The day after she left, I noticed my diaper bag and one of my son's blankets were missing. Both were expensive gifts my best friend gave me for my baby shower. I checked every room in the apartment and found all of the items that had been in the diaper bag dumped on Mia's bed. She had emptied the bag to use it as extra luggage. The blanket was in a separate pocket, so she took it by mistake. Later, when I got them back, they were both dirty and sandy.

I called Mia as soon as I found the items. Her reasoning for taking the diaper bag was that she didn't want to empty her school bag, and her computer wouldn't fit anywhere else. She also called me dramatic when I told her to apologize. That's when I kicked her out. I told her that once she got back, she'd have one week to grab her things and move back to either of our parents' places. My sister spent the rest of her trip trying to convince me otherwise.

She also tried to get my parents on her side. My mom told her she'd brought it on herself. My father did try to convince me to be nice, but I told him I already had been. Mia tried to pick a fight about it when she got back from her trip, but I didn't budge. She moved out officially a couple weeks ago. My mom is making her save money so she can pay me back for the, almost, eight months of rent she owes me. To be honest, I'm writing this mostly to vent. Being an older sister is exhausting.

The house is always on fire, but you can never be the one freaking out. You're like a second mother, but not an actual parent, so your younger. sibling feels no need to respect you. At least that was my experience growing up. My mom is fantastic, but she still acknowledges that I was basically Mia's third parent. My father was a good dad, but a mediocre parent, and he refuses to understand that. He also doesn't accept that after the divorce, I was more responsible for Mia than he was. I love my sister dearly, but she's always treated me as an afterthought. For a few years, she'd contact me almost exclusively. She'd contact me almost exclusively when she needed a ride.

I'd spend a shit ton of money on presents. She'd give me a $2 gift two months after my actual birthday. This happened three separate times, including this year. The list goes on. It always felt like I was the last thing on her mind. I'm not saying I was perfect, but I was always there for her. I will always love my sister, and I do believe she loves me too. But I also understand she's two.

selfish to realize she treats me poorly. I have to focus on my son, and I can't put up with Mia's immaturity right now. Do I regret letting her move in with me? No. Do I regret not kicking her out back in May? Also no. To be honest, I think I needed that. Knowing I tried has always helped me sleep at night. Plus, living with Mia wasn't all bad. Accompanying the Drake slash Kendrick Lamar feud with her was pretty fun, at first, at least. My sister and I are on speaking terms. She was pissed at first, but got over it once she realized that literally no one was really taking her side. She's back to transitioning between our parents' places every week. I don't miss that lifestyle. Mia hates it, as it takes her longer to get to her classes every

morning. She's apologized, but I'm not letting her move back in with me. My son's turning one in a couple of weeks. Mia is invited to his birthday party, but I'm not expecting her to show up. My fiancé and I are getting married in a little under a year, and she's invited to that too. I hope my sister can learn to be more considerate and that we can improve our relationship someday. But I'm done being the only one putting in the effort. This will be my final post. Thank you, Reddit. Comments where OPP has replied on not regretting letting sis stay at first, I don't regret anything. I needed to accept I can't keep giving my sister these chances.

And I don't think I could have truly achieved that without knowing I'd tried. Comment her, just be aware of her mood heading up to your wedding. She could show up happy and excited for you, she could show up and sulk, and she could be goaded by her friends or TikTok into showing up just to cause problems. Shredded inappropriate dress, bridal gown, interesting hairdo, who knows. Security exists for people like that, sadly. Oop, nah, these things take effort. At worst, she'll sulk through the whole wedding.

I know for a fact no one would support her if she tried anything more drastic. Comment her, Dad sounds like he's still enabling the sister-oop. My father's stance here doesn't have much to do with wanting to enable Mia. He's just always expected me to bend over backwards for others. That behavior has been improving lately, but there's still traces. of it every now and then. Next story, boyfriend became obsessed with rock climbing, quit his career, and works at a sandwich shop. When I got pregnant, he chose a competition over my ultrasound. My boyfriend is obsessed with climbing slash bouldering. He plans almost his entire life around it.

He's very good at it and has even become semi-sponsored. He gets discounted gear through the sponsorship, not money. We met through climbing about four years ago when we were both already in relationships and became friends. While I've known him, he has become more and more committed to the lifestyle. He sold his car to fund a climbing trip. He was halfway through an engineering degree and dropped out because it was getting in the way of competitions. His other real-life friends have all moved on in various ways, so most of his friends are just as obsessed with climbing as he is. He still had other hobbies and a stable income until we relocated. I worked for the government, woo, and was offered a promotion if I moved out west. My boyfriend was thrilled and

really supportive. We decided to take the risk, accept the position and move and together. The new position required a lot of changes. I'm on call most weekends, so my days of super competitive climbing are cut back. I get hair tested, so no more fun drug times. Some days I have to travel to different work sites, so I won't get home until after midnight. Overall, the job has been great though. It's laid back in fun and the benefits are phenomenal. I'm really happy I made the jump. However, my boyfriend has gone the total opposite.

Back home he had a 40-hour week job with benefits. Out here, one of his climbing buddies got him a job at a sandwich shop working lunch shift. He explained it would be temporary while he searched for something better. Six months later, he's still there with no interest in leaving. Why? Because it works great with his climbing schedule and all his co-workers climb. In his defense, he lives the absolute barebones lifestyle. No car, no insurance, minimum possessions. He can get by on very little, which is financially responsible for his income. But he also has no savings. Any extra money goes towards climbing gear, granola and travel money, gas, flights, bus tickets,

to attend competitions. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a competitive climber and do well at it. But I really just want to have fun and meet people. My boyfriend used to be pretty relaxed about it as well. But since the bar is so much higher out here, he's thrown himself into getting better. The other climbing bros love it and they all feed off one another. And let me just say, most of those guys suck.

They are almost all single. One wears a wedding band with climbing. inscribed on it, broke and shameless. Like musicians, but less cool. Last time I hung out there, one of the guys told me I should buy the drinks since I make the big money. When he's not climbing with the dudes, he's watching the same climbing videos online, reading climbing forums, researching new gear or compulsively checking scores on climbing results. I feel like all we ever talk or do anymore is climbing related and I am getting so frustrated. I've talked about making plans to do other things, but he won't commit because he's waiting to hear about climbing. No car means you're

tied to the guy driving out. I even tried to plan a trip to NYC for his birthday, but he says he doesn't know if he can go until he figures out whether he has enough points to attend a world's level climbing competition in August. And then, even though I'm on birth control, I get pregnant. He's supportive in small ways, but is reluctant to cancel a climbing date to go to the gestational ultrasound. When we talk about options, he says he doesn't think we're in the right place. I've never given much thought to having children, but feel this little heart take at his answer. He thinks I'd be a great mom, he wants to have kids someday, just not now. I talk to my parents and friends and decide to terminate. He comes to the procedure and the doctor tells us I couldn't have

kept it anyway. My boyfriend is visibly relieved. Now his tone is we had no choice. We couldn't have had it anyway. He's moved on, but I'm still pretty sad about it. Reddit, I want to talk to him about all of these feelings. We're really growing apart. While I still find him attractive, I don't want to have sex anymore. I'm afraid I'll become pregnant again and since nothing in his situation is changing, he'll still choose climbing.

He's become the people we used to joke about. The people who live in a van or a tent at the prime climbing spots and eat, sleep, breathe climbing. On one hand, I'm glad he's happy out here, but on the other, I've found myself having a harder time relating to him. It feels like something we used to have in common has become really divisive. My parents are furious as he spoke to them before we left about being committed to building a future together and they don't understand why he's backsliding. For that matter, I don't either. I told him last month that I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I thought his lifestyle was pretty disappointing.

He said he would look for different work, but hasn't even tried. In the climbing mansion, an old house with six climbing dudes living in it, near us, a room is opening up. I'm seriously considering asking him to move out and live with his buddies. However, the other night he told me he was really happy with us and wanted to discuss the future. I'm so confused. I love him and want to support him, but his lack of ambition is such a huge turn off. How can he even bring up the future when the only goals he has are all

centered around some crazy sport that could easily end if he hurt himself? How do I talk to him about this without hitting below the belt? I want to do it soon because he asked one of my close friends about ring shopping. Good sweet Lord, I don't want to get engaged right now. Help. Update. I didn't think people would care that much about an update, but I keep getting private messages asking what happened. I've gotten more messages than responses on my post. Apparently a lot of us have dated climbers. For the sake of ending the story, here's how things went after our post. Work had slowed down a lot and while I was still putting in overtime here and there, I wasn't really traveling to work sites. We were spending more time together and I felt

like one night in particular was a good time to bring up the subject. The conversation went, okay. I told him I was frustrated that he keeps talking about finding a new job, but never follows through. I brought him two different work flyers that I thought would be right up his alley. One was for climbing up cellular reception towers, come on. Even I think that sounds intriguing, and the other was for an engineering assistant. He basically said that he knows there is no future at his current work, but it pays enough for him to get by and he's having fun. Well, I told him I understood. but I was thinking that maybe we should stop living together. This turned into an argument about chores, money and the big one, what we wanted out of the future.

He reiterated that he wants kids, marriage, and that he loves me very much, but he doesn't want to do those things right now. I asked him what would happen if I got pregnant again and he said that was very unlikely. When I told him I felt that he had made climbing his number one priority, he balked and said I was exaggerating. I threw open the closet door and pulled out all the camping equipment he bought before we came out here, all still with tags attached. Unless I've used it. He hasn't come on those trips because he's been climbing. This is hundreds of dollars of gear untouched over an eight-month period. I pointed out his dusty mountain bike. He said he doesn't have a car. What about the Frisbee golf bag that is in our storage container?

He hasn't had time. At this point, I just started crying. These were all activities we use to really enjoy and do together. I just feel like an idiot. I tell him I understand where he's at in his life and I want him to be happy, but I'm going to start looking for another apartment. We have a little over a month left on our lease, so at the end we can part ways amicably. He looks completely devastated. All he says back is if that's what you want.

I found an apartment and will be moving out in a week. Things have been cordial enough. We share a studio and he keeps the bed while I sleep in the closet on a camping cot. Hey, it finally got some use. He's moving into the climbing house temporarily, he says. My parents are worried that I'm falling apart, but I feel okay. Sad, but okay. I still really care about him.

But I've realized almost all of the stress in my life was coming from the energy I was putting into our relationship. Maybe it'll sink in when we finally do split ways. So there you have it. I hope you enjoy this story. And attempted to make my young child pay a substantial sum for not finishing her meal. As a result, I had to ask her to leave the premises. I am shocked by this turn of events. I assumed you understood.

About such stories on the internet, hear people talk shit about old people, but I'd never think that this could actually happen to someone. My F-28 aunt F-55 has been a miser as long as I have known her. She will never host any family dinner, gift us off the dollar tree, and have her kids get hand-me-downs or thrift store-bought clothes. After her husband died and her children moved out, things took such a dramatic turn that we had to essentially cut her off, at least to some extent. The most important reason is her constant demand for money.

She'd often call family members, friends, and and even her own mother who was in her 80s for money. She has all sorts of reasons ranging from emergency to a quick buck to her check being late. We have all let it slide since the beginning but this time she really crossed the limits. Would you ask a six-year-old to pay you for a tiny mistake? I don't know, but this issue has escalated far more than I thought. Hence, I decided to post my story. As I said before, my aunt has always been the one to be as cheap as she could.

It is no wonder that no one wants to visit her. Unlike most of my siblings and extended family members, I've respected her. I tried to help her as much as I could, thinking of her to be family. Sure she might be a miser, but I thought she was a sweet lady. We would exchange pleasantries from time to time and have a phone conversation every once in a while. My husband even helped her set up her garden last summer, that too free of charge. I also visit her sometimes whenever my schedule. allows me. And in her own words, she'd always be grateful. Given her history, though I was quite

surprised when she asked to have my six-year-old son, Sam come over for the weekend. I mean it's not like we don't visit her, but she has never shown much interest in our kid before. Despite my better judgment, I thought maybe she wanted to build a relationship with my kid. After all, we had always been on good terms. I did not think too much of it. Sam seemed excited. to visit his great aunt and husband and I decided to have a date night. We hardly get to go out since work has been hectic past few months. Now let me clarify that before deciding this I had an extended conversation with Sam about how he has to be a good guest. I do not like to brag but Sam is a quiet and respectful kid.

I went over all the general house rules with him and he seemed happy to oblige. I even called my aunt to get a heads up and she seemed happy enough. She told me to enjoy some peace for the evening and she'll take care of Sam. We packed him a small bag and dropped him off last Saturday. I called my aunt after coming back from the date and she said she cooked Sam's favorite meal, Mac and cheese, and he was happily watching TV. I wished Sam a good night and that was it. Imagine my surprise when I visit her the next morning to pick up Sam and I see him looking

scared and teary-eyed. My mama bear instinct immediately kicked in and I asked him what was wrong. Aunt seemed stern and quiet too when I admit for a minute I thought maybe Sam had been up to some mischief although knowing my son, he's a pretty quiet kid. Sam didn't respond and was looking at me with great fear. To de-escalate the situation, I asked Sam quietly if he could go sit in the car while I had an old people talk with my aunt. He seemed relieved to hear that.

The poor thing was looking so scared all this time. He seemed happy to leave as soon as I gave him the get-go. However, my aunt immediately blocked the front door. And then, looking at Sam dead in the eyes, she says, Don't you have something to do before you leave? What did we say about bad manners? My son was trembling now. I couldn't have any more of it and asked my aunt directly what this whole ordeal was about.

She then goes on to tell me that last night Sam had been unable to finish his dinner and as a result, and I'm not kidding when I say this, this grown-us woman asked my six-year-old kid to pay her for the food wasted. Apparently, Sam had told her about a small amount of money that we let him keep in his bag in case he needed to buy something when he was with other people or in case of emergencies. I had let Sam bring his money and he also wanted to bring his piggy bank with him because it had his savings from the money that he got on his birthdays and other family events and he really wanted to show it off to everyone.

Aunt had known about this because, well, kids talk and now she had demanded him to pay her off. So now she wanted him to pay for the food wasted and also for other bad manner things that he did throughout the day, basically asking a six-year-old to pay a huge sum just for being a kid. I was beyond furious. In what world did she think this was appropriate? And no, she had not an ounce of guilt for terrorizing a kid over such a small issue. My son looked so confused and scared. He immediately began apologizing saying, he ate as much as he could.

He promised me he was on his best behavior as we had taught him to be. I tried to comfort him, but my aunt started screaming over me. She said she was just teaching my kid to be responsible. That I should know better than raising an entitled kid. At that moment, I felt so angry I just wanted to go off on her, but I didn't want Sam to get more upset. I tried to be as patient as I could and told him to go to go. sit in the car. After Sam left, I asked my aunt as calmly as I could if she knew what she was doing. To this, the woman started screaming again and basically told me that I should pay her and let this go.

But I wasn't going to let this go. I knew she was a cheap person, but she had taken it too far. It wasn't about the money, you guys, it was the fact that she had proceeded to scare and scream at my child who was most likely traumatized from this event. So, I did what I knew would scare the hell out of my aunt. I immediately called my grandmother. Let me tell you, grandmother has been nothing but kind to aunt even though aunt has hardly kept a relationship with her in all these years. As I said before, all of my aunt's kids have essentially cut her off owing to her nature. A few years back, my aunt had lost her home due to late payments and the house she was living in right now belonged to my grandmother. She is the sweetest old lady and had

lived in a two-bedroom house that belonged to her husband. She let my aunt live in this house rent free. However, I knew for a fact that my grandmother loved us more than anything. She was always the one to stand up for the right thing. I called her then and there while aunt kept screaming at me. After hearing the whole story, my grandmother told me that she would be coming over herself. I didn't stay there any longer and took my son home that day. Fast forward to the next day, I showed up at her house as soon as my aunt saw her, she knew she was done. Grandma walked up to her and told her in the calmest voice ever that she better pack up. My aunt was shocked. She had anticipated getting an earful from her mother, but she had never thought she'd be asked to vacate the house.

She tried her best to backtrack by saying she would apologize to us and would never do it again, but Grandma wasn't having it. She said she had enough of her tantrums for all these years. She had crossed the limit when she decided to exhort money from a six-year-old and that to her grandkid. When apologizing didn't work, my aunt resorted to screaming again saying that we had plotted against her and that we hated her. We didn't stay any longer, though. Before leaving, Grandma just told her to pack her shit or she'd have her evacuated in a week. It has been a few days since then and from what I hear, and is being forced to leave Grandma's house. She has nowhere to go and because of her reputation of being a miser, no one is letting her stay with them. I wasn't initially doubting myself, but I've been getting calls from our extended family that I went too far.

They say I am trying to draw a wedge between a mother and a daughter. I don't think so, but my intention wasn't exactly to make her homeless. I just wanted her to feel guilty. Did I go too far, Reddit? Ida. Update 1. Guys. Thank you for all your support on my last post. I am sorry I could not reply to most of you.

Like I said before I have a busy schedule and I was already tired of everything that happened last week. Many people messaged me asking if Sam was okay and y'all are so kind. I thought I must update Reddit. Some of you've asked about my husband's reaction to this particular incident. You can only imagine how furious he was. In fact, he wanted to confirm. her that day itself. He is really protective of us. But I calmed him down as I knew my own plan was the best for dear aunt. I wanted to make her understand how wrong she was. A few spoonfuls of

dinner wasn't the reason for her going this far. All she wanted was to extort money from us. And she tried to use my own kid in her ploy when I've been nothing but kind to her for all these years. First things first, Sam is doing better. He was really skisks. He was really skisks. that day and even cried his way home. He thought it was his fault. I asked him about the dinner and he told me he finished most of it but aunts served him more, saying he should eat at all because he cooked only for him. I was baffled. I comforted him and told him sometimes adults mess up. He was quieter than usual that day but has since recovered. Husband and I took him on a fun day out with his best friend and so far he is doing fine. As for my aunt, well I haven't talked to her

visiting her with Grandma. I talked with a few of my cousins though and as word has it, she's pretty upset about how the situation turned against her. My sister told me she is trying to badmouth me to most family members, but I don't really care about it anymore. Like a lot of you mentioned, she's probably sour about losing a free house. And given her history, no one wants to shelter her. That is probably the reason why they're angry with me. I am angry too. The more I think about it the more I want to lash out at her. If I am being honest, I don't regret involving Grandma one bit. She deserved the karma to hit her back. I talked to Grandma later on and she said she was sure of her decision. She had let Aunt get away with everything all these years and the least she could have done

was be grateful. But instead, she tried to take it all out on a little kid. This was in no way, a civilized behavior. Hence, she deserved to face the consequences of her actions. After all, she didn't even call to apologize. I gave her plenty of chances, but she uttered a half-ass sorry in that too when she was afraid of losing her home. Anyway, I am not going to focus any more of my energy on her. I have had enough of this negativity. I am trying to focus on my family for now, but I'll surely update you if something new ends up happening. Update 2. Hello everyone. It is me with the aunt's story again. I didn't think I'll be still talking about it two weeks later but oh well, shit hit the fan.

I have a pretty interesting update that I would love to share with you. And let me tell you, it is going to be wild. Turns out, my aunt is not homeless after all. Sometime after my last update, my mother called me. She told me that she has let aunt live with her while she finds a place in her budget. I did not stop her as she already knew all about her. As fate would have it, she could not keep her around for long. As per my dad, my aunt would keep bad-mouthing me.

She would call people and tell them that I wasn't a good mother and I was raising an entitled child. She wouldn't even clean up after herself. Apparently, she thought my parents should help her as much as she wanted as it was their daughter who got her into this situation. She still couldn't see her own fault. I couldn't believe she was the same woman I knew. Anyway, my dad had enough of it.

He told her to leave his home as she was not being a respectable house guest. Of course, she screamed at him too, but my father is a level-headed man. He just asked Mom to help Aunt Pack and call someone else in the family. Mom initially took her side but quickly switched when Dad threatened to leave if Aunt stayed. I don't blame him. Who could stand their own children being badmouth like that? When Aunt refused to leave, Dad called me. He asked me about it and I told him the whole story again, to which he was dead shocked.

He told me he didn't even know how Aunt tried to use Sam to get money. Mom had tried to keep peace and just told him that Sam was being a brat and aunt had tried to parent him. She told him I got upset and called my grandmother to intervene. This new piece of information made me much more angry. I felt as if my own mother betrayed me. And Dad got more furious when he heard me cry. He threw my aunt out that day itself. With nowhere to turn to, my aunt called my grandma again.

She begged her to let her live in the house as she didn't have anywhere else to go to. Grandma had already heard enough about her trying to badmouth me and she basically chewed her out. Aunt kept pestering her, and I guess she melted a little bit. So, she offered my aunt an out. She told her that there was only one way she would let her. stay in her house again and that was if she paid the rent and maintenance for the house monthly. Turns out, Grandma was covering the maintenance and electricity bills for Aunt as well. And now, she was being asked to not only cover it herself but also pay the house rent.

Grandma said it was only fair after she freeloaded for all these years. She thought it was the only way Aunt could pay back. Last I heard, my aunt took on the offer. What else could she do? I am simply a at how the whole drama has unfolded. I mean, she could have kept her mouth shut and none of this would have happened. I hope this is the end, though. I would love to put this all behind me. Let's hope I won't hear something new. Update 3, Hello Reddit People.

Thank you for all the love and support you all have been pouring in. This community has been my rock since the incident happened. I know I responded to a few comments, but people have been showing support nevertheless. I am back with another update I owe it to you guys. You all have possibly saved my life. Many people warned me after my last update that dear aunt was not going to let this go. That she might try to corner me again, and I should be on the lookout. Your concerns were not wrong.

Soon enough, my dad called me again and said that my aunt had shown up at my parents' house after Grandma served her the ultimatum. He told me that while he couldn't talk to her directly, she tried to. to wind up a fight. She was constantly asking my mom to intervene and tell me off. Luckily, my mother took my side and told her to go away. Dad threatened to call the police, but she left. And then the inevitable happened. A few nights ago, I thought I heard footsteps on my front porch. I thought I was being paranoid at first until someone started banging loudly on my door. It was six in the morning. I was too afraid and I woke my husband

up. He accompanied me and we looked up in the CCTV that it was my aunt. She looked angry and vindictive. Husband wanted to confront her, but I felt this wasn't right. I know she was just an old lady, but somehow I knew she could do much more harm than we could have anticipated. There was no way I was going to let her come inside in case she tried to harm my family. I just called her on the phone and asked her what she wanted. Her response was to start berating me constantly. She called me a little B word and I stayed quiet. I wanted to let her finish so I allowed her to shout as much as she wanted and after that, told her that we had already called the police.

I lied that I knew it was her and had already called the police before calling her. This got her to quiet down. She told me she had not expected this from me and that she'd come back. This was when my husband took the phone from me. He threatened her saying, She dared not step on our property again as we would get her arrested on grounds of trespassing. By the look on her face, she knew my husband was serious. Thankfully, she left right away. Since the incident, I have been immensely paranoid.

I am worried for my family. The way my aunt showed up at our door has gotten me to rethink my decisions. I can barely sleep at night. We even changed our locks just in case. Luckily, her showing up here didn't escalate into a fight and Sam was fast asleep. I can't imagine what could have happened in case he hurt her. We have tried our best to not let this affect our child. He seems to have forgotten that the sleepover incident happened in the first place. I hope that's true. The other thing that I am worried about is the safety of some of my family members, especially

grandma. I asked her to come live with us for a few days because I don't believe she is safe. After all, she did all this to protect me. but my grandmother refused profusely. She said she knows her daughter and she will not do anything. We are still trying for her to change her mind. Lately, I have been feeling guilty about it too. I can't help but think that this situation could have been avoided if I had paid her in the first place.

Update 4. I swear I'm tired of writing about this woman. My son might be six, but his tantrums are nothing before the one my aunt has been throwing around for days. It has been a month, and I can't believe I am still writing about this. Thus, I decided to end this once and for all. Let me tell you what happened last week. After she showed up at our house that day, I managed to convince some of her side of the family to talk to her. I was concerned about her own mental well-being and was worried she could be a threat to herself and to others. I also didn't want to put my grandmother through any more stress.

The best way to do that was to help my aunt move on from this. A few weeks ago, my mother gathered some people together at my aunt's house to discuss the matter. They tried talking to my aunt and helped her understand that what she did wasn't okay. She was even promised financial assistance until she could cough up the rent and charges on the home. The whole point was to bury the hatchet, and at first, it seemed that she was getting it. I wasn't there, for fear of what might have happened if things got out of hand, but as my cousin says, I was ready to apologize and even promised to do better. My mother made her see that.

All these years grandma had single-handedly supported her and everyone in the family had helped her with money one way or the other. This seemed to be working and my aunt said she was sorry things had come to such a head. She then, however, goes on to tell my extended family that she will put this all behind us if I am ready to pay her for the damages. According to several family members, she believes that she lost a lot of self-esteem and her respect was damaged because of my family and she now wants me to pay her a huge monetary sum to compensate for that damage. Of course, most people were baffled at her demand but some even chose to side with her. They said that none of this would have happened if I had paid her the

very first day and grandma wouldn't have asked her to move out, let alone pay rent. After this whole drama, I decided to take the reins in my own hands. As soon as my parents and everyone else told me about this, I called my aunt and informed her in no certain terms. that I wasn't going to pay her a single penny. That if she wanted to go to the court, she was free to go. As always, my aunt did not take it well and decided to threaten me. She said she had a talk with her lawyers and that they were going to make me pay as she had some door-cam footage from the day I showed up at her house.

It sounded so ridiculous that I laughed in her face. I told her that throughout the whole ordeal, I'd been nothing but kind to her. My family had helped her on multiple occasions and she had reached. paid the kindness by traumatizing my family, yet I forgave her for the sake of grandma. But now, enough was enough. I told her that if she did not let this go or tried to stir up any more trouble for my family, I would surely press charges against her on grounds of harassment. Luckily, I haven't heard anything since then and my parents say that my aunt seems to have mellowed down. I don't know this for certain, but it seems like she actually tried to get legal advice.

One of her friends is a lawyer and she told Aunt that her case would be laughed off in court. This got her thinking and she decided to let the whole thing go. So far so good. I am just grateful for this to end. Needless to say, we are cutting all contact with her from now on. As for my grandma, she has been living with us for a while. I asked her to move in with us for a few days and she happily obliged after Sam begged her to. and they have been inseparable since the day she moved in. Even right now, they are baking cookies together.

This is the only good thing to have come out of this scenario. I feel so grateful to see my family enjoying being together in peace. I hope you enjoy this story. Spouse's fantastic New Year's revelation involved compelling spouse and children to pay a visit to his critical parents, resulting in a major argument following an unkind present to teenage daughters. Hey, my husband, 42M, and I, 44F, have been married for 16 years and we have two twin daughters aged 13. My husband and I have had a relatively happy marriage except for our relationship with his parents. We haven't been on speaking terms with my in-laws, both of them are in their early

60s, for almost seven years now. My in-laws are literally the worst people I've ever met in my entire life and I hate them from the bottom of my heart. They hate me too as far as I know and what's worse is they seem to hate their grandkids too. I hate to say it but they'll pretty much bully anything and anyone that they don't like. They never like me so as a result they don't like our kids either. Their reason for not liking me is pretty shallow and I'll be blunt about it, they dislike me for my weight. I've always been a big girl, even as a kid, and have been mocked about it for ages so this isn't new to me. But it's nothing I can control either, I just have big bones, and even though I go to the gym and everything, I'm on the heavier side. It's just how I'm built and has nothing to do with my

diet, exercise, or overall health. I'm a healthy person and can do everything that everyone else can, but the only difference is that my appearance is a little big compared to the average American woman. My in-laws have never liked that and had made it a thing to point it out every time my husband would bring me over for dinner to his house while we were dating. They cut it out after a while, presumably after my husband spoke to them about the little digs they take at me because I'd told him after the first couple of meetings that I didn't appreciate them making comments regarding my weight.

So they stopped talking about it and instead, they found other ways to get under my skin instead like making bland, tasteless food and small portions that would barely feed a kid whenever I'd visit. Their excuse was that apparently they were getting old so they needed to watch what they ate, but they were in their 40s at the time, so I didn't buy that they were already too old to have normal food. They didn't need to watch what they ate,

but they wanted me to do so and the food they prepared for me, along with the portions they served me, was just their subtle way of reminding me that they didn't like this about me. Of course, along with my appearance, there were several other things that they didn't like about me either. They didn't like where I came from since my parents are cattle farmers from Minnesota and my in-laws have their own business, are a lot better off than our family, and are more urban or whatever.

I'm also kind of shrill so my mother-in-law would often make faces whenever I'd get too excited about something while talking to them and then put a finger in her ear to show that I'd been too loud. It was all these little, subtle things that really got to me but I still didn't say anything since I didn't want them to have another excuse to hate me, like maybe I'm too sensitive for them. So I learned to be less myself whenever I was around them and my husband just kept apologizing for it over and over again but never left his parents either. Then we got married and his parents started disliking me even more than they already did and the jibes at me started getting less and less subtle. It stopped for a while when I was pregnant but after the birth of my daughters, they came back to

their original form and how. My daughters are also like me, they're big-boned and even though they're completely healthy, they're also kind of big. When they were babies, they were really chubby anyway so nobody could tell but as they grew older, it became clear that they'd taken after me when it came to their body. I didn't mind it since my grandmother, mother, and I were all built the same way so this ran in my family and I'd been expecting this. So had my husband but for some reason, my in-laws were surprised that our daughters weren't the petite and skinny grandkids they'd been expecting. They'd already made a lot of fun of me during my pregnancy since I was really big, which was obviously because I was carrying twice the number of babies. Right after the kids were born, they came after me and started bugging me about losing the pregnancy weight and would constantly bother me with tips that I never asked for and I'm sure were no good anyway.

Then a couple of years after the kids were born, they started bullying the kids when they were literally just five or six years old. They'd tell the kids that they'd grow up to be fat monsters if they didn't stop eating and actually scared them into refusing food. They'd also teach my daughters to be soft-spoken by glaring at them every time they dared to laugh out a little too loudly or, or shriek with joy, which is not something that a kid should be rebuked for. A couple of years passed like that until I finally had enough of it. It was disgusting and it got to a point where I just couldn't put up with this behavior of there's anymore I told my husband that he could either cut ties with his parents or I'd leave with the kids because this wasn't the kind of environment I wanted them to grow up in,

where they were not allowed to do anything they wanted to and were not even allowed to be kids. Up until that point, every time I'd talk to my husband about these things, he'd promise me that he'd talk to his parents and make it all right, but I'd had enough, and his parents were clearly not inclined to change their behavior. So I had to give him that ultimatum and that's when he finally confronted his parents for good. Then they ended up getting into the nastiest spat with him and that was it. We didn't speak after that. It's been seven years since then and we act like they never existed at all and my children are also better off for. it. But then three days ago, on New Year's Eve, my husband told me that he was going to take me and the kids to this great, new place, but he wanted to keep it a surprise so we didn't ask more about

it. We dressed up and left towards the evening and we were all excited since we thought we'd be going to a new restaurant or something like that, but soon enough, I realized that the route that we were following was the one that led to his parents' house. It had been seven years and we'd moved around quite a bit, but I could still recognize that neighborhood as soon as it hit me, I told my husband to pull over and he obeyed, probably because he'd sensed that I'd realized what was going on. The two of us got out of the car so the kids wouldn't be able to hear anything and then, I totally tore into him for lying to us and then trying to manipulate us into visiting his parents even after all that had happened. He explained to me that his parents had contacted him just a couple of weeks

ago to apologize for their behavior in the past and since his mother had just been diagnosed with stage three liver cancer, she really wanted to make everything right before it was too late. He had tears in his eyes while telling me all of this and even showed me the chats where his parents had apologized and told me that if I didn't want to come with him even after this, he'd be okay with it, but he just wanted me to think about all of this with a cool head and reconsider. From the texts, it was pretty evident that his parents were actually desperate to see him, the kids, and even me, which was surprising since I never thought they'd ever want to meet me. My husband even called them to convince me of it and when I spoke to them on the phone,

they were pleading and begging me to come see them so I felt bad and I agreed that we could go see them just this once. Only because they were so desperate and it sounded like they were actually willing to make amends this time around. It had been seven years anyway and my kids were older so I even asked them once we were back in the car if they wanted to see their grandparents. We were transparent with them and told them that their grandma was sick so she didn't have much time but if they didn't want to visit her, we'd drop them home. After some hesitation, the girls agreed as well and so we resumed our drive. In hindsight, I probably should have just taken a cab back home with the girls and left it at that.

Once we got to my in-law's house, I started getting a really bad feeling but my husband looked thrilled and he had a tearful reunion with his parents before either of them paid any attention to us. To my surprise, my mother-in-law didn't look sick in the slightest which was very odd because I don't think anyone with stage three cancer of any kind looks like that. She didn't even seem weak or anything in spite of her claims that she'd been undergoing chemo for months now and had been in and out of the hospital ever since her diagnosis. And neither had she lost any of her hair which seemed like a huge red flag for me, but I wasn't about to just walk in and accuse my mother-in-law of lying about her cancer

so she could her son, so I kept quiet. Again, I should have said something but I didn't and that's my own fault. My in-laws welcomed me and the kids inside after they were done hugging and celebrating the return of their son and my heart dropped when I noticed that neither of them were smiling the way they were when they saw their son come back. Instead, while welcoming me and their grandkids, they were smirking and it made me uncomfortable. I still ignored it somehow and then we went inside the house, but after that, we were as good as invisible to my in-laws. They ignored us and only chatted with their son while my kids and I just sat in the corner and tried not to be. bring ourselves into the spotlight because nothing about this entire interaction was pleasant to us. It went on for a couple of hours and then, around a quarter to midnight, my in-laws finally

included us in the conversation and told us that they had something for my daughters. They said it very sweetly and I was almost convinced that this was going to go well and everything would be just fine. They brought out a square-looking gift wrapped in the general shape of a box so we didn't know what it could contain. My daughters unwrapped it excitedly as soon as they got their hands on it and when they finally brought out the gift, their faces fell and so did mine. It was a bloody weighing machine that they'd gifted my 13-year-old daughters and I flipped out as soon as I saw it. My daughters had already been shamed their entire lives by people around them who didn't know any better like folks at school or sometimes even teachers, they really didn't

need this. I freaked out and started screaming at them. I don't even remember the things I said, but it was pretty bad if I'm going to go by what my husband said and I might have even cursed them out right in front of the kids. Thankfully, even my husband didn't appreciate the so-called gift and we stormed out right after my meltdown. He didn't even wait to hear them out even though they kept yelling for him to wait for them but continued walking until we reached the car and then we drove off. I was extremely pissed off at my husband, even though he kept apologizing over and over again and kept saying that he didn't know that his parents would do something like this. My daughters were pretty upset as well but they stayed silent and we, unfortunately,

had to begin our new year in the car and fighting like crazy. I didn't hold back that day and let it all out in one go because I was really upset and had no control over what I was saying to my husband. I told him that he'd never once stood up for me or even his kids when it came to his parents except for one time all those years ago. And even now, he went running back to them just because they'd made some crap up about his mother suffering from cancer or whatever, which frankly didn't even look like it was true. And worst of all, he'd lied to me about all of this and manipulated me into coming here with the

kids just for us to be insulted while he happily chatted away with his parents and ignored the way they didn't engage with us in conversation even once. I accused him of being indifferent to us and putting his parents over his family, but then he protested and said that it wasn't fair of me to say that since he had cut his parents off and hadn't spoken to them for seven years just because they'd tried to bully me and his daughters. But then I brought up how he'd allowed that to happen for years before he finally cut ties with them and he told me that he loved his parents as much as he loved us and wanted to give them a second chance. That was also his excuse for what he did on New Year's Eve and he said that my accusations were hurtful and unfair since he just

wanted to make amends with his aging parents, especially his mother since he believed that she wouldn't be around for much longer. He admitted that it was a mistake for us to go there to see them and he was a fool for falling for their act, but he maintained that he wasn't putting his parents over his family and that was the truth. Now we've been fighting over this ever since we had that conversation and I don't understand what to say or do. My parents think I was a little too harsh, but they agree with the things I said, though. So I'm totally lost right now and we live in the same house. We cannot avoid each other forever, so there has to be an answer to all of this. That's why I'm here right now. So the people have read it, I'm

for accusing my husband of putting his parents over his wife and kids after he lied and took us to his toxic parents' house to reconcile? Update 1. Hi, so my husband finally talked to me today. It's been a week since New Year's and this has been the longest time we've gone without speaking to one another. The girls had a sleepover at a friend's place so we had the house to ourselves after we came back home from work and he asked me if I was willing to talk. I said yes out of relief because I thought he was going to apologize to me but that wasn't

what happened. Instead, he told me that he was still really heard about what I had told him the other day in the car because he strongly feels that he's never put his parents and his relationship with them above the emotional well-being of his children and once again brought up how he'd severed ties with them seven years ago because of all the bullying and stuff. And added the recent incident, saying that he also hasn't talked to his parents after what happened on New Year's Eve. I was really tired from work and I told him that it didn't matter because it was literally the bare minimum after everything that had happened. His parents were horrible people, but he continued to entertain their BS for years before he finally worked up the courage to cut them off and in doing so,

he put me and his daughters through a lot while he kept putting off having such an important discussion with his parents regarding their disturbing behavior. He argued with me saying that if I'd been in his place, then I would have done the same thing because it wasn't easy for him to cut off his parents. That was a totally hypothetical situation because it wasn't me in his place. He's the one who had to make the call on what to do about his parents and not me. So that didn't even make sense to me but for the sake of argument. I told him that had it been my parents who were acting this way with my spouse and children, then I wouldn't have had to think twice before letting them go.

I didn't care what anyone else would think of me because for me, my own family outweighs everyone else and to be honest, my parents would never act like this anyway because that's not the kind of people they were. And if they had turned out to be such nasty people, then I would have cut them off in a heartbeat. When I said that to my husband, he got all defensive and told me that it was easy for me to say because I wasn't in the same position as he was and he was right. I wasn't because my parents are decent, loving people and don't go around bullying people for their appearance. We ended up fighting over this and now, I don't know if we can go back from this anymore because it was ridiculous the

way he was going out of his way to defend his relationship with his parents even though he knew he'd screwed up. I'd stayed with him so long because I didn't want to give up on our relationship over disagreements with my in-laws and because I loved him more than myself. But now it's not the same for me and there are kids involved. I'd stayed with him in the past too even after the kids were born because I didn't want to drag them into a custody battle when they were so young. They're older now and hopefully, if my marriage falls apart then they'll be able to deal with it better emotionally because I can't see any way out of this where both of us end up on the same page. He and I really can't see eye to eye on this and this is kind of a major thing.

We can get over all our minor petty arguments but this is something I cannot just move on from so easily. And if I'm being really honest, even if he comes around and apologizes to me, tells me that he was wrong and he screwed up, even then I don't think I'll be able to go back to seeing him the same way I used to. In these past few years, I feel like I've become a doormat and I've become a doormat and I'm I'm being pushed around by everyone. Sometimes it's my husband, sometimes it's my kids and sometimes it's my own parents and everyone's just constantly telling me what I have to do and getting mad if I disagree. I can't keep everyone happy and it's about time I learned that even if it has to be the hard way.

I'm just really, really sick and tired of whatever's going on right now and I need a break. I love my husband, or at least I used to, I don't know how I feel about him right now. I love my daughter but they're in their angsty teen phase right now and get mad at me over the smallest stuff. They're always embarrassed by me and seem to want to hide me away all the time. I get that all teens go through this phase but I still feel sorry about myself because these are my babies. And even my parents can be kind of overwhelming sometimes so that's also a thing. I've just been very lost for the last couple of years and now I want to do what's best for myself. My husband left after the fight and told me that he'd be spending the night at a friend's place until he cooled off and I didn't try to stop him either.

After I'm done with this post, I'm going to run a hot shower, pour myself some wine, and put on some tacky reality TV show that I'll watch until I fall asleep on the couch. I need a break and this is what I'm going to do for myself now. I'm done. Update 2. My husband came back this morning and so did my kids. They were all pretty surprised to find me still asleep on the couch at 10 in the morning since I'm usually up at 7, preparing everyone's breakfast and then lunch boxes for the day. My husband told me that he'd taken a day off of work anyway so it didn't matter that I'd slept in

and the school had an official holiday so he picked them up from the sleepover and came back home. After sending the kids inside their rooms, he and I had breakfast together in silence and he looked pissed. I didn't even ask him why because I didn't care and just had my sandwich without. saying a word to him. The kids went on with their day and so did I then around three in the afternoon. While I was on the phone with a friend, he told me that he wanted to talk but I was already in the middle of a conversation so I told him to wait for a couple of seconds. Instead of waiting, he spoke to me sharply and told me that he didn't want to wait because whatever he had to say to me was a lot more important than some phone call with a friend.

It was annoying but I hung up and turned around to talk to him before he could speak. I told him to be mindful of his behavior because I wasn't willing to put up with any of this BS now. I spelled it out for him when he looked confused and said that I wasn't going to be his doormat anymore, or anyone's doormat for that matter. And if he couldn't be respectful of me and what I wanted then, there was no need for him to speak to me at all. Then we ended up having another massive fight about this and we never got to what he was going to talk to me about initially because he was just so hellbent that he was polite to me but I'm just overly sensitive. I didn't agree and stuck to what I'd said.

He stormed out yet again, but this time he didn't tell me where he was going and neither did I ask him. My daughters had their dinner quietly and then went to sleep since it was a school night. Even if they ask, I wouldn't know what to tell them so I'm glad they didn't say anything. Update 3. Hi, everyone. My husband and I have talked and we've decided that we want to separate with mutual consent. It's not working out and hasn't been for a really long time now and it's just sinking in now. It's been two weeks since he left and he'd been living with a friend of his. A couple of days ago, we got together and discussed this like adults and came to the conclusion

that we needed to go our separate ways now because our relationship had lasted way longer than it was supposed to. And rather than staying together and making everyone miserable, we should just stay apart, and that way everyone's happy. The kids might find it a little tough to adjust to this initially, but I'm sure they'll come around. We've told them about it and they seem okay with it right now, so that's a good sign. I hope things turn out okay in the future too. Thank you so much for all the advice, you guys. I hope you enjoy this story. Following my father's passing, his secret lover and her children demanded a significant portion of the family fortune from my mother and me. In response, I monitored her closely, discovered her infidelity with her

ailing spouse, and brought it to light. Everything online. Hey, So my mother and I are in a really difficult spot right now after my father passed away a couple of weeks ago and I did something. I don't think I did anything wrong but the people close to me think I went too far and it's messing with me. So for some backstory, my father, 54M, passed away a month ago from a heart attack. It was really sudden and nobody saw it coming so it was a huge shock for all of us. My mother, 52F, and I, 26F, have been trying to get his affairs in order and recently, we also found out about his extramarital affair. It was a huge shock because my parents had been married for almost decades and we had no idea

that my father was even capable of this. We had a funeral for him and after that, my mother's friend from college, Alice, 52F, came clean to her and confessed that she had been having an affair with my dad for the past 10 years. At first, we didn't even believe her, but then she started showing us pictures and screenshots of her conversations and emails with my dad. She told us things that only we knew about our father and even told us about the burner phone that he used to text her from. Alice and my mother had been friends since college and even though they were not close after graduation, they would still meet a couple of times a year at parties and stuff. And one of those times, my mother had attended a college friends party with my father and there they had run into Alice and her husband. husband. That was a really long time ago, but my dad and Alice started their 10-year-long affair at that

point, which only ended with his demise. My mother and Alice had met several times over the years and nobody had ever suspected anything because my dad was just that great of an actor and so was Alice. So when my mother finally found out about the affair, she was shattered. She was already finding it very difficult to deal with the grief of losing her husband and now she had to deal with the fact that he had been cheating on her. The worst part was that my father had pretended to love my mother until his very last breath and my mother had been convinced that she was the only woman in his life because she had no reason to suspect otherwise.

As if this was not bad enough, Alice and her kids started harassing my mother to include her and her kids in the will informally because she felt like she deserved something out of my father's death because she had loved him. She has two sons, both around my age, kind of younger actually. and all of them have been calling and texting my mother relentlessly trying to get her to include them in the will. The will is in probate right now, but the problem is that my father had phrased it vaguely and if Alice wants to, then she and her kids could definitely challenge the will. Alice forced my mother to tell her the contents of the will when she had first come over to tell her about the affair

and my mother couldn't even say no to her because she had been just desperate and grief-stricken by my father's passing. There was also the fact that Alice herself had a pretty sad existence. Her husband had been diagnosed with early onset dementia a couple of years ago and she was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that he might not make it for long. She had quit her full-time job to work from home and was a nurse to her husband. Her husband had also been to the same college as my mother and was a senior. He was actually a pretty nice guy which is why everybody felt bad for Alice, including my mother, who has pretty much lost her head ever since my father passed away. I hate to say this about my mother, but she hasn't ever been the most mentally stable and emotionally strong person and this incident has shaken her up even more.

She has done quite a lot of stupid things, the first being telling Alice the contents of the will. She told me that she felt bad for her, even though the woman had been cheating with her husband and had broken her marriage. But my mother claimed that she couldn't bring herself to hide the contents of the will from Alice, especially when both of them were crying about the same man. She had almost even agreed to split everything with Alice, but, thankfully, she informed me about it and I put an end to it. Because there was no way that I was sharing anything with Alice and her kids. She might have been my dad's affair partner, but it didn't mean she had any claims to his estate, that was all ours. I made my mother cut Alice off and block her everywhere, so after a few days she and her kids took to harassing me online instead.

But I'm not my mother and I wasn't scared, even though they kept threatening me. by saying that they would expose my father to the world by publicizing the affair. And that wouldn't be a good look for me and my family. Our reputation would really take a hit and that would also mean negative publicity for my dad's business, which I was supposed to take over. They told me that the only way out for us would be to informally split the estate and the profits from the business. That way everybody would be happy and nobody had to suffer the consequences of my dad's

selfishness. But I wasn't on board with that plan and declined that. offer. My mother, however, wanted to take them up on it and kept trying to persuade me to agree to their terms. She didn't even like the fact that I had been arguing with them online. In one conversation, Alice's son had told me that we were cheating them out of what they deserved and he would be forced to expose us for the frauds that we were if this continued so I had told him that his mother was the real cheater here and threatened to tell his father and ruin their marriage if they kept bothering me. The spat had become pretty nasty and all of us were only

staying quiet out of fear for our reputation. She said that she didn't think it was worth it to fight them on this because otherwise, they might go public with the news of the affair, and even though it would hurt them and ruin Alice's marriage, it would hurt us more. Because then, my father's business and his reputation would take a hit and he wasn't even here to defend himself anymore. So it would be in our best interest to just agree with them and let this go because she didn't want more drama and she also didn't want to fight with Alice because she felt bad for the woman. I had plans to tell everybody about the affair myself, so they wouldn't have anything on us. But my mother begged me not to, mostly because she didn't think that it was necessary to malign my father's image after he was gone and we should be trying to preserve it instead.

But also because she felt bad for Alice since she had been manipulated into thinking that Alice would use the money to support her family because her husband wasn't in a stable condition anymore. So she kept begging me to just split everything and sweep this under the carpet because she didn't want anyone to find out. I was pretty much fighting everybody on my own, including my mother, who wanted to just lay on the ground and let Alice and her kids walk all over us just because her husband was sick. But I wasn't going to take it, so I went behind my mother's back and decided to do some digging about their family so I could get some more dirt on them and run things my way. I might have gone too far, but I secretly started following Alice to find out more about her comings and goings during the day. I trailed her for one week and luckily, she was too absent-minded to notice that I had been following her around. She would spend a major part of the day at home with her husband, presumably taking care of him. But in the evening, she would head out for a walk and run some errands before going into a coffee shop a little distance away from her house and spending almost three hours there.

I had no idea what she would do inside for almost three hours and I didn't have the courage to go to check for the first couple of days. The coffee shop didn't have clear windows either so it was difficult to guess what was going on inside but after almost a week, I decided to go in and speak to the barista or something because I wasn't making any progress and I still had no idea what she would do there. But my gut feeling was that something was fishy and I felt like I had to follow up on it. So one day, after Alice had left the shop, I decided to go in and strike up a conversation with the barista. I tried my best to be friendly and I was lucky that the girl behind the camera was equally friendly and quite talkative.

After chatting with her for a couple of minutes, I decided to ask her about Alice. And if she was weirded out by the fact that I was asking about another customer, she didn't let it show on her face and instead told me that Alice had been coming to this coffee shop almost every day for about a year. She said that she always has the same routine and the same order. She would get coffee as soon as she walked in the door and would sit and finish her coffee while waiting for her boyfriend to show up.

The second that the barista mentioned her boyfriend, I realized that my instinct was right and she had indeed been having another affair, apart from my father. Because let's be real, nobody needs three hours to have coffee by themselves. Anyway, the barista went on to tell me that once her boyfriend arrived, which was usually ten minutes after she came by, they would take the other exit and leave through the side of the building. And then Alice would come back in the same way about three hours later and leave from the main exit. That explained why I hadn't been able to see her leave the building because she had been taking the other exit and my car was positioned on the other side of the building. So after that conversation with the barista, I decided to park my car on the other side and finally get some evidence of Alice cheating. Things happened just the way that I had been told, so I was able to get some videos of Alice leaving through the side door of the coffee shop hand in hand with another man while they giggled. I even got a picture of her getting a peck on the cheek from her boyfriend.

Now that I had the proof there was only one thing left to do and that was to post what I knew and make sure that Alice and her kids stopped bothering me for good and that's exactly what I went on to do. I didn't consult with my mother and just made the post without speaking to anyone about it. The only thing that had been holding me back so far was my mom and her belief that if we came out with the truth ourselves, it would somehow make things worse for us. But I didn't care anymore, so I mentioned in the post how Alice had not only been cheating on her sick husband with my father but also this eye. other man and yet she had the audacity to claim that she loved my father and believed that she was entitled to any part of his estate. Evidently, that had been a lie to try and get something out of my dad's passing. She didn't love him or anyone else. She only wanted the money and that was all. She probably wasn't even going to use it to support her family because all of them were so greedy.

In the post, I also mentioned how she and her kids had been trying to blackmail me and my mother into splitting everything with them and said that the only reason I had held back for so long was because I didn't feel comfortable defaming my own father. But I was ready to own up to his mistakes now and I was also ready to expose Alice for the serial cheater that she actually was. I attached everything to the post, including proof of Alice and my father being together, Alice and her kids blackmailing me, and also the pictures and videos that I took of her with her boyfriend. Once it was all done, I posted it without a second thought and I believe that I was doing the right thing. But the reaction from my mother and my close family members has made me

think otherwise. Everybody hates me now because they think that I ruin my father's reputation with that post just because I wanted to keep all his wealth to myself and called me crazy for stalking Alice. They accused me of not caring about him as a person and only putting up that post because that would make it less likely for Alice and her kids to be considered for their inheritance. And I agreed with it because my father had been cheating. All I had done was own up to it public so I wouldn't have to give in to Alice and her kids' demands. My mother thinks that I was way out of line because I completely destroyed his reputation,

especially when there was a very real chance that he might have gotten away with it had I not opened my mouth for my own selfish reasons. I don't understand why everybody is calling me selfish because, if anything, my father was the one who had been selfish and kept a secret like this from us for a decade. I had already lost my trust in him,

but I was not about to let his affair partner screw me out of my inhead. Everybody refused to even talk to me because they thought that I was selfish and entitled, but I don't see anything wrong with what I did. I was just trying to protect my inheritance. My dad having an affair was his choice and exposing him for it and acknowledging his mistakes after he was gone was mine. It didn't even harm the family's business and reputation the way that everyone had thought that it would.

Some people did say that this was messed up, but that was about it, everything is still going just as smoothly as it was before and I think people are really overreacting and making a big deal out of this. If anything, I think my mother should be thankful that I spared her from sharing her wealth with the other woman. That would have been pretty insulting if it actually ended up happening. But now Alice has deleted all her social media and her sons are also not bothering me anymore. I think I really saved everybody out here but instead of being thanked, everybody is making me out to be the villain and it's making me question my decision. I still feel like exposing my father's reality to the world was a very small price to pay

so that we could get to keep the inheritance without Alice and her kids constantly holding it over our heads. And also, I think we should not forget that they were planning to do this all informally so they might have tried to extort more money out of us in the future as well if we let them get away with it this time. And it was for the best if we just came clean to everyone ourselves. There was no reason for us to keep hiding it because it wasn't as though my mother or I had made the choice of cheating. It had been my father and now that he was gone there was no point in trying to protect him or his reputation from something that he would never have to deal with the consequences of any way. But my mother and I were still here and I just felt it was unfair that we would have to pay the price for his cheating and sacrifice our inheritance to keep Alice's mouth shut. That's not even our fault and it's crazy to expect us to continue trying to cover up for a man who had no respect for us.

If he had any respect for my mother or his family then he never would have cheated and I can't imagine why everyone is continuing. to defend him. Not being alive doesn't suddenly make him a saint and I think it's time that people started accepting that instead of trying to make me the bad guy. But my mom still doesn't believe it and is refusing to speak to me. It's been really lonely and difficult and I have no idea what to do next. Ida for exposing my father and is a fair partner because she was trying to extort money from me. Update 1. It's with a heavy heart that I'm writing this update to tell you guys that I have decided to cut my mother out of my life. I don't think that we can reconcile after this because I tried to speak to her a couple of days ago and she said the most horrific things to me.

I don't think I can ever recover from that and I don't wish to speak to her ever again. It's been two weeks since she stopped speaking to me first, but I still kept trying to talk to her and make her see my side of things. Unfortunately, she just wasn't interested. She was convinced that I had ruined my father's legacy and reputation and wanted nothing to do with me. It was incredibly frustrating for me as well because I kept trying to explain to her that I hadn't done anything to defame my father. He did it quite well himself. And it was worth doing it because otherwise, Alice and her kids would just keep holding the affair over our heads and force us to do whatever she wanted us to do. I tried to explain to her that my father was the real culprit here as well as Alice and her kids and I was just trying to look out for me and her.

The last time that I called my mother to talk to her yet again, she told me that she didn't want to speak to me any. more and that she was sick and tired of my excuses. She said that after this, I was only allowed to contact her if it was to issue an apology but other than that she didn't want to hear from me. I was really upset and I told her that she was the one who should be feeling sorry for me because I was the one who was being ostracized just for speaking the truth and trying to protect us. I reminded her that my father's side of the family wasn't going to look out for her and they had proven it already by turning her against me, even though I was the one who spoke up and tried to protect us from being pushed even further into a corner by Alice.

If my father's family could have it their way, they would just hush everything up and brush it all under the rug. Even if that had to be done at the cost of my and my mother's future. They didn't care about us, they only cared about the reputation that my father had in protecting their own family name. I was trying to make my mother realize that, but instead, she turned on me and told me that she didn't need me to look out for her. Since I wasn't even capable of looking out for myself. When I asked her what that meant, she told me that the family was planning to exclude me from the will and contest it. So all the hard work that I had put into running behind Alice and proving that she had no real love for my father and they were not the Star Cross lovers that she was making

them out to be was all futile. My mother told me that I had screwed everything up, not just for myself, but also for her. Because she was caught in the middle of all of this even though she didn't want to be involved in this mess in any capacity. She had only wanted to split the inheritance and keep this quiet, but I just had to be greedy and have it my way. And now there were several more people against me, standing in the way of my inheritance. My mother reminded me that Alice could still challenge the will and make it a long-drawn process, but now, I also had to worry about my father's family and that was all thanks to myself. Apparently, they believed that I didn't deserve to inherit the business anymore, even though I was still running it in my father's absence and none of them had even

stepped up to take that responsibility. It was also frustrating that I started crying on the phone call with my mother after she had told me all of this. But instead of consoling me, she started telling me that this was my own fault for not listening to her and there was nothing that she could do to prevent it. She added that even if there was something, she would let this happen because she felt like I deserved this. That made me cry even harder because I would expect something like that from my father's family but not from my own mother because I had always believed that at least she loved me. I had already lost my father and now I felt like I was losing my mother as well. But while I was crying, she didn't offer a single word of consolation and just kept on reminding

me that I had created this whole mess and I had to clean it up all on my own. When I tried to tell her that she was really heartless, she told me that I deserved this version of her because I had been really selfish and stupid all this while. I was still holding out hope that she might say something kind to make things less difficult for me, but instead, she told me that she wished I was not her daughter and then hung up on me. That was the last that I spoke to her because I don't know if I can ever go back to being on good terms with my mother after what she said. I just can't. Update 2, hey, so it's been a couple of days since my last update and Alice recently

reached out to me to tell me that her husband had been forced to file for divorce from her by his family because they saw the post that I had made. And now she has promised to her. me that she was going to ruin my life just like I had ruined hers. Her kids also don't seem too happy about their parents' marriage breaking apart and for some reason, they're holding me responsible for it and not their cheating mother. It's just ridiculous to me how everyone is blaming me for things that are very obviously not my fault. I have just been speaking the truth and exposing people for what they truly are. If they don't like that, then maybe they shouldn't be that way. You can't be a bad person and then get mad when you get exposed for

being a bad person. That's not how the world works and that's certainly not how my world works. So they can blame me all that they want but it's not going to change the facts and it's definitely not going to stop me from speaking the truth. I have spent a considerable amount of time worrying about what everyone thinks about me but now I'm at a point where I just don't care anymore. People are going to have a problem with me speaking the truth no matter what I do because the truth is ugly and undesirable and they hate me for bringing it to their notice so they can't ignore it anymore. But that's their problem and not mine, so I don't have to worry about what they think anymore. Be it my mother or my father's family, they can do whatever they want.

It doesn't matter to me anymore. I haven't heard from my mother since the last phone call and I hope that it stays that way because I don't think I have anything left to say to her. She was horrible to me and instead of grieving with me, she turned against me. I can understand that she was upset about a lot of things, but that doesn't excuse her behavior because even I was upset about the very same things. As my mother, she should have stuck by me instead of trying to cover up her husband's faults, especially since he wasn't even there anymore, but I'm still here. It's disgraceful and sad how she thinks that his passing away absolves him of everything that he did wrong. I love my dad and I'm always going to miss him but I can't forgive him for what he did. Maybe my mother can,

but she has no right to tell me if I should or not. So now I'm really. ready to fight against whoever comes in my way and I have accepted the fact that I'm on my own now. It's always been that way, so whatever. Update 3, well, it's official. Both my father's side of the family and Alice are now contesting the will, but I'm not worried. I know what I am and what I deserve. My dad's lawyer is also fighting for me and he has known me ever since I was a child, so if he thinks that I'm doing the right thing then I probably am and I have no reason to be worried.

He told me that they don't have much of a case anyway because all I did was expose my cheating father and that was only because Alice was blackmailing me and my mother for half of the inheritance. So I had to step up and do something but other than that, they have nothing against me and the best that they can do is probably just drag the process out by challenging it. But my dad's lawyer has told me that he is going to try his best and pull out all the stops in his defense. I can tell that he is really serious about this and it makes me happy that at least somebody is on my side here because I really needed that reassurance. My mother is still not talking to me

but from what I hear, she has stopped speaking to my dad's family as well and wants nothing to do with them either. I received this information from my dad's lawyer obviously and he said that my mother has completely shut everyone out. I was worried for her because I didn't want to do anything stupid in her grief and I knew that she was already having a really difficult time coming to terms with so much at once. I guess I had mentioned it in my original post that my mother had never been the most emotionally stable person, so I had thought about keeping our fight aside for a while just so I could check up on her. But then I found out that she had moved out of our home with all her stuff and was now living with her sister, so I guess it's not necessary for me to check on her since

she is my aunt to take care of her. I do miss her. I really wish that she would come to her senses and realize that I didn't do anything wrong. I was just trying to protect us. But right now is probably not the right time because she is struggling with her grief and that's making her say and do a lot of crazy things. So I'm going to wait for her to come around and realize that I was never the enemy, I always had our best interests at heart. It's great that she realized that my father's family was not looking out for her, which is why she cut them off. And I hope that soon I hear from her because I would really hate to lose her. I only have one parent now and in spite of whatever I said earlier, I would love to have her in my life.

I hope you enjoy this story. Expecting Sill resided in our home at no cost, discarded all of our groceries from the refrigerator in our absence, and proceeded to insult me by calling me overweight when I addressed the situation. I kicked her out. So for the past two months, my pregnant sister-in-law has been living with our family rent-free because she needed a comfortable place to crash during her pregnancy and the apartment that she shares with three roommates was not really ideal for her situation.

She is 22 and moved here about a year ago, right after she graduated to try and make it as a model. So far, she has been somewhat successful at it and has managed to learn herself some modeling assignments but that was put on hold a couple of months back when she got pregnant with her current boyfriend. They've been together for just six months, but she's said to keep the baby for her own reasons. She can't live with her boyfriend, though, since he stays with his parents and is financially dependent on them. So two months ago, a couple of weeks after she found out she was pregnant, my in-laws contacted my husband and asked us if we would be willing to help her out and let her stay with us for free for a couple of months. At the time, we were more than happy to do so because she used to be

a pretty sweet girl, but I guess staying in the city has changed her or something because when she moved in, she was a completely different person from what I was used to. I have known her for almost seven years since that's how long my husband and I have been together and we used to get along quite well before she moved here. My husband's hometown is a farming state and his parents are also farmers, but he decided to attend college here, where we live right now, and we go back home every weekend since it was just a couple of hours of driving. He and I met in college and we got married after dating for two years. We even have a three-year-old son now and I always got along quite well with his family, as he did with mine. His parents are simple folk, and so was my sister-in-law.

She was quiet and sweet and actually used to put her brother on a pedestal. That was a huge part of the reason why she decided to move to our city after she graduated from college, so she could follow in his footsteps and find success here because she did not want to work on the farm. And because my husband and I had already built a life for ourselves, we were able to convince her parents to send her as well, even though they were kind of skeptical because she had never stayed away from home before. But we helped her out and convinced my in-laws to just send her without any second thoughts because we would be there to take care of her if she needed any help and we told them that we were confident that she would be able to make something of herself here

since farming was not her thing. When she moved here, we had expected her to stay in touch with us because we were actually the reason her parents eventually came around to accept her decision to move. For the first couple of months, we did stay in touch, we helped her find an apartment and showed her around the city and stuff, but then, she just started fading away from our lives. After she had settled in, she kind of stopped calling or bothering to stay in touch with us, and we made our peace with it as well, because we believed that maybe she was too busy to keep in touch constantly. So we hadn't exactly been close for the past couple of months and had only spoken on the phone a couple of times, we didn't even know what had been going on in her

life until we found out from her parents. Even then, we had been happy to help her out until she showed up, and for whatever reason, she had changed into a complete diva. She hadn't yet become a successful supermodel, but she already had the personality for it, if you know what I mean. She had developed a bit of an attitude problem. She had started acting like she was too good for us, especially her brother, and had a lot of complaints about everything with regard to our lifestyle. From the food we ate to the bed sheets for the guest room where she was staying. This was new and shocking for us and we had no idea where all of this was coming from, but we tried our best not to let it get on our nerves, even though it was pretty annoying behavior.

We figured that it was probably just a phase and maybe she had picked up this kind of behavior from her roommates or something, but nevertheless, it was still very new for us. It also really bugged me that she had so many complaints about the way we lived because even though we are not exactly poor folk, we aren't billionaires either. So we had a pretty normal lifestyle since both my husband and I are architects. And it's not like she was contributing to any of the expenses, so I didn't understand why she was so comfortable complaining about everything instead of just accepting whatever she had. But my husband and I did not say anything to her or to my in-laws because we had already made a commitment that we were going to let her live with us until she figured out something

for herself. So far, we had managed to keep our opinions about this new version of her to ourselves because we really don't want any drama, but a couple of days back, I just couldn't take it anymore, and I had to ask her to leave because of something that happened while we were away on an overnight trip. My cousin was getting married and so, I had to be there with my family. The venue was a couple of hours away, so we were staying there overnight and she just had to spend one night by herself because we would be back the next day. My husband and I honestly did not think that there was anything that could possibly go wrong but the next day. When we came back, I realized that the fridge was entirely empty when I tried to get some food after the trip. When we had left,

it had a lot of stuff because we liked to keep things in stock, but when I opened the fridge after the trip, it was completely empty. I'm not even kidding, there was literally nothing and I almost thought that maybe the fridge had been robbed, but of course, that was not what had happened. The only person who had been at home was my sister-in-law, so I confronted her and she did not even deny it. She told me that she had emptied the fridge the previous night while we were not at home because she was planning on starting a special diet so that she could avoid showing for as long as she could since she did not want to miss out on any modeling assignments just because of a bump or weight gain. She knew that I would never approve of throwing everything

away in the trash, so that's why she had chosen to do it at a time when I was not going to be at home. From the way she was talking about all of it so casually, it was very obvious that she did not feel any sort of remorse for what she had done and thought that it was completely fine for her to empty somebody else's fridge. Mind you, the food items that she had thrown away were probably worth a considerable amount of money as well. So it wasn't just food that had been wasted, it was our hard-earned money that had gone to waste because she wanted to go on some sort of special diet and did not think that it was necessary to discuss this with the people whose money she was living off of. When I asked her about the diet, she told me that she was planning on going completely plant-based eventually, but before that, she wanted to do a detox. She thought that watching us have real food while she was living off of juice was going to make it very difficult for her to stick to her regime, so she had to make sure that we all stuck to the same diet as she did. I was shocked at the level of entitlement and stupidity because not only was this regime extremely dangerous for a pregnant woman who needs all the nutrients that she can possibly get, but she had also forgotten to factor in. our son, who couldn't possibly live off of juice. Even in a situation like that, when she was

speaking about all of this so casually, and was acting like this was a totally normal thing to do while living with somebody else's family, I tried to keep my cool with her. I told her that what she had done was simply not acceptable and that she would have to replace everything that she had thrown away. I thought it was a reasonable enough request, and I tried to sound as polite as I could, even though I was really upset. But she decided to make things worse for herself by looking at me, smiling at me smugly, and telling me that she had done the right thing for the family because I could do with losing some weight too. That's where I lost it because she had already messed up by throwing away all our food which we had purchased with our money and now,

she was body-shaming me. I didn't even bother screaming at her, I just went into her room and started packing her things. My husband and my son were in the other room, but they came to came to the guest room when they heard my sister-in-law shouting at me at the top of her lungs and trying to get me to stop. But I just kept grabbing her stuff and shoving them into her bags, and I told her that she was no longer welcome to live with us anymore because she was clearly not the person that I thought I had invited to stay over. She was no longer the sweet and quiet girl that we used to know and she had turned into this spoiled and entitled brat, and I had no interest in helping her out anymore. So since she knew what was good for the family and was so

confident about what was good for her, I was sure that she would be able to find a place for herself in the city and she definitely did not need our help anymore, just like we did not need hers. She started crying while I was ranting, but that did not affect me because the past two months had been nothing short of insufferable because of her. Every second that my husband and I had spent at home was really difficult for us because this new version of her was the kind of person who liked making other people miserable, probably because she herself felt like that. But I was done with that now and I wanted to go back to having a normal life with my husband and my son. She kept trying to drag my husband into the argument, but he just said nothing and went back

into his room with our son while I packed my sister-in-law's bags for her and once I was done, I started making my way to the door of the house, so I could force her out. After I had kept all her bags on the front lawn, she started crying even harder than she had before and told me that she was not going to go anywhere but still refused to apologize. If she had just said that she was sorry about everything, I might have reconsidered what I was doing. But at that moment, I was so angry that I grabbed her by the arm and pushed her out of the house, and then I shut the door. She stood outside and kept crying for another 20 minutes or so, but then, I heard a car pull up and then she was gone. The next day, I found out that it had been her boyfriend who had picked her up,

and right now, she was staying with him. I don't know why that couldn't have been arranged right from the beginning but anyway, the problem is that right now, I don't feel bad about anything that I did. But my in-laws think that I should feel bad about the way I kicked her out of the house while she was pregnant and they think that the way I behaved was a total overreaction. Personally, I don't think that's the case because my resentment and anger against her had been building upright from when she moved in, and the only reason I hadn't confronted her about her behavior was because I was afraid of something like this happening. I had tried my very best to keep my cool and not do anything that would hurt people's feelings,

but I think that she had pushed me to act like that, and I can't be sorry for it. Besides, if anybody does owe somebody else an apology, I think it's my sister-in-law because whatever she did, it was just stupid and crazy. However, my in-laws refused to see it that way, and they keep insisting that I need to talk to her and apologize to her for the way I behaved because it was completely unnecessary in their opinion. In my opinion, though, I think she had been cruising for a bruising for the past two months and she should have realized that if she kept testing our limits, this was definitely going to happen at some point. We are all still human beings, after all, not some different higher form of life

who are capable of forgiving everything and moving on. My husband doesn't have a strong opinion on this, he thinks that what I did happen in the heat of the moment, and he does think that I was a little too harsh in my treatment of her while I was kicking her out, and that I will agree with. But her getting kicked out with something that was bound to happen at some point, if not by me then perhaps by him. So he doesn't really think that I have to be sorry about anything, but he also doesn't think that his parents are being totally unreasonable by calling it an overreaction since he does think that I could have been a bit more gentle. So Ida for kicking my pregnant sister-in-law out of the house after she emptied all the contents of my fridge into the

trash overnight? Update 1, so it has been nine days since I kicked my sister-in-law out of the house and after arguing with my in-laws for a couple of days, I decided to stop responding to them because I really didn't have anything to say to them anymore. If they really don't see any problem with their daughter's behavior, I don't think I can force them to see it. As for my husband, he does think that I was a little too rough while handling the situation and I do agree with that, but apart from that, he doesn't exactly expect me to apologize for anything because he doesn't doesn't think that whatever I did was uncalled for. So he and I are completely fine, I'm not worried about that. We haven't heard from my sister-in-law ever since she had her boyfriend pick her up

from here and I'm assuming that she is still living with him. So good for her, I guess. My son was a little confused as to what had happened, but, thankfully, he hadn't been asking about her. It was a pity that she had to be kicked out like this because surprisingly, she did get along well with our son. Anyway, I did what I had to do and I'm not going to sit here and overthink it. Also, obviously, we had to replace all the food that had been thrown away, and she did not send us any money for that, no surprises there. But one thing I'm sure of, if my in-laws or heaven forbid, my sister-in-law herself, dared to show up again,

I'm definitely going to be demanding that money that needs to be paid back to us because this kind of behavior is not acceptable and it's not going to fly with me. The last couple of messages that my in-laws sent me were two days back. and since then, because I have stopped responding, they haven't bothered me, but the last couple of messages also say that I should apologize to my sister-in-law and at least try to clear the air with her, even if I don't allow her to move back in with us. Obviously, I'm not doing that, I think it's absurd that they expect me to apologize to her after the way she has behaved here. She has been entitled and ungrateful, and ever since she has left, the environment of the house has improved considerably and I like it this way. It is sad that this fight is even taking place because so far, I have always gotten along well with my in-laws, but if they really don't see my point here then there's hardly anything that I can do. My husband is free to keep in touch with them because I don't expect him to cut them off over something like this. I don't think it's that big of a deal yet.

But so far, even he has said that he doesn't really feel like talking to them right now because all they want to talk about is my behavior with his sister and he doesn't want to keep having the same conversation over and over again with them. them. Update 2, one week has passed since my last update here and yesterday, my in-law showed up at my house in the evening. I will be honest, my husband and I had really not been expecting that because like I had mentioned in my last update, they had stopped texting me after I started ignoring them. And since then, they hadn't bothered to text me, so I really didn't think that they were going to show up here so soon. Just to deal with this situation right now, I thought that we had dropped it but last evening, when I saw them outside my house and I had to let them in, I realized that they were not going to let this go until they came to the kind of conclusion that

they wanted. My son was obviously quite happy to see his grandparents, but they didn't even give him enough time. Usually, when they visit, the first hour of their visit is fully dedicated to our son and playing with him but this time. They gave him attention for only a couple of minutes and then told us that they wanted to speak to us in private, and they didn't want to discuss these things in front of our son. So I had my husband take my son into his room because I did not think that his parents were here to speak to him anyway. They were probably able to speak to me.

And I really wanted to put an end to this whole thing, once and for all, so I decided to sit with them and talk it out. They had the same complaints all over again, that I had been a little too harsh and that I had really hurt my sister-in-law's feelings, which is why they feel like I should apologize to her. her. They also think that my reaction was a bit too extreme if we actually think about the situation and they think that as the older one in this situation, I should have handled it better. So then,

I also put my points forward, which I had already done before, and I told them that the particular incident after which I had kicked her out, had been the last straw for me, and even before that, she had been entitled and terrible to live with. If they didn't believe me, they could speak to their own son and confirm it. But her behavior had been really bad throughout her stay here, and I was not willing to apologize to her because I really did not think that I had overreacted. So I might have been a bit too harsh, but honestly, she totally had it coming. We had already had these discussions before on the phone, so it felt like we were speaking in circles and after I had kept my side forward, my in-laws went silent for a couple of minutes

and then said that even if I had been angry because of her behavior. I should have thought about how this would affect the family before taking such an extreme step like kicking her out. They told me that they could understand that I did not approve of her behavior or whatever she had said to me that day, but what I had done was still quite extreme, and regardless of what she had said and done, she was still a member of my family, and I should have taken that into consideration. I thought that it was not really valid because you can't just forgive everything and everyone simply because they're family. With my sister-in-law, things had gotten to a point where I felt like I had to take a stand for myself, so that's what I did. I reminded my in-laws that I might have

forgiven her that instant if she had bothered to at least apologize to me, but she did not think that it was important, which is why she ended up getting kicked out. The bottom line was that I was not going to pretend that I was sorry and apologize to her because that would be fake since I don't feel sorry about anything right now. I said it in a very final sort of way because I had to work really hard to keep my temper under control while they were acting as if I was the bad guy in this situation all along, and I was getting exhausted from speaking about the same thing over and over again. So I hoped that they would take the hint, and thankfully, they did. They realized that I was not willing to discuss this any further, and I had made up my mind that I was not going to be apologetic

for anything that had happened. After that, they went silent again for a couple of minutes and then, they just abruptly got up and left without even saying goodbye. I was caught a bit off guard by that, but I said nothing and let them leave. It was obvious that they were not happy with my decision or the discussion that we had just had, but I had made up my mind and I had made things very clear to them. After they left, I told my husband how they had left as well in the discussion that we had had had, and now, both of us think that we had said whatever it is that we had to say, there is nothing more that we want to add. So if they can come to terms with the fact that I'm not sorry, then good for them, and if not, then that's not our problem anymore.

update three so after my in-laws visited us two days back, we did not have any contact with them, and we thought that this had finally blown over, but once again, we were proven wrong by them. I really don't understand what their problem is, but they are taking things way too far because now, they have reached out to my parents to speak to them, just so they can get me to apologize. A couple of hours ago, my mom called me up and told me that my in-laws had shown up at their place to discuss what was going on with the family. Apparently, they had told my parents that I was being way too egoistic and narcissistic and that my decision not to apologize to my sister-in-law was going to break the family apart, but I don't even seem to care about that. They approached my

parents so they could talk some sense into me because the way that I behaved with them the other day that they visited was also quite rude and they think that I'm becoming arrogant and more difficult to deal with with every passing day, so something needs to be done about my behavior. I was furious when my mother was telling me about all of this on the phone, but unfortunately, she was calling me after they had already left, so I couldn't exactly go over to confront them about what they were doing. Thankfully, though, my parents did not really engage with them much and just told them that they didn't think that it was their place to be interfering at this point because I was a

grown woman and I knew what was best for me. My in-laws did not seem to be happy with that response, but they left without saying much, just that they would appreciate it. If my parents spoke to me about it and got me to realize that family was more important than my ego. I think it's really ironic coming from them because, at this point, I don't even think that it's about an apology anymore. I think it's about getting their way and forcing me to live by their rules, and they are only unhappy that I'm not being a total puppet for them. Well, they can continue to be unhappy because my husband and I have just decided that we are going to completely cut ties

with them. This is more than enough and I think I had been respectful enough when they visited us last but since they have chosen to lie about it and claim that I was disrespectful, I think I'm going to live up to that now. So far, I actually have been trying to deal with everything peacefully and not create more drama out of nothing, but I'm just exhausted now. I really can't force myself to care about their feelings constantly, especially when they are being so insensitive towards my feelings and are even being disrespectful towards my family. So my husband and I are done and I really don't think that we are going to be seeing or speaking to them any time soon, not even if they apologize.

We need some space and time away from them, so we're going to make sure that we do not have anything to do with them moving forward. Update 4. Hello, guys. So a couple of weeks have passed since our last update and since then, we have blocked my in-laws. A couple of days after my last update, my... My in-laws reached out to me once again and sent me a text saying that my sister-in-law and her boyfriend had decided to get a place of their own, so she would not need to come back again

but apparently. She had left some stuff of her back in the guest room that I had missed while packing for her, so she would send her boyfriend over to collect it. I replied to them, saying that I was fine with it, and then, they sent me another message saying that they were really disappointed in me. They also mentioned that they had visited my parents, but my family did not seem to be invested in making sure that the family stayed intact and this whole visit here had been a terrible experience for them because they had finally seen a side of me that they had never even considered

was there since I had turned out to be pretty egoistic and selfish. After that message, I did not even bother to reply to them, I just blocked them. I had heard these things before as well since that's exactly what they had said to my parents. They could have just told me that my sister-in-law's boyfriend would come over to collect some things of hers and ended it there, but I guess they couldn't help themselves but try to make me feel guilty. Anyway, after I blocked them, they didn't try to get in touch with me again, and neither can they get in touch with my husband since he has also blocked them. I didn't tell him to do so, he did it of his own will, but I'm sure that they will find a way to make it about me.

And three days back, my sister-in-law's boyfriend finally showed up to collect her things, but the surprising fact was that she had also come with him. But all she did was just stand right outside the house and refuse to step in and when her boyfriend came out of the guest room with all her stuff in a box, she made a whole show of repeatedly making sure that everything was there as if we were thieves. Then, she finally left and we shut the door behind her. Hopefully, now they will finally all leave me alone and get off my back. Either way, it doesn't really matter because I know that I have my husband by my side and their opinions really don't count for me. I'm happy without any contact with them. I hope you enjoy this

story. Received all assets from my former spouse's mother following tending to her needs. Presently, he and his paramour are making legal threats. Hello everyone, I am in a predicament and seek assistance. Know everyone's opinion. My name is Gigi, 27, and I have a seven-year-old daughter, Naomi. I was married to my ex-husband, Jack, 30, for almost eight years. When I was two months pregnant at the time with our second child, I found out that my ex-husband was cheating on me with his co-worker, Suzanne, 28, when I accidentally came across their text messages on his phone. When I confronted him about it in tears, Jack finally told me that Suzanne was also pregnant with his child. Hearing his words, I was so shocked that I almost fainted. My husband, my husband

and I had several fights and despite my ex-mill coming to take care of me during this time, I was so stressed out that I eventually miscarried. When my ex found out that we had lost the child, he didn't even hesitate. Instead of grieving with me or comforting me, he left the house to be with Suzanne blaming me for the loss of our child. I was devastated and cried for days. Thankfully, my ex-mill stayed with me throughout this time and took care of my daughter Naomi so I could grieve in peace. Jack and I had a nasty divorce. Jack and I had a nasty divorce. where he refused to pay me child support, but eventually, the court forced him to do so. Throughout the divorce, Jack made it very clear that he didn't want to be involved in either

my or Naomi's life any longer. He gave up full custody to me which absolutely broke my heart for my daughter but there was nothing that I could do. The only thing he has ever done is pay child support every month. He has never made any attempts to visit or get to know Naomi. Eventually, I found out that Suzanne gave birth to his son and they have been together ever since. Throughout all this, my parents and my ex-mill were there for me each and every day. You see, my ex-mill and parents had known each other and had been the best of friends for a very long time. This is how me and Jack first met each other through our parents and eventually started dating.

When Jack's mom, my ex-mill, first found out that Jack had cheated on me she was extremely upset at him and showed her support for me. She and Jack fought a lot regarding his affair and she vowed to never speak to him again when she found out that he was leaving me. She also warned him that she wanted nothing to do with his affair partner and their child. I know it's shocking but my ex-mill kept that promise until the day she died. She refused to speak to Jack even when Jack begged her to visit him and his son with his affair partner. Suzanne was extremely jealous of me and my child because she was never considered family by my ex-mill. When my ex-mill first came to support me, she faced a lot of backlash from her family. You see, Jack had lost his father a few years ago

so his relatives tried to convince X-Mill to forgive him. They told her that Jack was her son so she should let bygones be bygones and visit his child. My ex-mill firmly refused. When Suzanne gave birth to Jack's child, his relatives rallied around him despite knowing that he had cheated on me. They didn't even bother to care or check on me and my child. Things got so bad between Ex-Mill and her family that they started to exclude her from their celebrations and family events just so that they could invite Jack instead

as my ex-mill always refused to attend events if Jack was going to attend with his affair partner. I always felt bad for my ex-mill because of this, but she assured me that I was like her child too and she didn't mind if her relatives dropped her. I am extremely grateful that I had a woman like her as my mother, in law because it's rare to be loved and supported this much. Unfortunately, my ex-mill became unwell, losing her ability to walk and manage on her own. I extended an invitation for her to move

in with me permanently, committing to care for her. To ensure she had support round the clock, we enlisted the help of a live-in nanny, who tended to her needs in the mornings. As for the evenings, the responsibility fell on me. I dedicated countless hours to her care, and honestly, I didn't mind. Naomi, always fond of her grandma, was thrilled to have her living with us at our place. During her stay with us, my ex-mill revealed something significant. She told me how when she first learned about Jack leaving me, she had decided to make changes to her will. Initially, she had intended for my ex-husband, being her only child, to inherit everything.

However, upon discovering his affair, she had amended the will. Now, the house and her life insurance were designated for Naomi. She had also added me in her will to receive a large portion of her money and her family heirloom. It was a gesture that held both honor and trust. Her wish was for me to safeguard these possessions, passing them down to Naomi when the time was right. The idea that a piece of her, and perhaps generations before her, would continue in our family brought a profound sense of connection. My ex-husband was going to inherit her car and his dad's entire art collection.

Until my daughter turns 18, the money would be in my trust. If I passed away, my parents would take care of it. As she disclosed the details, a mix of emotions washed over me. Shock, gratitude, and a hint of sadness lingered in the air. Knowing that she recognized the hardships we endured and wanted to secure Naomi's future filled me with appreciation. I assured my ex-mill multiple times that she could change the will again if she wanted to include Suzanne and their affair child. I emphasized that I would never hold a grudge against her as Suzanne was his wife now, but my ex-mill reiterated that she only recognized me as her son's wife despite our divorce.

Hence she felt Naomi was the rightful inheritor of her home to carry forth the family legacy. I understood where she was coming from and accepted her decision. Throughout her stay with me, Jack never bothered to call and ask about her health. Despite our differences, I would have had no issues if he had come to check up on her, but he never cared how to do so. One day, my ex-mill had breathing difficulties and I had to rush her to the hospital. I was afraid something might happen to her. While my dad took care of Naomi, me and my mom spent the entire night at the hospital praying she would get better. Luckily, she did, and we could take her home.

After this health scare, I didn't want my ex-mill to pass away without Jack even making amends with her. Keeping our differences aside, I called him begging him to visit my ex-mill. I told him how her doctor had warned us of her condition and I was afraid that she wouldn't survive for long. Instead of being concerned for her, Jack started to argue about how his mother had never bothered to form a relationship with Suzanne. I beseeched him to keep his ego aside for the sake of his mother. He argued that he had a busy schedule and couldn't spare much time. It was disheartening to witness his indifference, especially when faced with the frailty of his mother's health. Despite his reluctance, I persisted, urging him to reconsider and spend some quality time with her.

Reluctantly, he agreed to a brief visit. When Jack finally arrived, I was shocked to see that he had brought Suzanne along with him. I didn't object, although I wasn't thrilled about her coming into my home. But, for the sake of my ex-mill, I kept my mouth shut. When he saw his mother, it was evident that the strained relationship between them lingered. The room was filled with awkward silences, punctuated by forced conversations. Jack's behavior remained unchanged towards her even when he saw her in this frail state. He spoke and measured tones, avoiding any meaningful conversation with her.

It became apparent that his visit was more of a formality than a genuine attempt to mend their fractured bond. Disheartened by the lack of emotional connection, I found solace in the fact that, at the very least, Jack had honored his commitment to visit. When my ex-mill noticed that he had come to visit with Suzanne and there a fair child, she started to protest. I immediately calmed her down and assured her that it was okay and that I didn't mind whoever Jack brought along as long as he had come to visit and support her. My ex-mill's health was fast deteriorating and she was completely bed-bound so there wasn't much that she could do. Staying true to my promise, I remained silent even when Suzanne started being very nice to her. When my ex-mill expressed again that she didn't want to be around Darren,

Suzanne reminded her that Darren was her grandchild too. I walked out of the room to give them all privacy. I also wanted to check up on my daughter who looked sad and hurt to see her father. Jack never even bothered to acknowledge her. While I was in the kitchen, I noticed Suzanne going into our backyard and talking to someone over the phone. The open window carried her laughter as she spoke about how she was forced to come and visit Jack's mother. She discussed how Jack had told her that his mother would be leaving behind everything for him so the least they could do was visit her for the final time. She expressed how she couldn't wait to move into the house and change as my ex-mill had no taste whatsoever. To make matters worse, Suzanne detailed her intention to remove pictures

of me and my daughter once my ex-husband gained ownership of the house. I was shocked to hear this and struggle to comprehend how cruel she sounded. She continued to discuss how she was going to change the furniture, repaint the walls, and even alter the landscape of the backyard so that nothing would remain of my ex-mill. As she enthusiastically shared her vision, I couldn't help but feel a sense of disbelief and anger at her disregard for the home's history. That is when I finally realized the truth. Suzanne's interest in my ex-mill wasn't genuine.

It became clear that her motives were centered around securing her position in the will. This discovery shattered my heart, as it seemed she cared more about potential inheritance than the well-being of my ex-mill during her final days. Despite the unsettling truth about Suzanne's intentions, I kept the knowledge to myself, choosing not to hurt or add unnecessary burden to my ex-mill, Jack had no clue that his mother changed the will after he cheated on me and got divorced. He believed he would inherit everything, intending to pass it on to his child with Suzanne. I chose not to tell him anything because it wasn't my place anyway. If he didn't even bother to acknowledge our daughter Naomi, then he deserved what was coming for him. Jack and Suzanne continue their visit, oblivious to this fact. It was a bittersweet situation for me.

On one hand, I would have to lose my beloved X-Mill, but on the other hand, I couldn't wait to finally see the look on Jack's face. when he found out about the updated will. It made me sad and dread the day I would have to lose my ex-mill. She always meant a lot to me, and I loved her. I knew her quite well and I knew she had made this decision after careful consideration. She wanted this for her granddaughter and always said that she could not rest until she knew her son and Suzanne had been punished for their actions.

She wanted this because her own childhood was also ruined when her father had an affair. She wanted Naomi to feel loved and cherished even when she wasn't here anymore. As my ex-Mills health declined, Jack never visited her again, and none of her relatives came to see her. Unfortunately, she passed away last week. In the wake of my ex-Mills passing, I took charge of organizing her funeral. Despite the lack of support from relatives, I wanted to ensure she received a dignified farewell. My parents and I took care of all the arrangements, from Selectorses a beautiful casket to arranging a serene venue. Suzanne didn't even bother attending the funeral with Jack.

Although some of her relatives attended the funeral, they displayed a lack of genuine concern. When her lawyer eventually contacted me about her will, emotions overwhelmed me. Tears streamed down my face as I absorbed the news that she had left everything to me as we had discussed. The conflicting waves of joy and sadness engulfed me, as I grieved the loss of a cherished person but also felt grateful that I finally could provide my daughter with everything that she ever wanted. As I navigated through this mix of emotions, there was a sudden knock on my door. Opening it, I found Suzanne, Jack, Darren, and a few other relatives standing there with grim expressions on their faces. Jack asked if they could all come in and I politely agreed.

The atmosphere was tense as they entered, and Jack wasted no time in demanding an explanation for the will. His accusing tone cut through the room, filled with resentment. Why did you get everything? My mother had a house, money, airlooms, and you end up with it all? He exclaimed, his anger palpable. I tried to remain composed, explaining that my ex-mill had carefully considered her decision and made this decision. He started to accuse me of manipulating his mother and influencing her decision when she was

bedridden but I reiterated that he could check the timestamp and date of her updated well which was done long before her health started to deteriorate. Suzanne chimed in, her voice tinged with resentment. Questioning why I and my daughter deserved to have everything when she and her son were family too. In response, I scoffed at her, and this is when I revealed in front of everyone what I had overheard Suzanne speaking on the phone.

Her eyes widened as she realized that I remembered word for word about what she had spoken about Jack's mother. Jack looked at her in surprise as the reality of intentions dawned on him. Suzanne was caught off guard and attempted to deny my claims, accusing me of making things up to divide the family. I firmly emphasized that she had cheated with Jack while he was still married to me, hence she and Jack were the ones who had actually divided the family in the first place. The argument escalated, with Jack's relatives joining the argument, and expressing their disappointment that they didn't receive anything from my ex-mill. They pointed out that as they

were blood relatives of my ex-mill, they deserved to have a piece of her inheritance. Everyone started to insist that I sell her property and split the cash eight ways. I was shocked to see their callousness and entitlement to demand when they had no right. I firmly emphasized to them that I was the only one who had taken care of her until her last days, while none of them bothered to come and visit. Therefore, they had no right to barge into my house and demand anything that belonged to my X-mill. The room echoed with raised voices as they continued to question the fairness of the will. Jack protested, claiming it was his childhood home, and he deserved to live there with Suzanne and

their child. He threatened to sue me and contest the will if I didn't give him the house. I laughed at his face upon hearing his words. Jack seemed surprised by my reaction as I went on to remind him that he had been a neglectful son to his mother and never bothered checking up on her. I reminded him that it was only when I begged him to visit her did he finally came to check up on her one time. I told him that he was welcome to try and sue me for wasting his money if he wanted that. Her lawyer had already informed me that the will was ironclad, and there was nothing he could do. Naomi was her grandchild, and I was her daughter-in-law who loved her and took care of her, so she had rightfully left us everything.

This is when Suzanne began begging, urging me to stop being so selfish and consider their son Darry. She continued to emphasize how Darren deserved to have a good life like Naomi. I agreed with that sentiment but questioned whether she never cared to think about my daughter Naomi and how my ex-husband treated her all these years. Naomi was his child too, yet he chose not to be a part of her life. I made it clear to Suzanne that she could beg all she wanted, but I was never going to give her or her child anything. I asked everyone, politely but firmly, to leave my house and let me be.

I reminded them they were welcome to go through the contents of her will with her lawyer again if they pleased, but I was done with this discussion. I knew there was nothing they could do, otherwise, they wouldn't have come to me with anger and demands. I shut the door in their faces, feeling satisfied that I had stood my ground and respected the wishes of my ex-mill. Since then, I have continued to receive calls and messages from Jack. He passionately keeps expressing his disdain for me, insisting that if I possessed any shred of deep, I would hand over everything that, according to him, rightfully belongs to his family and not to me and nail me. So Reddit am I the asshole for not giving in to the demands of my ex-husband and his family? Update 1. I thought this post would attract just a handful of people but wow.

Thank you all for listening to me and giving me your suggestions and advice. As for those who are angry at me for not asking my mill to include my ex's new child and Suzanne, I did try but this was completely her decision. For now, I can't do anything about that anymore. You can call me selfish but I refuse to part with any of the inheritance. I am going to put myself and my daughter first. I do resent Jack and Suzanne because they broke my heart and their affair contributed to my miscarriage. While I was broken down, Jack added to my grief and heartbreak by leaving with me for her.

My ex-mill made a conscious decision to not include the affair child and Suzanne in her will. She had plenty of time to update the will if she would have wanted that yet she didn't. I do pity the affair child, but it's not my responsibility. Just for a clearer understanding based on what I know, my ex-mill had her whole childhood ruined because her father made his affair children his top priority. I guess this is why she wanted nothing to do with Jack and his affair child. Jack obviously knew all this yet he chose to do this to her. Despite this, my ex-mill left him his dad.

entire art collection which will fetch him thousands of dollars so he can definitely take care of Suzanne and they're a fair child pretty well. The people who are coming at me in the comments would not be half as civil as me if anything like this happened to them, so I will absolutely not back down and give into Jack's demands. Naomi is Jack's child too yet he is more concerned only about his affair child. He never bothered with being a good father to Naomi so he doesn't deserve to get anything from us after what he has put us through all these years. Update 2. The tension between Jack and Suzanne has continued to loom large. Their relentless demands and accusations have strained my peace of mind.

Yesterday, Suzanne called me out of nowhere. I didn't even have her number saved so I picked up the call unknowingly. Her tone was hostile from the get-go. She started to accuse me of being a greedy gold digger, claiming I stole everything that should have been theirs. She told me that she was glad Jack had left me after the middle. miscarriage because I didn't deserve to be his woman. I was in the middle of work so I was quite taken aback by her aggressive tone. I calmly explained to her that my ex-mill was the one who had made this decision and I did not orchestrate anything. Suzanne, however, wasn't having any of it.

She continued to berate me, questioning my integrity. I firmly reminded her that she never had a relationship with my ex-mill when she was alive so it was absurd for her to demand anything that belonged to her. Suzanne then started threatening me and my child, saying that if I didn't give Jack a part of my inheritance, she would find a way to reach out to my child and tell her the truth about me. This crossed a line for me. I immediately told her that involving my child was unacceptable, and if she even came near her, I would have her arrested. I already had evidence from her multiple text messages troubling me, and getting a restraining order wouldn't take long. I also reminded her that I could play the same game by reaching out to her boss and showing them evidence of how she was

threatening me. This seemed to shut her up. I cut the call and called Jack immediately. I informed him about what his wife had told me and reiterated the same thing about involving the police if this continued. He backtracked, expressing shock that Suzanne had threatened Naomi. He started to apologize on her behalf, but I cut him off. I firmly told him that I didn't owe him anything and that I was going to take what his mother had left for me. He could cry all he wants, but it belongs to me, and he can't do anything about it. I warned him that the next time he contacts me or if his wife ever contacts my child, he will face serious legal consequences. Since then, surprisingly, my phone has been quiet. I plan to stand by my words if Suzanne or Jack ever dare to contact

me again. Update 3. It's been two months since my last update. I have continued to receive hundreds of requests for me to update my story so here it goes. We have moved into my ex-Mills home. As we have settled into her home, I can't help but wish she were still here. I miss her everywhere in the rooms where we laughed, the backyard where she enjoyed her evenings, and in the kitchen where we shared countless conversations. Her presence lingers in every corner of the house that once echoed with her warmth. Every day, I move through a blend of emotions thankfulness for the inheritance safeguarding Naomi's future and a sense of loss due to the absence of the woman who meant so much to us. I try to find solace in knowing that the house, once a sanctuary for my

ex-mill, will continue to be a haven for Naomi. In these moments, I carry her spirit with me, grateful for the time we had together and determined to honor the legacy she left behind. I hope you enjoy this story. Factory manipulated my spouse's reproductive evaluation to create the impression that I was unfaithful upon conceiving, then evicted me. He sought my return upon discovering the reality. But I filed for divorce. My husband Clark and I, both 27, are currently in the process of getting a divorce and I just found out most of it is happening because his mother had been poisoning him against me. He and I started dating four years ago, got married two years back and for the past year or so, we've been trying for a baby. But unfortunately, we haven't been

very lucky there. In spite of our consistency, I haven't been able to get pregnant yet and it has taken its toll on our marriage. Neither of us wanted to entertain the idea that maybe one of us was infertile, so we just kept trying and we didn't discuss the pregnancy thing too much, but the frustration took form in other fights, so we would get into a lot of petty and irrelevant fights about small stuff recently. Things were pretty strained between the two of us, but then, about a month ago, I found out that I was finally pregnant after a really long time of trying. At first, both of us were really happy, we threw a party to announce it to everybody and stuff and things were going well,

but for some reason, after the party, he started acting very weird and differently. I couldn't put my finger on it, but all of a sudden, he had started shutting me out and becoming very distant, and no matter how hard I tried, he just wouldn't tell me what his problem was. And then one day, I told him that it wouldn't work if he just kept, kept pushing me away while I was pregnant and I said I'd rather just go and stay with my mom if he was going to keep acting like this. When that set him off, he started yelling at me like crazy, he told me that he would rather have me sent away as well because he didn't even want to see my face anymore since it only annoyed him.

And he kept saying that I was just like my mom, that he should have known, and when I asked him, what on earth that was supposed to mean, he told me that he knew that it wasn't he who managed to get me pregnant. It must have been somebody else because he, as far as he knows, is infertile because he got himself tested a couple of weeks after finding out that we were pregnant because it seemed a little too sudden. So now, he couldn't bring himself to trust me and ask me to get out. I tried to reason with him because, of course, I know that I haven't cheated on him, but he was too upset to hear me out, and I couldn't deal with this crap anymore, so I just packed my stuff

as quickly as I could and got out of there. I had finally snapped, and that day, I knew that I couldn't go back to this guy since he'd literally told me I could only come back after a paternity test, or else, I could just stay away. So I spoke to my mom, I've been staying with her, and I've also spoken to a lawyer and I have filed for a divorce. But now, all of a sudden, he wants to stop the divorce proceedings. Basically, he just found out that the results from the fertility test that he had received had been falsified, thanks to his mom. I'm not surprised that she did something like that, she's always had in for me right from the first day. She and my mom used to know each other, since they had a

couple of common friends, and she did not like my mom. When she was younger, she used to be a bit of a party animal and according to my mother-in-law, that meant that my mom was a woman of loose character who used to get around without ever committing to anyone and had implied that even now. She's probably gone back to her old ways now, because she's been single ever since my father passed away a couple of years ago. I'm not making this up. These are things that you. she has actually said to me and since then, I haven't spoken to my mother-in-law. This happened shortly after my wedding. I guess my mother-in-law and I got into an argument about something and she just said all

these horrible things about my mom, so I told my husband that he could keep in touch with her if he wanted to, but I wasn't going to. Eric did scold his mom a little for being so nasty about it, but eventually, he did keep in touch with her and I should have left him then and there because it's very clear that he did not respect me or my family even back then. If he had, his mom wouldn't have been able to influence him so easily because apparently, from whatever I've been told, she is the one who planted the idea into his head that I might have cheated on him because, at the end of the day, I still am my mother's daughter. So that's why he felt the need to get a fertility test

after telling his mom that I was pregnant and unfortunately, his mom was able to convince him to get himself tested at her brother's clinic. Clark got duped by his own mother and uncle because they ended up falsifying the results, just to start trouble between the two of us and he fell for it. A couple of days ago, he saw some conversations between his mom and his uncle on her phone and that's how he found out the truth. Now he's cut his mother off and he's begging me to come back, but there's no way that's happening. Two weeks have already passed since I was kicked out and I just can't imagine going thing that happened because it has become very clear to me that he doesn't trust me and I don't think I can stay in a marriage with no trust at all. The fact of the matter is,

Regardless of whatever his mother told him, he doubted me and thought I was cheating on him and I'd been feeling terrible about it, so I don't want to go back. I've spoken to my friends about this and while they do agree that it was really stupid of him, I need to think about things from his perspective as well. Because at the end of the day, he did receive those test results and anybody in their right mind would obviously instantly believe it. And he might have been struggling with what to do with that information as well because it's not like he found out, and then he immediately kicked me out. it took him a couple of weeks and he only got triggered when I mentioned my mom. So they think it must not have been an easy decision for him either and I need to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least for a little while. Besides, it's pretty clear that my mother-in-law had been poisoning him against me and my mom for

years, so that was bound to have some effect. No matter what I do now, I can't change my mom's past. She was who she was, and it's not like I'm embarrassed or ashamed of her, but the factor remains that most people wouldn't look too kindly upon that lifestyle because it was true that she was with a different guy every weekend when she was younger. I'm not saying it to shame her, it's just how it was, and she herself has admitted it. Of course that doesn't give Clark and his mom the right to shame her for it either, but they are entitled to their own opinions. I just think it's weird to paint me in the same light, even though he's known me for years now.

Anyway, I'm just confused because at the end of the day, he did receive those test results and I guess if I was in his place, I would feel kind of iffy about it as well. But I still don't think I want to give him a second chance at this point, so why do if I want to get a divorce from my husband? Edit, I didn't mention it because it is not exactly relevant in my situation, but yes, Clark is suing his uncle and his clinic. What they did was a serious violation and they're going to get into a lot of trouble for that since he has proof. He has all those screenshots that he found on his mom's phone and I'm hoping that he makes them pay for it. The two of the two of the of them teamed up and ruined our marriage, they totally deserve whatever is coming. I find it

shocking that his uncle risks so much to help his mom ruin our marriage because I didn't think anybody from his family, apart from his mom, would be able to hate me so much, but I guess that's not how it is. Update 1. It's been two weeks since my last update. I told Clark that I'm not coming back and while I'm really sorry that he was fooled by his own mother and uncle, I can't help it because at the end of the day, it's true though I had never given him a reason to do that. He hadn't been fully transparent in our relationship either because he hadn't told me a thing about the fertility test. And even back when he was fighting with me and accusing me of being just like my mom, I had tried to tell him that he could just get tested again because it must have been a mistake

or maybe he wasn't actually infertile anymore because I was sure that the baby had to be his. I was sure on his behalf, but he didn't trust me enough and actually kicked me out when I was pregnant. On top of that, the things he had said about my mom were very disrespectful and I was. was not going to tolerate that. My parents, regardless of how they used to be in the past before I was born, put an end to all their craziness and wild lifestyle for my sake and brought me up in the best way possible. My mom, she might have had her share of fun when she was younger, and maybe she didn't like the idea of commitment back then, but that was her choice. And I refused to be ashamed of her for that and at the same time, neither do I like the implication that I'm the same way, especially given

the fact that I'd been married to him for two years, and I was the one who said that I wanted to start trying for a baby. If that's not a commitment, I don't know what is. Anyway, the bottom line was that he had no respect for my family and he had no respect for me either, so I was not going to entertain the idea of going back to him. Now, he could just sit and regret whatever he had done, it was not going to change anything. After sending him that text, I blocked him, so he wouldn't be able to get back to me. For a couple of days, nothing happened, so I thought that maybe he had accepted his fate, but then, about five days after that message, he sent me a text from a different number saying that he really wanted to meet me and talk to me because he knew

that we could work it out and he did not want to give up on our marriage so easily. Especially right now, when I was about to become a mother. Ordinarily, I wouldn't have replied to that message, but the way he phrased it was very hypocritical and I didn't like that. because I was about to become a mother, even when he had kicked me out, back then, it hadn't occurred to him because he was too busy thinking about himself and whatever nonsense his mom had been feeding him. And now, just because it's convenient for him, he thinks that he can ask me to come back and I'm going to follow. So I just replied to him, saying that it was very hypocritical of him to bring these things up, especially when he didn't care about any of it just a

couple of weeks ago. I was about to block him again, but before I could do that, he replied to me saying that he knew that he had messed up, but he was also going through a lot right now because he had just realized that his own family had ruined his marriage and I needed to cut him some slack. I couldn't believe that, even after everything that had happened, he was still so ready to believe that he was the victim in the situation, as if he had no free will of his own. So I ended up calling him on the phone number because I really wanted to give him a piece of my mind and I didn't care if that was going to make the drama worse, I just wanted to vent out my feelings. When he picked up, I immediately put him on blast.

I told him that it was not just his family who had ruined his marriage, he also had a huge role to play in that. Without his consent, none of this could have happened, and he can't stay in denial of that. His mom was able to mislead him into believing that I might have cheated on him because, in his head, he could be misled. If he had trusted me the way I trusted him, he never would have even entertained that idea and would have spoken to me instead of going and getting a fertility test conducted and then kicking me out without even explaining anything to me. That's how healthy marriages work, people talk to each other instead of shutting each other out. So it was really weird of him to blame his

family for everything, when he himself was equally at fault. He tried to interrupt me and defend himself several times, but I did not let him speak at all. I just told him. I just told him, told him that it was pathetic that even after all this, he still believed that he was a victim when he was just as bad as the rest of his family. For no reason at all, he had already been suspecting me, and his mom was just able to use that against us. It was his own insecurity and paranoia that ruined our marriage and he can't run away from that fact. After having said all that, I finally hung up. Now I don't care what happens, I feel a lot better because I was able to get that off my chest. Update 2, hey, it's been three weeks since my last update and the divorce

has been going pretty smoothly, so I haven't had much to say. Ever since that last phone call, Clark and I have had no conversations apart from when we have to interact through our lawyers. But on a one-on-one basis, we've just been steering clear of each other. I know that he has filed a lawsuit against his uncle and his fertility clinic, so with that, and plus the divorce, I'm guessing that he pretty much has his hands full. We haven't even spoken about the child custody arrangement yet, but I'm guessing that we can put it off until our baby is finally born. I haven't really decided what I want to do about that because honestly,

I would much rather have my baby with me at all times, but my mom thinks that that would be unfair. At the end of the day, regardless of how he was as a husband, he might prove to be a good father, and if there's any chance that our baby can have a good normal life in spite of the current circumstances, I should take that chance. So I don't know, I might have to share custody with him,

but I know for a fact that when the baby is too young, I'm going to be able to spend as much time as I want with him or her. For now, that's my only consolation. My mom has been taking me to all the doctor's appointments and things have been going smoothly with the pregnancy as well, which I'm really thankful for because I've been quite worried that all this stress was going to take its toll on my body and somehow affect the pregnancy.

But I guess my baby and I are made of stronger, stuff than I thought, so things are going well for now. Even then, all that's said and done, I do find myself feeling quite disappointed occasionally that my baby is not going to have the kind of life that I had. I know that lots of babies are born into divorced families and they turn out completely fine. I don't have anything against the idea, but I don't know. I just hope that maybe my baby would have both parents working as a team. So I do feel bad about the divorce, but it's too late to turn back now and even if it wasn't, I don't think it would be a good idea because clearly, Clark and I don't work well together. I think my baby would rather have two good parents who work separately

than one bad team screwing everything up. At least that's what I tell myself so that I don't feel too disappointed about what's going on because the guilt is real. I feel like I'm taking away my chance at having my baby's happiness or something. It's weird because I know that I'm technically doing the right thing for all of us, but I don't know. It's not that easy. 3, hi, so in my last update, I had been talking about sharing custody with Clark. And now that we are almost at the end of the month waiting period before our divorce can be finalized, he asked to speak to me in person after our meeting today, without our lawyers. I agreed because I knew that this was going to be about the custody arrangement and once we were

seated in the nearby coffee shop, he told me that keeping the divorce and all our disagreements aside, we still had to come to a common ground about how we would raise our child. He said that we could take a breather for a couple of months because we just got done with the divorce and everything. And then, we could start discussing the custody arrangement, but before that, he just wanted to speak to me in person so we could see if we were both on the same page or not so asked to avoid any complications in the future. I told him what I wanted, that I wanted the baby to spend the most time with me in the initial stages because I felt like, at that time, the presence of the mother was most important. And he could keep visiting me whenever he wanted to, I was not going to stop.

him and he could spend as much time as he wanted to with the baby, he would only have to leave for the night. I was going to be staying with my mom, so I would have all the help that I needed and I wasn't too worried about doing everything on my own. He seemed fine with that idea and then, he told me that once the baby was a little older, then we would have to share custody and maybe the baby could spend half the week with me and the other half with him. We spoke on it some more and decided to stick with this for now and make any changes once the baby is a little older and if this arrangement doesn't seem fit then. We were able to come to an agreement about the custody, I think, we decided that in a couple

of months, we would speak to our lawyers again, have the paperwork drawn up, and get it all covered legally. The discussion actually went a lot smoother than I expected and by the end of it, I realized that this was the first time that we had spoken since that last phone call where we fought and we had managed to be civil with each other. So I realized that maybe co-parenting the baby was not going to be that difficult of a task anyway. And I'm really glad for that because if he was planning on being difficult throughout that, I might have had to file for full custody and I really wouldn't have enjoyed that because I'm sure

that he would have fought tooth and nail and that would have been a whole thing. Rather than that, I'm glad that the two of us have decided to put our differences aside for now, just for the sake of our baby. In fact, after we got done talking about the custody arrangement, he even told me that he was really sorry that he hadn't been there for me as the father of the baby and that I had to deal with all the medical stuff with just my mother by my side. I told him that it wasn't that big of a deal, but he promised me that from now on, he was going to try and be there for me because that's the least he could do for me and the baby after everything that he had screwed up. He didn't say the words, but I knew that he was sorry about everything that had gone wrong. I guess he

was scared of ruining the conversation that we were having, so he didn't bring it up, but he hinted at it and that was enough for me. At least he has realized his mistake and isn't trying to get defensive anymore, and maybe later on, he'll actually apologize, but for now, this is good enough. He has also told me how things with his lawsuit against his uncle are going and I know he's going to win a significant amount of money from that lawsuit, half of which he has already committed to me as child support. So far my sake, and the baby's sake, I really hope that he wins. And also because it's what should happen, I really can't wait to see his uncle and his mom lose because they totally deserve it. My anger against Clark has pretty much faded away because I think whatever has happened,

it's done with, now we just need to focus on the future and make sure that our baby grows up to be happy. But I don't think I'll ever stop hating his mom and his uncle. In fact, I think I might just include it as a clause in the child custody arrangement. I don't want my baby anywhere near that woman and her brother. She doesn't deserve to be the grandma of the child whose life she tried to ruin, that's not going to happen, not on my watch at least. My baby will only have one grandma, and that's going to be my mom and if Clark has a problem with it, I might just go for full custody anyway. But whatever, that's for me to worry about in the future. Right now, I just want to take a break because I've just come out of a very stressful situation. Update 4,

hi, it's been two months since my divorce was finalized and I'm currently nearing my third trimester, so things are getting pretty heavy. So far, Clark has lived up to whatever he had promised when we went out for coffee and been pretty diligent and attending my appointments with me. He has also been coming over quite frequently since the baby has started kicking and he wants to interact with the baby, which he is welcome to do. The first couple of times that he came over, my mom steered clear of him for obvious reasons. Because she knew whatever he and his family believed about her and it was quite disrespectful, so she did not want to interact with him. But by the third time he came over, he actively sought her out and apologized to her and told

her that he was really sorry for falling for whatever his mom had been feeding him and he knew that whatever he had believed about her was wrong and he was really ashamed of himself for allowing his mom to get into his head. He also apologized to me on the same day and told me that even though he knew that we couldn't go back to the way we used to be, he would at least like for all of us to put our differences aside and now that he was openly addressing the problems, he wanted just one chance from all of us to prove that he was not a horrible guy. That he had just been misguided and I didn't see the harm and that we would have to co-parent our baby together anyway. So I had pretty much already forgiven him and didn't hold any grudges. And my mom also seemed fine with it, so that was that.

Recently, I also spoke to him about what I had been thinking, and I told him that I did not want his mom or his uncle anywhere near our baby at any point in time, even if he decided to patch things up with them in the future. And I wanted that in writing, in the child custody arrangement. I thought that I was going to find it difficult to get him to agree to that, but luckily, he didn't put up much of a fight. In fact, he didn't put up a fight at all, he just told me that he could understand where that was coming from, and he was completely fine with it because right now, he's not on speaking terms with either of them. And even in the future, it seems unlikely that he's going to be able to patch things up with them,

mostly because he doesn't want to. So that was a huge relief and with that out of the way, we have decided to go ahead and speak to our lawyers, and have the paperwork drawn up to sign off on the custody arrangement soon. Update 5, Hey, guys. So last week, I finally welcomed my baby girl into the world, and she's beautiful. The labor was so long that I almost lost count. But thankfully, my mom was there with me every second, and even Clark showed up at the hospital

as soon as I went into labor. When they finally handed over my daughter to me, it was all totally worth it. For the past couple of days, Clark has been staying with us and has been helping me and my mom out with everything. He's been sleeping on the couch and hasn't complained about anything, and I'm really grateful that he's here to help out. He seems very happy. He seems very happy. and excited about being a father in right now, even though there are no feelings involved, we are both thrilled to be parents. Dvorced or not divorced, I'm more than sure that my daughter is going to have a wonderful future, we're going to make sure of it. The custody paperwork has all been signed. And I'm glad that we got that out of the way because I don't think that we're going

to have time for anything apart from our daughter in the near future. I don't think I'm going to be posting any updates either for a couple of months because I want to focus completely on my daughter. I guess every new parent will know exactly what I'm talking about. So I'm guessing this is it for now. But before I log out, I just want to take a moment to thank everyone for the lovely comments that so many of you have left for me and please continue to shower us with blessings. I hope you enjoy this story. I believe that my 29-year-old partner's mother, aged 63, might be attempting to disrupt my connection with my 31-year-old partner. Greetings to our relationship community.

I have been observing for a while and now seek guidance for the first time. Get down to business. I've been with my fiancé Adam for five years and we've been engaged for seven months. We have a beautiful home together and we both work really hard at our relationship. The issue isn't with Adam. He does his very best to try to mitigate the situation with his mom, but it's wearing on him, and I worry that one day he'll have to choose. I don't want him to have to do that, that would hurt him too much to choose between me

and his family. There are a lot of situations, but I thought I would highlight the worst slash most recent. One. About three years ago, one month after we purchased our house, his mom really needed windows in her house, mold was growing a lot and some no longer had seals. Now, his mom actually has a sizable savings account, enough that she can spend her money frivolously on luxury goods like Birken bags, and getting her hair done two times a week, her nails, buying a Mercedes every two years, and so on. However, she never budgets for anything. So, she asked him for $25,000 to replace the windows, he said he'd cover them. When he told me, I almost had a heart attack, he said it was a loan and that she'd pay him back. I still have law school debt to cover and we

have a larger than we should have mortgage. She made a comment to him about how I would let her freeze to death all winter and he had to help her. We took extra out on the mortgage to cover the windows, top of the line, everything, we still have yet to see a dime, I suppose it went into her new GL class, to quote the bard, neither a borrower nor a lender B. Two, Adam and I had a vacation planned a year after the window's dilemma happened. We decided that we'd go to Europe for two weeks as he has never been and I lived there from the time I was three until I came to America for school. We set our hearts on Spain and rented a lovely apartment in Barcelona for the two weeks. It was perfect for two. We planned all of our tours and outings around our

interests. Adam loves architecture, so we had a few tours solely planned for that. His mother decided that she had to come and she'd never been to Europe either. So she invited herself on our trip. Like I did previously, I tried to appeal to his rational side, but I couldn't get through his emotional side. So I just accepted that she'd be coming along. Well, coach wasn't good enough for her and she had to have tickets upgraded to business, but she didn't want to travel alone. So she pitched in for a seat for Adam to travel with her. I had to remain in coach alone. Then, she didn't want to stay at the apartment because it wasn't a vacation to her.

No, she had to stay at the W in Barcelona where she begged Adam to stay with her, but there wasn't any room for me. He tried to reason with her, but she cried and said how sad she was without her husband with her as he passed away before they could ever get to Europe together. He passed away ten years ago. So, I stayed at the apartment alone while they stayed at the hotel. We were supposed to meet up for breakfast, but she would never get ready on time, so they wouldn't be down until 11 a.m. and we missed most of our outings. I definitely felt like a third will in question why I even bothered to go on the vacation when I could have stayed home and not felt so alone. Three, Adam and I began to discuss wedding plans.

I would like to keep it relatively low-key as my family still lives in Europe, and cannot attend as my father is very sick and we are worried he may take a turn for the worse. Traveling is just not worth it for him, and I wouldn't want him to risk his health for something that is a one-day event. I told Adam that I would like just a courtroom ceremony, and his mother and sister, of course, and friends. We'd then take everyone out for a very fancy dinner. His mother did not, I repeat, not take kindly to this. She said that if her son was going to get married, it would have be a grand affair, for everyone to see. I just keep looking at my side of the seating chart,

and the pitiful number of guests, I just want to cry, she has been planning it, I told Adam I didn't want this, I expressly told him that I just wanted a small. Really, really, really small event, no go. She won't even hear him. She just refers to me as her and she and says how I think that I'm too good for a large wedding and that my family is too good for America. My family is American. My dad is slash was an ambassador. Four. This has been happening a lot recently, and this time, it's just been one too many times. Lately, she has been asking for more together for. family time. She lives quite close, but we don't see her all that often as she has friends and events that keep her busy, not too busy to plan the wedding though. She has requested that we,

Adam and I, have dinner with her three times a week. Well, what has been happening is that she has been reserving a spot at the restaurant for 6 p.m. I don't get home until 6, 30-some nights. She has just been encouraging Adam to eat out with her as I am too thoughtless to come home at a decent hour to eat with her son, how lonely that must be for him. It honestly doesn't bother me that he goes out to eat with her that often. But the things she says behind my back, well, I came home early tonight, I left work, and was on the road by 4, 30 p.m., home by 5 p.m. I surprised Adam as he was just coming in the door when I yanked the door open to greet him happily, he was so excited to see me. I could come to dinner with him and his mom. I told him I just told him I just,

needed to shower real quick and get dressed, he called his mom right away and told her that I would be able to make it. He also make a comment stating he hoped there was a reservation for three tonight. She said that there was, but she thought they'd eat earlier, like, 5, 30 and was already on her way to our house. She got there at 5, 15 and stated that she couldn't wait another second and had to eat right then. Adam said I'd be ready in just another 15 minutes and offered to call the restaurant and request they move us back. She wouldn't hear it. She just whined about being hungry. And how a poor old woman should be expected to wait so his fiancé could fulfill her vain requirements. He came upstairs and asked how long I'd be, I said just another 10 minutes. He said

his mom was really upset and hungry, if I could skip a step for him so we could leave earlier. I told him to go ahead without me and I would meet them there. That was fine, I got there, and the table was for two, of course. Adam said we could make room, but she said how we'd be inconveniencing everyone and I should just go sit at the bar and she'd try to get it fixed. I had one drink at the bar and then left, came home, calm down a bit, and now I'm writing this. Wow, that was long. I think I need to get that out there. I guess I figured everything out, though.

Sorry to bother you or slash relationships, unfortunately, my relationship is over with Adam. I realized this as I poured my heart out to this sub. Thank you. Update, I think my, 29F, future mother-in-law, 63F, may be trying to sabotage my relationship with my fiancé, 31M. Wow. I really did not expect this kind of attention

considering I pretty much came to a conclusion. Seems to be the general consensus among you that it's the right one, on my own, but the support, our slash relationships, the support you have given me, I'm overwhelmed and feel extremely grateful in a way I can not express. Through PMs and comment posts, I cried while reading all of them. Some of you shared words of wisdom, some of you shared different perspectives, others shared similar experiences, I feel at a

loss for words. Anyway, there isn't a very impactful update, but I figured I would update you on what has happened so far and take this opportunity to say, thank you. Thank you. After I posted a comment on my own thread, and was about two glasses deep into a bottle of wine, line, Adam came home. This was extremely late. He sat down beside me and looked defeated. He just looked at me with hopeless eyes. I asked him if he wanted to talk about it. He said he needed time to process everything that happened tonight. I told him I also needed time. He said to me that whatever I wanted to do, he would accept it. So, I called up my maid of honor and asked if she would come pick me up and I could stay at her house for the night. Adam and I kissed, and he told

me he loved me, and I left. I haven't been back, from Colleen's house. I made a call the next morning to my office asking for a few more days off to go visit my family. So, right now, I am writing to you from my parents' house in Europe. I called Adam and told him my plans, and he asked me if I would let him drive me. I told him I was okay to go myself with Colleen, and I would even be. I would even him when I got to my family home. When I got settled at home, I emailed Adam, and I sent him the thread that I had made that Tuesday night. A large majority of you wanted him to read it. So, he has read all, all of your comments. He also read the part where I came to the conclusion on my own that I had to end things. We talked briefly over Skype. He told me he felt raw from

the thread, but he was glad that I had gotten things out. He asked me if I was sure if I wanted to break things off or if I still needed time to think. I said I was pretty sure. He asked me for a probability. This is a joke in our relationship for dealing with decisions. And I said I was 90% sure that this was the end for us, and I was using my time away wisely to really consider everything. For some reason, his eyes brightened and he just told me that we could talk about it when I got back stateside. I wouldn't break up with him over Skype, and I think we have a lot of legalities to go through regarding the house and we have to collect any deposits that are available when we cancel the wedding things, because his mom didn't pay for any of the wedding she planned.

Anyway, I've had a sit down with my father, he's been feeling better, which is a huge relief. He has offered me two-thirds of the cost of the house, so I could either buy it from Adam and pay off most of the mortgage, or just walk away and buy myself something else. I didn't expect this, but he said it would give me options should I decide what he thinks I have decided. He says he just wants me to have freedom, and that he wouldn't want to see my heart and my bank account broken at the same time. So, that's that. Like I said, nothing really happened between Adam and I, I do have more power, though, thanks to my parents, and I have been enjoying my time with my family. My mom and I have been shopping a lot, and my brother,

my dad's doctor, and his family have been coming over for dinner quite a bit. My sister is expected to return from China tomorrow, and I am very excited to see her. I wish you all a happy holidays and a hopeful new year. Hopefully, my next update will have a conclusion, one way, or another. Update 2. I think my 29F, future mother-in-law, 63F, may be trying to sabotage my relationship with my fiancé, 31M. Hi. I first would like to apologize for how long this update took. I've been completely swamped at work, and things have been happening at home too, so let's get into that. I want to thank everyone again for their continued support and interest in my relationship issues. Sincerely, the advice and shared experiences has made everything a lot clearer.

Also, Adam has been following along. Firstly, I specifically want to thank everyone who defended and supported Adam. I don't see him as a bad guy, and I really wouldn't be vindictive, so, passive aggressive comments while leaving, or making rude comments to him, or anything really mean-hearted, I couldn't. Due to him, he has supported me emotionally through getting my MBA. He helped me study for my L-SATs, he read over my essays to apply to law schools, he did mock interviews with me, he sat through boring orientations with me, he stayed up all night with me when I was sick with nerves before taking the bar. He was my cheerleader when I ran my first triathlon, and he is my champion when I see a

house centipede, he is my dream man, and I would never give up my relationship with him if I didn't feel like I was fighting a losing battle. Now, are you guys in for a real shocker? Someone made a comment in the update that he would be outside my parents' house if he really wanted it to work, he took your advice to heart, and he was outside with his bags and a rental on the evening of the 24th. I, uh, I was taken aback, and I blurted out what the fuck are you doing here? He just laughed and said he wanted to talk about everything and it couldn't wait until I got back, he'd been reading all the comments on the threads, and he felt like they were very eye-opening. He browsed our slash raised by narcissists and felt very moved by the similarities some of the posters have with their parents.

He said that he spent the last few days thinking about what went down at the restaurant with his mother and how the look in my eyes when I looked at him after I realized what had happened broke his heart. What I didn't know was that he and his mother got into a row after I went to sit at the bar, fighting about me, and how he doesn't feel free, how his sister used to say she had the same problems, but since she moved far away, it has died down a lot. A lot of people ask me why I put up with this for so long. I tried to remember when this really started happening, when it stopped appearing like regular mother-in-law don't want to lose my son comments and began to feel like isolation and vehemence. We used to have an okay relationship when we first met,

sometimes we go shopping together, and once we got our nails done, it was around when Adam and I purchased the house together, that's when it really started to get bad. The Windows incident was the first really big issue I remember, when she realized we were serious about each other. So, back to when we were at my parents' house, we had a serious heart to heart, I bared everything to him, and he did the same. So, there was no extreme confession of incest, or physical abuse. It was just that he thinks he was raised by a narcissist who saw him. her control of her son, he pried in joy, slipping away, we came to a decision. Here is what we decided on December 27. He went back to the U.S. after New Year's Day, a couple of days before me, and moved his stuff out of our place to a friend's, he didn't want me to have to be inconvenienced for changes he had to make. We have put our engagement on hold for the time being. He canceled all the plans his mother made. He has been seeing a therapist since the middle of January pretty consistently,

twice to three times a week, I've been to four sessions with him, his mother has not. We have sort of begun dating each other again. I have been talking to his sister, and the things their mother put her through, Adam is very lucky. Now, about his mother, he has decided to give her one last chance to go to therapy with him, and he has stated that if she does not, he will be going no contact with her, we have a lot to rebuild, but I know we can do it together. Final update, I think my, 29F, future mother-in-law, 63F, may be trying to sabotage my relationship with my fiancé, 31M. It has been a long time, our slash relationships, we're all a year older. Adam and I will be composing this thread together.

Oh no, I gave away the ending. Yes, we are together, in fact, we're married. Here goes, last time we left off, Adam was seeing. a shrink, still is, to try to unwind some of the damages mother did. We were living separately for the time being, Adam's mother tried to commit suicide, but no really, she called emergency services before she tried and didn't even have time to swallow more than two pills. It's so scary to think that within his mind there was such an abusive past when he has always had such a happy exterior. My husband, man that's fun to say, was basically traumatized by his

own mother his entire life, as was his sister. I had alluded because, before and one previous thread that Adam's sister had it a lot worse than Adam when they were younger, but when Adam's father died, his mom locked in on him. So, Adam's dad died of kidney failure, however, Adam had donated one of his kidneys to try to save him, his father's body rejected the donation and passed away about 11 years ago this coming April. His mother took it upon herself during his grieving process to manipulate him into believing he killed his own father and she was alone now because of him, that if he wanted to repair what he did to her, he'd treat her better. Every time he thought that he could get away and create his own life and

feel free, she'd remind him, the windows. For example, I only heard the part where she blamed me, but I tried to think back to the conversation and really try to hear what Adam had said. It's about four years ago now, but he was telling me at that moment that the reason her house was falling down was because she no longer had a man to take care of it, because he killed his dad. He was trying to tell me, I just wasn't able to understand what it meant. Same with the vacation to Barcelona. She was doing it in front of me now. When he was younger, a lot of these issues had been regarding academic success or athletic

success. She didn't have any issue then with girlfriends or anything. She just viewed her children as extensions of herself. It was bad. It just wasn't this level of guilt-inducing insanity. Let's get back to the present day. Adam's psychologist had suggested Adam offer his mother a chance to come to therapy to work out issues.

He wasn't able to propose this to her at the time because after her suicide attempt she whisked herself away on a cruise to get some much-needed RNR, whatever. Oh, my God, you'd think he was asking her to murder puppies with the way she went on. So, that's that, no contact, she has tried. But Adam has either ignored all phone calls with unknown numbers. We had our locks changed, and his work has strict instructions not to let her pass the doors. She moved to where Adam's sister lives in July, but I know that his sister, we are close. has been no contact with her since she met her husband. We wrote off the $25,000. We either get it back in probate court, in inheritance, or not at all, I'm not really choked up about it,

not enough to do any extra work to get it back right now, especially since Adam is worried she'll use it as leverage to buy back in. We ended up getting married in September. Flew out to be with my parents this week to renew our vows in their house, and we're going to to have our honeymoon in Fiji come January, my dad isn't doing so well, but he always seems to fluctuate like that. However, my brother isn't optimistic this time anyway, we were wondering, since you have all been so supportive. If you would do us one small favor, Adam and I are going to have a grieving ceremony for his father, so he can process it correctly without manipulation. For any of you who have lost parents, what helped you get through it? Thank you for everything.

We wished we could have invited each and every one of you to our wedding, but, that would be creepy, I hope you enjoy this story. I deceived about the identity of my child's father and he discovered in the most unfortunate manner. I, a 26-year-old woman, was raised in the central part of the country but pursued higher education in the western state of California. There I met and dated Jeff, 26M, for our final two years of undergraduate. After graduation I stayed in California to get my master's degree while Jeff entered the workforce. We were happy together and we were happy together and we planned to get married after I got my master's. After I finished my schooling, Jeff got cold feet about getting married and eventually becoming a father, abandonment issues from his bio dad leaving, so he broke up with me, heartbroken feels like it would barely scratch the surface on how I felt. I had a great job in California, so I stayed in hopes that Jeff would come to his senses and we'd get back together. We never did. He met Grace, 25F, and started dating her about five months after we broke up. I started planning on moving back to my home state once I realized it was

actually over. Then he and Grace broke up at the beginning of this year. Jeff and I ended up sleeping together a few times while they were broken up. It was a very public breakup, no cheating involved. About a week after the last time we had sex, he told me that he and Grace were getting back together. He said he couldn't remain friends with me because he still had feelings for me and he had to let them fade to be fair to grace. His final words to me were to not call him unless I was literally dying and just wanting to say goodbye. I left California behind three weeks later. Two weeks after I had returned home I found out that I was pregnant. It's Jeff's. I wasn't going to be that girl that uses a pregnancy to get a man back so I deleted all my social media accounts and made new

ones that don't have my name attached to them. The only Cali people I added were trusted friends who I knew either had no connection to Jeff or who were loyal to me and wouldn't tell him my new accounts. early in my pregnancy I made the mistake of checking out. Jeff and Grace's respected profiles and saw that they refer to each other as love of my life and Jeff even had a picture of them captions saying he was going to marry that girl, that broke me all over again and I have since blocked them both and decided I had to move on with my life. I'm now 6.5 months pregnant, since moving back I have bought my own house in my home state and have been busy building a nursery for my baby, I already love this little baby in my belly

and I feel 100% confident that I can raise and provide for him on my own with minor help from my family. One of my best friends back in California was having an engagement party. I won't be able to attend the wedding as I'll be busy with a newborn when it happens, so I decided to fly out to see my friends and offer my congratulations to the couple before my life becomes baby-centric. I got into town on Thursday and honestly had a blast seeing all my friends yesterday, even though it's only been about six months since I last saw them. they were all respectful of my wishes not to take pictures of me below the chest. They did post some pictures of me online, but from the angles it just looks like I gained some weight in my face.

Nothing that would give away my pregnancy. It's a couple days before my flight back home and the friend that I'm staying with suggested we go to the store because she wanted to get a scrapbook for our engaged friend, so we went to the store and as we were getting ready to leave I saw Jeff's cousin Tanya, 22-ish. F, walk in, I'd talk to her several times at Jeff's family gatherings over the years but we never really got along. She was always a bit too gossipy for me to like her, so of course she was the last person I wanted to see. The first thing she did was loudly announced that I was pregnant as if everyone in the store couldn't tell just by looking

at me, then she starts grilling me asking if Jeff knows, I said no and that he doesn't need to know as. It's not his, that was a lie, obviously, but I didn't want to open a can of worms. Tanya then tells me with how big my belly is that I'm far along and asked how could I move on so quickly. I told her that Jeff and I broke up a long time ago, she responded saying that everyone knows we were still hooking up at the beginning of this year. I did not know that was common knowledge. I figured Jeff would have kept his mouth shut about that. Anyway, I lied and told her that I already had a new boyfriend and that I was five months pregnant. She seemed to accept that and awkwardly congratulated me, my friend and I paid for her stuff and left

immediately after that, I prayed that would be the end of it. Like I said, Tanya is a gossip, so of course she went and ran her mouth about seeing me pregnant just a few hours later. Now a bunch of my friends have messaged me saying that Jeff is blowing up their inboxes trying to reach me. None of them have told him my new number or social media so he has no way of reaching me himself. My flight back home isn't for another two days and I'm freaking out. Some of my friends are saying that I should just tell him the truth now that he knows I'm pregnant. I still say, I can get by pretending it's someone else's and that I'm not far enough along for it to be his, I honestly just want to ignore him and go back home. However, I'm having some doubts that that's

the right choice and there isn't a consensus on what to do so I'm turning to internet strangers. Update, one second of August 2023. Hi everyone. So the consensus on my post was to tell Jeff about the baby being his, even from just the first few comments that seemed clear, we did end up meeting up, it wasn't particularly interesting or dramatic, but if anyone cares, here's what happened. He got a hold of the friend I was staying with on Instagram. I wanted to just talk to him on the phone, but he insisted we talk in person ASAP. In retrospect, I should have just waited until, the next day, but I kind of just wanted to get it over with and it seemed like he did too. To be honest, I thought he was going to tell me that he wanted nothing to do with the kid because

I didn't see any other reason why he wanted to talk in person right that second. Keep in mind it was almost 10 at night at the time. So my friend and I went to his parents' house where he was waiting, his parents always treated me like family so I guess I felt comfortable being there even though we probably should have met at a neutral location. When we got there Jeff's mom answered the door, she hugged me and I could tell she wanted to touch my stomach, but she restrained herself and didn't even ask.

Thankfully, I always liked her. We made awkward small talk as she led me to the living room. It was clear that they had just had a problem. party as it was still messy with a bunch of drinking cups lying around and confetti on the floor. On the couch was Jeff and Grace holding each other's hands. I was surprised that I honestly felt nothing for him at first. His stepdad offered me a seat, but I chose to stand. I wasn't planning on being there long anyway. Jeff started off saying that I might be able to fool Tanya, but he knows there's no way I would have ever met a new guy and gotten pregnant that fast,

so he asked why I didn't tell him. I told him the truth, that the last time we spoke he told me not to contact him unless I was literally dying, and I'm not dying, he told me that he was trying to be respectful to Grace and that obviously this would have been an exception. Grace chimed in to tell me that I ruined her proposal, I found out later, third-hand info, but knowing Tanya I believe it, that the party at his parents' house was for him to propose to Grace in front of all their friends and families. Tanya waited until after the proposal and when people were giving speeches she told Jeff she was so glad he got away from me and wasn't going to be stuck raising my baby, then all hell broke loose at the party apparently, I had no idea that

happened at the time where I honestly would not have went to see him at all. But hearing that he proposed was when it hurt, he broke up with me because he was scared of marriage and kids, but he dated her not even half as long as we did and she got a ring, I put on a brave face, or at least I think I did, and acted like it didn't bother me, but it absolutely did. His mom told Grace that it's not my fault and now wasn't the time for that. Then Jeff told me that obviously, I can't move now. I told him that I already did and I was only in California for the weekend. He countered saying that I have to move back. I told him no, I'm not doing that. He said, well, I can't just leave. At that point I got frustrated and told him that I left months ago, my job is in my home state,

I bought a house, all my doctor's appointments have been there. I established residency there a long time ago, California isn't my home anymore and hasn't been for half a year now, so then he got frustrated and got up to approach me asking if he's just supposed to send a paycheck once a month and saying this wasn't how it was supposed to happen. I don't really know what he meant by that second part because he just found out I was pregnant a few hours before, but I assumed he was taking about his life plans. I forced myself to calm down and try to be empathetic. I told him that if he was worried about this screwing up his plans for the future that he had nothing to worry about. I don't want or need anything from him. I've planned everything out from finances to child care

when I returned to work to even setting up my baby's college fund. It's all taken care of already. He didn't really say anything. I didn't know if he was thinking or just relieved that I had it all handled. I told him he can still get married to Grace and have his own family someday. I promised I wouldn't bother or blame him for anything. My baby will be loved and cared for. Jeff got teary-eyed and told me that I know how he feels about this. He was referring to him. He was referring to when he broke up with me and said that he didn't want to be a dad because he didn't think he'd be a good one. He also has abandonment issues from his bio dad walking out on him, his siblings, and his mom when he was six, I told Jeff that he's not him, his bio dad, that he's better than him and

always will be. His mom started crying at this point, I guess, from seeing how his dad's abandonment still affects him to this day. I promised Jeff that I wouldn't let my baby think that Jeff was a deadbeat. I'd be honest that we just weren't meant to be together and we live thousands of miles apart. He told me that he can't just not be in his kid's life and that I don't understand what it could do to them. He asked if we could please just figure something out together. I asked him what did he realistically expect would be a solution. Because I'm not moving back to California

and I highly doubt he and Grace wanted to pack their bags and move that far away from their own families and friends. I said I'm not going to be sending my kid on a plane every few months either because that's too much. Jeff didn't say anything to that so I told him maybe that could be an option when he's older and has more independence but right now it's not happening. Jeff's eyes lit up and he asked, It's a boy? I've been careful not to reveal the gender up until then, but I messed up there. I nodded and he nervously asked if he could feel the baby. Before I could even respond, Grace let out this loud wail and stormed off to the kitchen. Jeff apologized to me and then went to go comfort her. His mom excused herself as well as she was still crying. So she left and her husband

followed her, that left me and my friend awkwardly standing alone in the living room, all we hear is his mom sniffling in the hallway and grace sobbing while talking to Jeff in the kitchen. It was so incredibly uncomfortable, and I know many will hate me for this, but I just felt overwhelmed by the whole thing. Maybe it makes me pathetic but having to stand in the room where a party was just held to celebrate Jeff proposing to another woman hurt so damn bad. So I left, I told my friend let's get the hell out of here and we quietly walked out. We ended up staying in a hotel and I was able to get an earlier flight home on Sunday. Now I'm back home and putting my focus back on the nursery. I told my friends that I had talked to Jeff and I apologized if he still tried to

reach me through them. I advised them to block him if it's too much. I know this isn't the end of things. I'm planning on reaching out to him again eventually. Even if he broke my heart I still care about him and I won't deny him a relationship with his kid if that's what he really wants. I have no idea how it's going to work and I'm only allowed to update once so I apologize that I won't be able to tell anyone who cares how it all turns out, thank you for the advice on my last post. Even though everyone was downvoting me and the post itself it was nice to get opinions without bias. Update 2.13th of August 2023. I'm a little surprised to be writing this. I thought my update post was one and done, but I guess it got reposted on another sub yesterday and gained

traction there so a bunch of people have requested another update. I wasn't aware that people could make posts on their own profile either, so I feel dumb for thinking that I could only update once. But here we are, I greatly appreciate the newer comments supporting me. The few comments I got from the Relationship Advice sub were all in support of Jeff and downvoting everything I commented. I felt like I was crowned the queen of hell over their TBH. I haven't replied to any of the new comments because while most of you just read about the incident yesterday, for me it was two weeks ago, my hormones are all over the place due to my pregnancy but thankfully I'm past the headspace I was in that day and when I first returned home, I do appreciate all those.

well wishes for me and my baby, though. Before I give an update I wanted to clear a few things up. First, I've seen a lot of comments saying that Jeff proposed a grace within a few months after they started dating. That's not true, aside from the one-month breakup where Jeff and I conceived the baby they were together roughly a year and a half before the engagement. Assuming they had no more breakups after, Ike their full history nor do I care too. Second, I feel like people were being a bit harsh on Jeff. I can honestly say, he is not an abusive or controlling person, the man never so much has raised his voice at me in the four years we dated. He was a bit overbearing by demanding that I had to stay in California because

that's where he is, but he just found out about the baby and was panicking that I'd disappear and he wouldn't be able to contact me, which, to be fair, that's exactly what I did so I get it, I had a million thoughts, some wildly ridiculous when I think about it now. Running through my own head when I found out too. Third, he wasn't juggling Grace and I at the same time like people think. She broke up with him. They both thought for good at the time. He and I started having sex again,

but it wasn't like we were in a sequel of the Lovi-duvoo honeymoon phase. It was a weird and confusing time. We weren't talking about getting back together. I already had a start date for my new job back home and my move was scheduled. He didn't know any of that. I was still in love with him, of course,

and I hoped he'd tell me he wanted to get back together and I would have stayed, but he didn't. Finding out he was getting back with Grace Hurd, but I can't say I felt use for sex. I don't think either of us knew what the hell we were doing by sleeping together again in the first place. Jeff is a simple man overall. I promise he's not some super villain

taking advantage of women and playing with their emotions. I'm not making excuses for him. I wish it were that easy to say that he's a dirtbag and you should give me all your sympathy. In reality I know who Jeff is as a person. Anyone who read my posts knows him as just a collection of bad and or questionable choices he made. if you summarize anyone up to just the bad shit they've done, of course they'd come off as an

unlikable person, Jeff's not evil or manipulative. He's just got some stuff he probably should have worked three years ago and admittedly I never thought his issues were that prevalent until we broke up. Plus I'm positive that Grace knew we slept together while they were broken up. There's no way that was a shock to her. He would have told her himself and even if he somehow hadn't. If Tanya knew then everyone else knew shortly after, guaranteed. Lastly, I appreciate everyone concerned about any custody issues that may arise from this. I was also amused by the people who were hyping themselves up thinking that I was delusional and actually going to be forced to put my baby on a plane by court order.

I'm not sure why so many people on Reddit are used to dysfunctional relationships where judges and a huge custody battle need to be involved, but that's not us, Jeff and I were together and very much in love for years. It might be hard to picture that when you've only read about the shitty end of our relationship but everything before the breakup was an ideal relationship, which is exactly why it hurt me so much when he ended it. Things are weird now but we don't hate each other, our default option, even in a complicated situation like this.

Is not we're taking this to court, that would be the last resort, I'm sure we'll work it out between ourselves long before it ever gets there. So on to the actual update. I planned on contacting Jeff after a couple weeks, I wanted to take time to gather my own thoughts and figure out what I wanted to say, Instead, I got phone calls from his number about a week after I returned home. He left a voicemail asking me to call him so we could talk. I was honestly furious because there's no way he should have been able to find my number unless

somebody told him. It might not seem like it's a big deal but to me I saw it as there being somebody who betrayed my trust in them. I texted him asking how he got my number. He said it wasn't important and that he wanted to talk. I said it is important to me but he still didn't want to tell me. I told him we can talk when he tells me who he got my number from. So finally he told me who it was and sent a screenshot of the conversation when I asked for proof.

It was the second least likely friend I would have expected to break my trust. That's a whole other story, though. So we talked over FaceTime and he told me that he absolutely wants to be in our son's life. He doesn't know how it's going to work long term and neither do I. There was no threat of lawyers or his mom's shouting grandparents' rights in the background like people were expecting. We're adults and we'll figure it out. The situation is not any easier to handle logistically, but emotion.

from that night have died down and we have clearer heads to move forward with. He did, however, have the audacity to tell me that he hates that I didn't tell him much sooner and that I wasn't planning to tell him at all until Tanya found out because he thought we meant more to each other than that. I told him I thought we did too until he told me not to contact him unless I was dying. That shut him up quickly because he knows now that it was an extreme and unnecessary thing to say even if he wanted to cut contact with me, he's apologized for it and I apologize for not telling him about the baby myself, that's all we can really do.

We're about to co-parent a child together so we don't get the luxury of holding a grudge with one another over past slights. He also told me that he and Grace are no longer together. He claims that it was a mutual decision, but that sounds too easy to me. How do you go from newly engaged to broken up in 18 hours with it being a completely clean process?

I'm guessing he's just sparing me the ugly details on what must have actually happened. I do feel bad for grace, other than incorrectly assigning blame for her ruined engagement party, she didn't do anything wrong. I don't know her personally, but her proposal night should have been one of the best nights of her life and it was ruined. I wouldn't want that for any woman, and because I know what everyone is going to say, no, I am not seeing this as an opportunity to get back together with Jeff. Honestly, my focus is on my son right now. I'm not thinking about jumping into a relationship with anyone, much less the man who

broke my heart once already, I think Jeff and I need to figure out how we're going to co-parent first, and foremost, and T.B.H. I want a man who loves me and chooses me for the person that I am, not because I happen to have given birth to his child. Plus I don't know that I could ever get over that he proposed to grace over me. Even if they broke off their engagement, I still want to know why she got a ring and I didn't, and I'm going to ask eventually, but I don't think any answer will ever make it okay to me. A lot of people said it wasn't that he didn't want marriage. He just didn't want it with me, I find that hard to believe because as I said above we really had an ideal relationship, our breakup wasn't a buildup of issues, it really was as simple as you

want marriage and kids, I don't which I think most would agree is just the natural end of a relationship. If it really is as simple as I just wasn't the one then I want him to look me in the eyes and tell me that himself, Jeff is a terrible liar even when he's lying for a good reason like a special surprise, he fidgets his fingers and can't maintain eye contact when he's lying. So if he looks me in the eyes and tells me his reason for why he chose to marry her and not me, if he's being honest, Jeff also told me that his mom wanted to send me stuff for the baby so he asked for my address. I declined, I'm positive that there are no nefarious reasons and she's just excited and wants to help. This will be her first grandchild, however, I still felt a little uncomfortable

giving them my home address. He's been texting me every day and calls me every night to say goodnight. Sometimes he wants to talk to the baby. It's a bit confusing for me because he broke up with me because he didn't want a kid, but now he wants to be involved to the point where he's going out of his way to contact me and ask if I need anything. It's strange and I don't really understand how his brain works, but like I said in my last post, I won't deny him a relationship with his kid if he wants one. Jeff wants to visit me in person to talk properly, but I told him I'm not sure if that's necessary right now. He asked to come last weekend and I said no. Then he asked again about possibly coming this weekend, but I told him I can't because I'm having my baby shower on Saturday. he wants to come, I'm not sure if that's a great idea, I'm not worried that he would say or do anything

bad and we're getting along over text slash VC. I can tell that he just wants to be involved, but part of me feels like it sort of. I don't know playing house almost. I guess it wouldn't be a big deal if I made it clear he would be here as a friend and the father of the baby but not as anything more. My parents don't think it's a good idea, but I know that's just because they don't like Jeff ever since he broke up with me, my sister who is more level-headed says that it could be a show of good faith that I'm serious about having a healthy co-parenting relationship and it'll probably be easier to build that foundation now before the baby comes. My brothers don't care either way, but they say they're ready to beat up Jeff if he does or says anything stupid, he won't,

but I love my brothers for always looking out for me. I'm not sure what I'm going to decide, but I know Jeff needs an answer soon so he can book a flight in a hotel room if I do say yes. I'm open to suggestions. I hope you enjoy this story. Selfish spouse forced me to prepare meals for his entire household daily during my pregnancy, causing me to reach my breaking point and insist he handle it himself, which resulted in his parents' reaction. I was being childish.

So all of this started a couple of weeks ago when I found out that I was four weeks pregnant. My husband and I were thrilled so we hosted a dinner party a couple of days after we found out, so that we could make an announcement for our families. But the problem started when people from his family started showing up every other day to visit us and he would invite them to stay for dinner, no matter what. We don't have a housekeeper or a cook, I have to do all the cooking and that was a problem for me because I don't go on maternity leave until my third trimester so I'm working right now. I can't come home from work every other day in the evening, entertain guests, and cook,

not just for myself, but for the people who my husband randomly decides to invite for dinner. It's just not feasible and yet, he continued to do it several times even after I told him that I was not on board with this kind of behavior. We have been together for four years and got married about a year and a half ago, and he has always been very close with his family. That has never been a problem for me, but this is simply ridiculous. His parents, his uncle's family, and his sister's family live just a couple of blocks away from our house, so it's quite convenient for them to drop in whenever they please. Even before I got pregnant, they would visit us maybe twice or thrice a month and I would have to cook for them back then as well since that falls under my share of the chores. But then, I did not have a problem with it because their visits were spaced out and not

that frequent so we had our space as well. However, after the pregnancy announcement, they started dropping in more frequently and instead of spacing the visits out, I would have different members of the family visiting on different days of the week, like my in-laws would visit us on one day. Then a couple of days later his sister and her family would visit and then his uncle and sometimes even other relatives, which is obviously very tiring for me. So I ended up having to cook for several people more frequently than I was used to and a couple of days ago, I just snapped. It was my sister-in-law's family who were visiting me, it was her, her husband, and their kids

and they were actually going to leave before dinner, but my husband started to insist that they stay. I was not there in the room at the time, but I could hear him. him insisting that they stay for dinner and I started to feel really angry. So I thought that I would go to the living room and ask to speak to him in private so I could put an end to this. But when I went out, my husband made the mistake of telling me to serve them dinner at the earliest and his sister actually started saying what she wanted for dinner. I just couldn't hold back anymore, so I ended up snapping and said make it yourselves. I was really angry, so I did not even bother to wait for them to react, and I just went back inside my

room and slammed the door shut. I knew that they had been pretty shocked by my reaction. I had seen that on their faces, but at that moment, it had become really hard for me to keep my temper under control since this had started happening way frequently. I was not mad at my husband for being insensitive and entitled, but I was also mad at his family because at least they could have had the good sense of declining to stay for dinner so frequently so that they wouldn't end up overburdening me. A couple of minutes after my outburst, my husband came into our bedroom and confronted me about what just happened. He seemed quite upset as well, but I was not going to apologize because I had already told him several times that I was not cool with his family showing up every other day

because I would end up cooking for all of them and it was not easy, having to do all of that after coming back home from a long day at work. And recently, I had also started experiencing morning sickness, but all he seemed to care about was his family and their visits. I told him very firmly that if he had come to the room to argue with me instead of apologizing, then he could just give it a rest because I was really not interested, but he still went on to argue with me and told me that if I had a problem with him inviting his family for dinner every other day. I should have kept that between the two of us instead of insulting his family. But instead, I had not only insulted him, but also his sister and her family for no reason,

and he told me that I needed to apologize to them. I honestly don't see why I would need to do that because I had initially intended on keeping this between the two of us because it's a personal issue that doesn't really involve his family. but he was the one who kept pushing me by ignoring my concerns. It wasn't like I hadn't spoken to him about this before, but he hadn't paid attention to me, and neither did his family seem to care about me. If they seriously think that it's completely fine

to get a pregnant woman to cook for a bunch of people every other day after a long day at work and expect the woman to be fine with it as well, that's their problem and not mine. I had been pushed to the very edge by him and his family and I was already feeling quite irritable and in spite of being my husband, he was doing nothing to understand my situation and only cared about himself and his family and how they

perceived us. But I don't think my husband understands any of that because as soon as I told him that I was not going to apologize to anybody, he started losing it. He started yelling at me in the room and told me that I was being supremely disrespectful to his family and that it reflected poorly on me, but also on him. He told me that I had embarrassed him in front of his sister and his brother-in-law and for that, I needed to apologize because he was sure that his parents were going to find out about this as well. I kept trying to argue with him and explain my side of things, whatever I said in the previous paragraph, but he was just not ready to hear me out. After a while, I got so frustrated and exhausted, trying to explain to him why I was so upset, that I just gave up. I simply stopped arguing with him

and let him continue to talk while I started packing my stuff. When he realized that I had started packing, me I couldn't just run away from the situation and expect everything to be fine, but I didn't even care. I just continued to pack and he went away so that he could sit and sulk in the living room. Once I had packed a bag for myself, I decided to get a cab and came here to my parents' house. I left while he was sitting in the living room and he saw me leave, but he did not say anything to try and stop me. A couple of days have passed since then and he has made no attempt to contact me but has spoken to my parents. That's because when I showed up at my parents' place, they were very confused as to what was going on,

and when I explained the situation to them, they told me that they knew that I was right about the way that I reacted but we still had to deal with the situation and not talking to each other was just not a solution. But I made it very clear to them that I was not going to reach out to him unless he apologized. So yesterday, my parents decided to call him up to talk some sense into him but after the phone call, I found out that my parents had not been able to get him to see my side at all. Instead, he had told him that he was simply not even interested in hearing my side of the story because regardless of what I was going through, the way I had behaved was not okay. He had literally said that there was simply no excuse because apparently, he thought that I had acted like a

total brat by throwing a temper tantrum instead of keeping my emotions in check. So the problem right now is that he thinks I should have saved my outburst for later and not behave that way in front of his family, even if I had a problem with what was going on, and even through in some accusations of me trying to isolate him from his family because I don't like them. But I don't think that I did anything wrong and even his accusations are totally bogus, in my opinion. So Ida for telling my husband to make dinner himself if he wanted to cater to his family? Update one, hey, first of all, thank you so much to everybody who commented on my post and had advice for me. Thank you for letting me know that I am NTA.

I had seriously begun to doubt myself after whatever my parents told me because honestly, on the phone call with my parents, he had sounded pretty convincing, and I had started to second guess myself. But honestly, the more that I think about it, the more I realize how entitled he himself has been acting. Both of us have corporate jobs and come back home around the same time. We had started living together about two years before we got married and had always split the chores. It was all mutually decided and we have always stuck with that system since then,

so I really didn't have an issue with cooking. In fact, I really like cooking and it's one of my favorite pastimes. Cooking for two is easy enough, but when he started getting me to cook for guests so frequently, that's what became annoying. Even before marriage, when his family, or sometimes even my family would visit us, I wouldn't have an issue with cooking for all. What I really had a problem with was him treating me like his housemaid while I was pregnant and expecting me to bend over backward for him and his family.

If he has a problem with me standing up for myself and snapping on just one occasion after trying to deal with this as civilly as I possibly could, then I think the problem is actually him and not me. And a couple of people in the comments said that his family had no part to play in this, but honestly, I don't agree with that. They know I'm pregnant, they know that I'm suffering, from morning sickness. They know that I'm working the same hours that he does and yet, they don't have the common sense to decline to have dinner at our house and make me cook for all of them.

His mom has been pregnant, so has his sister and they're all working women. I'm pretty sure that they were aware of the fact that this was not easy for me to cope with every other day and since my husband was not making it easier for me, the least they could have done was at least try and look out for me since they are so big on family values. On top of that, there were the accusations that he made about me trying to isolate him from his family. If I had never liked them right off the bat, I never would have been cooking for them before we got married or even afterward. I never would have tolerated their presence in my house in the first place and would have started trying to isolate him from his family before I got pregnant and wouldn't have waited until now like that's just common sense. Anyway, it doesn't matter now because I have made up my mind that I'm not going back to him unless he apologizes and if he doesn't, then I guess I'll have to speak to a lawyer.

Update 2, so it has been one week since the incident and also since I left home and my husband hasn't bothered to contact me yet. Neither have I spoken to him, so I'm guessing I might have to start looking for lawyers. And his parents have convinced me even more that I need to start seeking legal help because I recently had a chat with them over the phone and it was not pleasant. They called me up last evening and in the beginning, they were trying to be quite supportive. They told me that they had heard about what had happened the other day and they also knew that we had not been on speaking terms for almost a week, and my mother-in-law told me that she could understand what I was going through. She was trying to sound sincere and I almost bought it until she said that even though she knew that I wasn't completely wrong, she did think that I overreacted a little bit and her son was completely right in demanding that I apologize to his family for it.

She told me to put myself in his shoes and think about how I would be if he had treated my family like that, with such a disrespectful tone and then said that keeping a family together is hard work and we have to put an effort into a marriage to make it work. So now, her advice to me would be to swallow my pride and go back to him and try to make this work because I can't just leave home because of such petty matters, especially when I'm pregnant. That was really annoying for me to hear because I thought that everything that she said to me, she should have been saying to her son. If she really could understand where I was coming from, she would probably also be able to understand that I was right in having an outburst the other day, and because marriage was hard work, would it be too unrealistic for me to expect my husband to put in that hard work? Especially when he is wrong? Even though he is aware of the fact that I am pregnant, he hasn't bothered to check up on me and neither has he spoken to me. It's not just my baby, it's his baby too, and yet, it's very obvious that he doesn't seem to care because he thinks that no matter what he does.

or how he behaves, I should just suck it up and let it go. And that's not just what he thinks. His parents also seem to feel the same way about the situation right now. What I don't understand is why isn't he expected to let it go? After all, he is the one who put me in a difficult spot, in spite of me telling him repeatedly not to keep inviting his family over for dinner so frequently because it was exhausting for me to do all the cooking. I tried to explain all of this to my in-laws on the phone because I seriously thought,

that they were going to understand, but I was wrong because as soon as I started explaining this to them, they started telling me that I was just making up excuses for myself and my behavior. They told me that at the end of the day, I had to go back to my husband and I couldn't just stay with my parents and expect things to work out on their own because that was really childish of me. They also told me that the only reason they were even getting involved was because even though the situation was my fault, I had already tried to get my parents involved and tried to manipulate him into apologizing to me by having my parents call him. So I had to clarify that I did not make my parents contact them.

They had done that on their own, and they had not even asked him to apologize to me. They had just wanted him to speak to me once instead of ignoring me. And this whole sermon that they were subjecting me to, I told them that they should stop wasting their time and say it to their son instead because I'm not interested anymore. I guess my mother-in-law got offended at that because then, she started calling me names and stuff and that's when I hung up because I'm not here for that. So far, it was just my husband that I was upset with, but now that his family is slowly getting involved,

I guess I'm getting to see their true colors as well. I had already been thinking about speaking to an attorney, but I had been holding myself back because I did not want to go to a place from where I could not come back easily. The only reason I was waiting was because of the baby, I did not want to ruin whatever I had so far because of one fight, but now I see that my husband is willing to do that and so is his family.

And if I'm being frank, at this point, I don't see the point of waiting anymore because so far, if I had been staying because of the baby, now I'm going to leave because of the baby as well. I don't want to stay in a situation where I'm not respected and I'm not valued enough, which is exactly what's happening here. So thanks to his family,

I think now I'm finally going to be filing for a divorce. As for custody, I'm ready to settle for partial custody and he can have as much time with his baby as he wants to, I'm not going to hold that against him, but on a personal level, we are done now. Update 3. So it's been nine days since my last update and after that phone call from my in-laws, I decided to start looking for divorce attorneys so I could file for divorce. Within a couple of days, I had started speaking to one guy that a friend of mine knew personally and we filed for

divorce a few days after that. And I guess yesterday, my husband was finally served so he finally bothered to call me up. I don't think he had seen this coming because he sounded pretty shocked on the phone and asked me if I really wanted to go through with this. I felt really bad saying it because I had really been in love with him for all these years but now, I don't think love is enough. There has to be a certain amount of respect in a relationship as well, and that was clearly not present here because otherwise, he wouldn't have treated me like this, and he definitely wouldn't have made those accusations against me. So I told him that I actually intended on going through with this because, after the conversation that I had with his parents, I really couldn't pretend that

everything was fine anymore. They had shown me their true colors and the biggest reason why I was filing was not even them, it was his behavior. If he had bothered to reach out to me before being served just once, maybe I would have changed my mind. But the way he was treating me, like giving me the cold shoulder was the biggest punishment of all, as if the silent treatment was going to teach me a lesson, it was just weird. I told him that I was really upset with the changes in his behavior that had come ever since I got pregnant and I was having a hard time reconciling this new personality of his with the guy I used to know. Besides, if he was not even going to talk to me, I did not see the point of staying together with him and I had waited for

long enough before making the move. In fact, even after I had filed for divorce, I was still waiting for him to contact me, but he did not do so. He only bought him. He only bought him. to reach out once he realized that I was seriously going to leave. I couldn't help but start getting choked up while I was talking to him because I got really emotional since it hit me that I was speaking to him after a really long time and we were talking about breaking up. It was a huge deal, so I couldn't help it. Unfortunately, he didn't even say anything to try and fix things after I explained all these

things to him. There was no apology, he just asked me if I was going to file for full custody as well, and when I said no, he just discontory. connected the call without even saying bye. So that was that and I guess this is the end because I don't see how we can ever bounce back from this because he has made it very clear that he's not going to apologize, no matter what. And you know what, I respect that. At least we both know that it's over. Update 4, hey, so he is not contesting the divorce and it's a relief, but it's also really sad for me. I had really never even thought this day would come, but here

we are. We have already started the mediation sessions, but that's just for the custody arrangement since we have always kept our assets and stuff so that's not going to be a problem. We don't even have any extraordinary demands from each other for the divorce, so that's going to be an easy process. The two of us already have a verbal agreement. We are just going to need to sign off on the legal paperwork and then we'll be done with it. But about the custody arrangement, that's going to be a bit tricky because we are getting divorced before the baby is even born and we know that we can't afford to have our newborn travel back and forth every week just so we can have enough time with our child. Currently, given this scenario, we are considering the idea of allowing our baby to live

with me full time and my husband can come and go as he pleases. I'm going to be staying with my parents so he knows where I am at and this is what we are considering for the first couple of years until our baby needs me a little less. I mean, biologically, our baby is going to need me the most once he's born, so we're just keeping that in mind. It's going to be difficult, having him over every other day after the baby is gone and I'm pretty sure that his family is also going to visit, but that's how we are going to have to deal with it. We have managed to be civil with each other so far during the mediation. We are hoping that we can carry that forward even after the previous bond because we really don't want any negativity at this point. Update 5, hi, so quite a few months have

passed since my last update and I'm currently in my third semester, which means that I've gone on maternity leave. A pretty long time has passed since I last spoke to my in-laws or anybody from my husband's family. In fact, the only person that I have mainly been in touch with outside of my own family and friends, has been my husband, or my soon-to-be ex-husband, to be more precise. I had completely forgotten that I had bad blood with my in-laws after the last conversation that we had, so when they called me a couple of days back, I answered the phone quite cordially, and that seemed to surprise them. And a few seconds after I realized that I had had a fight with them the last time that we spoke, I toned it down as well. But luckily,

the way that I answered the phone had set the tone of the conversation already, and they were very polite with me throughout the phone call. They didn't exactly apologize. but they did say that they regretted the fact that things were turning out to be like this. They also brought up our last fight and said that they should have dealt with the situation better, which is not exactly an apology, but it's not an apology, so it's something at least. I told him that it was all in the past and tried to make it seem like it was not a big deal because honestly, at this point, it really wasn't. I mean, my husband and I are literally getting divorced, I don't think compared to that.

Anything regarding them is going to be a big deal for me. They seemed thankful that I was downplaying it and told me that they would really be grateful to me if I allowed them to visit their grandkid after my baby was born, given the current circumstances. That was basically their way of saying that regardless of the fight that we had in the past, they still wanted to be an active part of their grandbaby's life and I obviously said that they were welcome to visit. I don't really have to do any chores here at my parents' house. They have a housekeeper and my mom does most of the cooking, so I don't have to work myself to the bone when we have guests like I had to when I was living with my husband. And that's a major part of the reason why I said that they were free to visit whenever they wanted to after my baby was born. I could have declined and been petty, but I chose not to because now that I'm going to be a mother, I'm trying to be a

better person as well. I really don't want to carry forward any negativity into motherhood, and that includes forgiving people, even ones who had gotten on my very last nerve previously. Update 6. Hi, Guys. So the divorce has been. been finalized, it happened a couple of weeks back in a few days ago, I gave birth to my son. A lot of people were there, like my family and my husband and his family. We had a bit of a moment when he first got to hold our son and it was really emotional. Both of us were thrilled and still are and for some reason, it feels like we are back to being the people that we were before everything went wrong. He has been staying with us, here in my parents' house, so he can

spend as much time as he possibly can with the baby. We don't stay in the same room, though, he's been staying in the guest room. He had been here for a couple of days before the predicted due date because he did not want to miss even a second of the birth. I mean, it's really hard for me not to get sentimental about all of these things because the divorce is still fresh and I haven't exactly moved on from him yet. It became even more difficult for me when after the birth, that night, he was helping me out and stuff and he finally apologized for everything. He told me that he was really sorry that he had to put me through all of this. He hadn't realized how difficult it had become for me, and by the time he did have that

realization, it was way too late. I had already filed for a divorce and he had accepted it and told me that it had probably been the worst decision of his life, not to fight for me. It got me really emotional and I had to fight myself really hard so I did not end up completely sobbing and stuff in front of him. I mean, I don't really hope that we can repair our relationship so quickly and go back to being the way that we used to be. That's definitely not going to happen anytime soon and right now, I just want to focus on being a mother. But who knows, this is definitely a start. Before this, he wasn't even willing to acknowledge the fact that he had messed up, but now, at least he's willing to admit that he did not treat me as well as he should

have. Anyway, all I'm saying is that if there is even the slightest chance that we can make it work, even after everything that has happened, I would like to take that chance. He has been really great so far, and if at some point, we loved each other and we wanted to make it work, I don't see why we can't go back to that point again. Especially now, since our baby is here, I want to give our son the chance to have a normal family life. So who knows, maybe we might put our differences aside, but for now, I'm just happy to be a mother. I hope you enjoy this story. My lifelong companion plays a joke about being pregnant, claiming my partner is the dad at her celebration for expectant mothers.

Recently, my spouse, a 32-year-old man, and I, a 30-year-old woman, join my dearest friend. Sarah's, 30F, baby shower. Sarah and I have been best friends since our college days. We initially became roommates, but our friendship grew stronger as we discovered our mutual love for similar music. We attended concerts together and made countless memories. By the time we reached our final year of college, we were practically inseparable, spending summers together in each other's homes whenever possible. After completing our studies, we both took different paths in our careers.

While I secured a highly sought-after position at a prominent law firm, which had always been my dream, Sarah wasn't sure if she wanted a traditional nine-to-five jobs, so she decided to explore social media as a form of revenue. Regardless of our vastly different schedules, we made it a priority to set aside our weekends for each other, whether it was going on a hike, trying out a new restaurant, going out for drinks, or just staying in to watch a movie. It was during one of our girls' nights out that I met Michael. He was attending his friend's bachelor party, and from the moment I set eyes on him, I knew he was the one for me. Although we often playfully argue over who fell in love first, the truth is that we both fell deeply in love that very night.

Fortunately, we've been happily married for five years now, and our marriage has been nothing short of perfect. I often tell Sarah how grateful I am that she had invited me to the pub that night, otherwise, would have never met my wonderful husband. While Sarah remained single for a few years after my marriage, she eventually met her current husband, Mark, and the two of them celebrated their second anniversary this year. Three months ago, Sarah shared with me the exciting news that she was pregnant, and I was beyond ecstatic. I couldn't wait to see my best friend start this new chapter in her life and hold her little one soon. I was honored when Sarah put me in charge of organizing her baby shower because was going to be the baby's godmother. After considering

several themes, we finally decided on yellow, which was Sarah's favorite color. Throughout the planning process, I kept in close contact with the caterer to ensure that everything was in order and that the cake was delivered on time. As luck would have it, I had worked with the caterer before, at my brother's wedding, so it was a breeze working with her again. On the day of the shower, we arrived a bit early to make sure that everything was perfect. Mark met us at the door and let us know that Sarah was still getting ready. While setting up, I noticed that the cake wasn't centered on the table just like Sarah wanted, so I took care of it. Soon after, the guests started arriving, and I was thrilled to see some of our old college friends.

We hadn't seen each other in years, so we took this opportunity to catch up and share important life updates. In a vibrant yellow dress that matched her baby showers theme, she had a radiant smile as everyone around us congratulated her. As the event progressed, everyone sat down to enjoy a delicious lunch. Everything seemed to be going perfectly until Sarah called for everyone's attention. She stood up and thanked us for coming to her baby shower. Then she took a deep breath before announcing, I'm thrilled to tell you that my husband, Mark, and I are expecting our first child. And I have someone very special to thank for that.

I noticed Mark looking at Sarah with a puzzled expression, trying to understand what was happening. Then, pointing directly at my husband, Michael, she loudly says, Everyone, I'd like to introduce the father of our baby. I almost choked on my food. The room was filled with an eerie silence, and I could sense that everyone was taken aback and unsure of how to react. My mind raced to try and make sense of what was happening.

My husband, who is not one for attention and prefers to keep to himself, grasped my hand tightly under the table. I turned to look at him, and he looked puzzled as me. All eyes were fixed on us in an uncomfortable and awkward silence. I turned to Sarah, looking for an explanation. Just to give some background, my husband and I have been trying for years to conceive for a while, but we've had no luck. Despite undergoing multiple tests due to some personal medical issues, we haven't been able to get pregnant. I've shared this issue with only a few selected family members and close friends, including Sarah.

Eventually, my husband and I came to accept the fact that getting pregnant might not be in the cards for us. So rather than focusing on that, we learn to be content with our life together as a couple rather than focusing on getting pregnant. Sarah publicly referring to my husband as the father of her baby was a complete lie, but I couldn't help but feel hurt by her words. My eyes welled up with tears, but I tried my best not to break down in front of others. All of a sudden, Sarah burst out laughing and playfully nudged her husband, Mark, exclaiming, I was just kidding, guys. This is all just a prank for my Instagram. I have put up cameras everywhere to capture all of your reactions. As everyone looked around perplexed, I couldn't help but feel irritated with Sarah for taking us on such an emotional roller coaster.

I couldn't believe that my best friend thought pointing out my husband as the father of her baby in front of everyone was funny, knowing full well that we were struggling to conceive. I turned to look at my husband and saw that he was red in the face, still holding onto my hands. I could tell how embarrassed he was at that moment. Although a few guests let out a nervous laugh or two, there was a general sense of discomfort in the room. I noticed that Mark, Sarah's husband, didn't join in the laughter. He looked more irritated than amused and looked at my husband apologetically. Over the years, Mark and my husband had become good friends,

and I think he felt bad for us at that moment. I didn't want to confront Sarah then and ruin her baby shower. As she continued with the baby shower festivities, I tried hard but couldn't shake the unease that had settled in. After lunch, we played a few games and then finally opened all the gifts. Throughout all this, Sarah was the only one who seemed to be enjoying, chatting with other guests and clicking pictures for her social media. My husband had already expressed to me privately that he wanted to leave after the disastrous lunch, but I begged him to stay. I didn't want the guest to notice us walking out suddenly. and I assured him that I would be talking to Sarah regarding this.

I guess Mark, too, was uncomfortable to go through with the party any longer because he suddenly stood up with a stern face. He asked Sarah if they could step outside for a moment, and I knew that something was about to happen. We could all see and hear them clearly as they talked, and it was clear that the mood around the room had turned uncomfortable after Sarah's prank. I watched as their conversation grew more heated, with Mark's gestures becoming more animated by the minute.

Suddenly, Mark's voice rose, and his words carried across the room. I can't believe you would do something like this. They are our closest friends and it's not just a harmless prank. You also made a mockery of our baby shower and humiliated me in front of everyone. Sarah kept repeating how she thought it was just a harmless joke, but Mark wasn't having any of it. Mark reiterated telling Sarah to grow up and not make insensitive jokes, especially when they were celebrating the arrival of their child. The room had grown uncomfortably silent now, and all of us could hear their words clearly. My husband couldn't take it any longer so he got up and left, telling me he would be waiting

for me in the car. Although my heart ached for my friend, I also knew how hurt my husband was, and I couldn't blame him for leaving. Seeing my husband leave, Mark must have understood how hurt he was. He turned to Sarah and said, I'm done. I'm done with your immaturity. We're done. I will love this child, but I can't be with you for one second longer. Upon hearing this, Sarah burst into tears, and Mark left the party.

We were looking at each other in disbelief and didn't know how to react. Although my heart ached for my best friend, I knew my husband needed me more at that moment. I didn't want to confront Sarah after her difficult conversation with her husband, so I, too, left the baby shower without saying goodbye. When I reached home, I saw how upset my husband was, and we both couldn't believe what came over Sarah to play this prank on us. In the evening, Mark sent us an apology text saying that he had no idea that she would play this prank for a video and that he was sorry for what we went through. We were glad he reached out because we didn't want to have any animosity towards him and completely understood his point of view. Unfortunately, today, I woke up to several messages from Sarah.

She explained that she played the prank due to stress from her pregnancy and just wanted to create a viral reel for her Instagram. She said that she didn't understand why we were upset about it and also inquired why I left without saying goodbye. She asked me to meet her today so I could drive her to her gynecologist appointment. Starting to feel frustrated again, I let her know that I didn't find her prank amusing at all. I explained to her that what she did was disrespectful and made both my husband and me uncomfortable. I also told her that I needed some time away from her and wouldn't be able to take her to her appointment that day. Sarah responded by calling me a shitty friend for leaving her during such a vulnerable time. This message really upset me, as I couldn't believe she would say something like that just because I needed some space.

When I shared Sarah's messages with my husband, he was just as angry as I was. He suggested that we shouldn't engage with her until she understands the severity of her actions. I decided to send her a final message, letting her know that I wouldn't be speaking to her until she apologized to both me and my husband for what she did. I also made it clear to her that if she dared to upload the prank video, I would take legal action against her. Rather than apologizing, Sarah responded by saying that she didn't believe she had done anything wrong.

She even went as far as to suggest that I was jealous of her because of her pregnancy. When I read her reply, I just couldn't believe my eye. that this woman who had been my best friend for more than a decade would believe that I was jealous of her when I had gone above and beyond to give her the perfect baby shower. Sarah shared with me that she won't be uploading, but I should put my feelings aside and support her through this challenging period. She claimed that her husband had not come home the previous night, and she needed me now more than ever. As I am a non-confrontational person, I found myself in tears reading her insensitive messages. Realizing that I couldn't continue with this

I made the tough decision to block her without any further response. So, I'd offer not being there for my pregnant best friend because of the prank she played on us and feeling glad that her husband dumped her? Update 1. It has been a week since my last update, and a lot has occurred since then. I would first like to emphasize to everyone that Sarah is not someone who jokes around, so for her to play this prank was a complete surprise to me. I have known her since our 20s, and she has never been the one to pull a prank on any one. one. Anyway, Mark was serious when he said he was leaving Sarah. My husband spoke with him over the weekend and learned that Mark is actively seeking a divorce lawyer. Since that day, Sarah has been

relentlessly calling and texting him, demanding that he come back to her and get over his feelings. However, Mark has not responded to her attempts at contact. She even went a step further and accused him of sleeping with me which came out of nowhere. He is just sad that their marriage is ending because she is slowly turning into someone he doesn't recognize anymore. Since I've blocked Sarah, she hasn't been able to contact me, so she sent a lengthy message to my husband instead. She accused him of trying to ruin our friendship and wrote that he isn't much of a man because he can't get me pregnant.

When my husband showed me the message after returning from work yesterday, I was absolutely furious. Until now, I had been trying to let things slide because I assumed the sudden change in her behavior could be due to pregnancy hormones. but her nasty words to my husband were completely unacceptable. Hence I decided to teach her a lesson. As I was in charge of the baby shower, this also meant that I was in charge of the baby registry. I had spent countless hours with Sarah discussing her needs and coming up with a list of

essential items that she would require for the new baby. However, Sarah demanded that we include outrageously expensive items on the list, which not all the guests could afford. During the baby shower, I noticed that while some people, stuck to the list, others gifted her with items that were not included but would be useful for a new mother. Sarah seemed unhappy, and I had planned to gift her a few of those expensive items from her list. However, once she crossed a line by targeting my husband, I canceled the order immediately and deleted the baby registry to ensure she would not have access to it. If she wanted one now, she would have to

create one from scratch. Additionally, I received a message from the caterer a few days ago regarding the baby shower, but I was too preoccupied with dealing with the situation with Sarah and was unable to respond. The thing is, as a surprise gift to Sarah, I had already paid for half of the booking fees for the catering service and had planned to pay the final amount after the baby shower. However, these recent events had caused me to become distracted, and I had forgotten about it. I called the caterer and explained the situation with Sarah. I let her know that I wouldn't be paying the rest of the amount after what had happened at the baby shower. The caterer was more than understanding and informed me that since Sarah had booked the catering

service under her name and they had been in contact leading up to the baby shower, she would be sending the final bill to Sarah instead of me. I was relieved that I wouldn't have to spend any more money on someone who had insulted us publicly and continued to hurt us with her rude text messages. I also let my husband know what happened, and he found it amusing. Although I've considered reaching out to her in the past few days, but after she sent that message to my husband, I've decided that I've moved past the point of forgiveness. I'm grateful for everyone who supported me and helped me realize how toxic her behavior was. Looking back, I can recall several instances where she put me down, but I never thought much of it until now. Anyway, I'm going to stay positive

and move on from this experience. I don't want to waste any more of my time or energy on her. Update 2, this woman is shameless. Days after I had a word with the caterer, I received an email from Sarah. As soon as I saw her name pop up in my inbox, I knew she was back with her bull crap. In the email, she accused me of being cheap for not paying for the entire catering service even though I could afford to do so. She told me that I have always been a stuck-up just because I was born into my family's money and that she was glad I could never be pregnant. She continued to tell me how, all these years, she had just used me to make her life easier. She then proceeded to call me ugly several times and insinuated that I was undeserving of my husband.

She said that my husband had married me for my money because I was too ugly to be married to him. She called me a bitch for driving a wedge between her and her husband. Throughout the email, she used explosive profanities and basically just called me every bad word under the sun. I showed the mail to my husband, who immediately lost it. Over the years, we both have gone above and beyond to help this woman on several occasions. We have been there for her when she was single and crying over her multiple breakups. We have taken her on vacations with us wherever we went and even paid for her flight and room on several occasions. My husband had helped out Sarah's parents in repairing their house and had lent them some money a while ago.

We had always treated her like our family. My husband immediately reached out to Mark and invited him for dinner so we could discuss this situation. When Mark arrived, we showed him the email, and the look on his face was beyond disgust. He also showed us text messages he had received from her where she had sent him similar profanities and went on to accuse him of cheating on her. We were greatly disturbed by the seriousness of the allegation, considering that it was not something to be casually thrown around or expressed in anger towards one's spouse. It was hard to believe that my former best friend, whom I had only recently broken ties with, had changed so much. Mark informed us that he was in contact with a reputed divorce lawyer. According to the advice of his lawyer, he never replied to her texts, no matter how deranged or vile they were, and just kept screenshots of everything she was sending him.

He also took a photo of the email she had sent me so he could show it to his divorce lawyer. Now, since I posted the initial story, have received a few DMs from people saying that they are worried for Sarah and are assuming that she might have some neurological issues because of the sudden changes in her behavior. I would just like to tell these people that she has always had a temper issue, even when we were in college. Although I have never been on the receiving end of her anger, I have seen her lose her temper quickly and use profanities on other people, even in public spaces. Although I highly doubt it's a medical issue, my husband, and I will still try to reach out to her parents regarding this. We plan on telling them everything as well as showing them all the

messages and email she has sent us. If they feel that there is something wrong with her after that, then it's completely up to them to take her for a test. Despite everything, I have no intention of unblocking her or responding to her email. I have gone above and beyond for this woman, and for her to persist in mistreating me, demeaning me, and showing me disrespect is beyond disheartening. I plan on putting this whole incident behind me and enjoying my life with my husband and our dogs. The past few months have been a whirlwind of emotions, to say the least. I trust that everyone is enjoying a wonderful start to the new year, just as my husband and I are. We are currently in the Maldives, taking a much-needed break from our demanding careers.

Given the year we've had, we decided to discharacter. connect from work and indulge in some relaxation time. So far, we've spent our days lounging on beaches and savoring refreshing cocktails at the resort. Coming on to the much-needed update that several of you have asked for, as expected, Mark and Sarah have officially divorced. The court case was contentious, with Mark's lawyer presenting evidence and their previously agreed prenuptial agreement. Despite Sarah's efforts with her lawyer, they were unable to win the case. However, both parties have been ordered to create plans to co-parent together in the best interest of the child's well-being. After we reached out to her parents about her erratic behavior, we have since learned that Sarah had to move back to her parents' house.

Apparently, due to her pregnancy and lack of proper work experience, she was unable to support herself for long just through social media. As a result, she had to move back in with her parents. I also learned from our mutual friends that after the disastrous baby shower, everyone quickly dropped her from their circle as they didn't want to be involved in her drama. Since filling for divorce, Mark held off visiting her until she was taken to the delivery room, where he remained throughout the night to witness the arrival of their daughter. He has been content caring for the baby, spending time with her whenever possible, and paying for the child support according to their agreement. He still gets together with my husband every weekend, either to play golf,

or enjoy drinks in the evening. Regarding the baby shower caterer, Sarah had no other option but to compensate the bill after the caterer threatened legal action. I have received a few subsequent emails from Sarah, where she still holds me responsible for the way her life has turned out. Despite her parents taking her for numerous medical tests, she is perfectly healthy, and therefore, her immature actions have no excuses. Hopefully, for the sake of her daughter, she will try to change herself and become a better person in the future. As for me and my husband, we didn't let this incident affect our happy and healthy marriage. We moved past it after a month and focused on our personal and professional lives. We still make sure to go out on our Sunday dates,

just like we did when we first started dating. Whenever I look at my husband, I still feel the same excitement and appreciation that I did when we first got together. I am grateful to be spending my life with him. I want to extend my empathy to all the couples who have expressed their difficulties in bearing children. I want you to know that it's perfectly fine. Life has its own ways, and we have to trust the journey. If you truly love your partner, there are other options available to become parents. However, my husband and I feel fulfilled with each other's company, and we have decided to focus on spending the rest of our lives and happiness together. I hope you enjoy this story. Spouse a Vick's partner after he abandons her prepaid trip to hang out with brother best buddy, and subsequently he betrays her trust.

Hello, everyone. I'm typing using my mobile device. Everything out so ignore any formatting mistakes. Also English isn't really my first language, so if I make any typos or grammatical mistakes, then ignore those as well, please. Smile getting to what happened. So my husband Brandon, 28M, and I, 30,000. met because of work four years ago. After dating for three years, we finally got married like one year back. His best man was Theo, 28M, who had been his best friend since middle school. Theo and Brandon were

brothers, according to everyone who knew them, but I personally was never a fan of the guy. He was just too loud and obnoxious and we never managed to get along well. For some reason, Theo was also weirdly possessive of Brandon which never made sense to me. He'd occasionally invite himself on our dates and I'd feel like the third will the entire time. He'd come over quite frequently for my taste and whenever he did, he made sure to exclude me from all the conversations and made me feel like an outsider. Even when we'd hang out in a group, with Brandon's other friends from school, everyone else would attempt to include me but Theo wouldn't. I'd discussed these things with brand in a couple of years into the relationship, but he'd laughed it off and said that I was getting

too worked up and paranoid over a friendship. He thought that my reaction would be valid if Theo was a woman, but he was a guy so there was no reason for me to feel so insecure because of him and turned it into a joke, which is why I didn't bring it up again because the way he reacted to it made me feel stupid and the whole issue just started seeming ridiculous even to me. I didn't think that it was a red flag as such at the time and tried to deal with my feelings towards Theo by ignoring him and distancing myself from the guy. I was insecure of him, but I just didn't want it to show anymore because Brandon wasn't going to take it seriously and I didn't want to make a fool out of myself once more. So I kept things to myself and didn't talk to or about Theo again. They continued to be friends

and after our marriage, Theo began to visit a little less because he'd also started to see a woman and was serious about her. Brandon was happy for him and I was relieved that they were reducing the time they spent calm me insecure or jealous, but it was a huge relief to me. Unfortunately, Theo and his girlfriend broke up a month ago because she wanted to move to another city for work and he couldn't do long distance, so they had to end things for good. He was miserable for the next couple of days and actually spent them sleeping on our couch. He claimed that he couldn't bear to be alone at the time and Brandon looked upset too so I didn't say anything and let him have his way. He finally did go back home after a few days, but then he started visiting regularly again and the same behavior I was annoyed at his girlfriend for breaking up with him because of the repercussions that it had on my personal life.

I went back to tolerating him again and this time it was more out of pity because he genuinely seemed upset about his breakup and would bring her up often. However, Brandon would also talk about how bad he felt for Theo and that would get under my skin because I was already putting up with Theo's visits. I didn't want to talk about the guy even after he'd left. It was as if their entire lives revolved around each other or something. I wanted to have some quality time away with Brandon because I was getting annoyed by Theo's visits, so I decided to surprise him with a four-day trip to the Bahamas because both of us really love beaches, but I'd never been to the Bahamas before. I organized and paid for all of it and ten days ago, I decided to tell him about it. He was thrilled and both of us were pretty

excited since we'd both been working really hard for a while and this vacation would be a well-deserved break. That lasted for about two days until Theo showed up, Brandon told him about the trip, and all of a sudden, it was they who were going on that trip without me. As soon as Brandon told him that he was leaving for the Bahamas the next day, Theo instantly said that he was ready to go because life had been pretty boring after his breakup. I thought that he'd back off when Brandon told him this was supposed to be a trip that he and I were going on, but instead, he made a face and told me that I could stay home just this once so that he could relive the good old days with his best friend.

I was stunned at what he was saying and expected Brandon to tell him that I was going on that trip and not him but for some reason. He decided that it was more important for him to be a better friend than a husband and looked at me to ask if he could go on that trip with Theo instead of me. I was stunned and I didn't even say anything but instead, excuse myself to go outside and didn't return for about half an hour because that's how shocked I was. I'd always put up with their weird closeness but that was really too much for me to handle and I think anyone else in their right mind would have reacted the same way in a situation like that. When I came back home, Theo had left and it was just Brandon and I again.

I confronted him and instead of trying to see where I was coming from, he told me that I was overreacting and being selfish. In his opinion, he and I could go take a vacation any time we wanted to, but Theo needed this more right now since the poor guy had just been through a breakup and was going through stuff. So he needed to be there for his brother and make sure that he was doing all right emotionally. I reminded him that I was the one who paid for this trip and to that, he told me that he'd pay me back in installments once he was back from the vacation, which meant that he'd already made up his mind about going.

Our flight was supposed to leave in the afternoon, but instead of packing, I spent the night and the next morning crying silently all alone in the guest room. I told Brandon that I wanted to be alone because I felt a cold coming on, which was a lie because I just wanted to be away from him at the time. Despite everything, I still held out hope that he'd sense that something was wrong and would cancel the trip, but he just told me to take care of myself. before he left and didn't even hug or kiss me goodbye because he didn't want to catch my cold which would ruin his trip. I was partly in shock and partly depressed because of what had happened. I hadn't seen it coming because I'd been totally blinded by how much I loved Brandon, but that incident really forced me to take my rose-colored glasses off and see the reality of the situation. It was always going to be Theo over me for him and it didn't matter if we were married,

if I was pregnant, or maybe even after we'd had kids. Even then, I'm sure he'd just, he'd choose Theo over his own blood because that's the kind of relationship they have. That day. I felt like I was going crazy because of the amount of jealousy that I felt and I wanted to tell someone about it, but I didn't because I kept thinking about what Brandon had said the first time I brought up my problem with Theo and his friendship in front of him. I didn't want to come off as weird or insecure so I didn't tell anyone but by the next day, I was seething and wanted to do something about this to hurt Brandon. So I did some brainstorming and I had plenty of time for that since I'd already applied for a leave from the office for five days for that vacation, but then I decided that

I'd use those days to come up with some way to hurt Brandon instead. Eventually, I settled on buying out the house and then, when he'd come back, I'd kick him out and that'd be the perfect lesson for him. So the house that I live in is the one that I've lived in for the past seven years, even before I met Brandon. I'd been thinking about buying out the house for quite a while but hadn't discussed it with him because he often spoke of moving to Seattle, where his sister currently resides because he's close to her. The lease of this house is of course in my name only, but I decided to make the big move and buy the house just to cement everything. My landlord was pleasantly surprised and we managed to close the deal within four days. In the meantime, I'd also spoken to a friend of mine who's a

lawyer and told her that I wanted to file a divorce petition on the second day, and by the time Brandon returned from his vacation, I was ready with all these papers. I'd stayed home that day specifically to welcome him and he was about to come and give me a hug, but I stopped him midway and shoved those papers towards him, then told him that he had an hour to pack his stuff up and leave. He was surprised but took a while to read through those papers and after that, he began to laugh because he thought I was joking. It was infuriating but I convinced him after a few minutes that this was all real and actually happening. That's when he started panicking and told me that I couldn't do this to him over something as petty as a vacation.

When he said that, I lost my temper and started screaming at him about everything he'd put me through so far. I reminded him yet again that this was a vacation that I'd paid for and he had no right to even allow Theo to make such a ridiculous demand. He'd not only allowed Theo but also given in to his demand and insulted me for about the millionth time, but this time, I wasn't going to tolerate the disrespect. He told me I was acting crazy and said that my jealousy over a male friend of his was ridiculous and made no sense. Once again, his excuse was that Theo was a guy, so I had no reason to be insecure about him, but that wasn't the point. He kept picking his friend over his wife again and again which just sucked, but he was just not willing to see my side and kept telling me that I was overreacting to the situation and

it just wasn't that deep. He left after almost three hours of arguing because I was getting pretty hysterical, but even then, he told me that he was giving me some time to think things over before I made a mistake. He sent me several texts saying that I'm just. just making a big deal out of nothing. Brandon still thinks that Theo being a guy makes it all all right because he's not an actual threat of any kind, but I don't understand why he doesn't understand what I feel. At this point, I'm honestly beginning to think that I might be overreacting and that's why I'm on Reddit right now. Nobody else in my family or friend's circle knows what's going on

with me and Brandon yet because he hasn't told anybody and neither have I, but I really need to know if what I did was out of line or if he deserved it. So I'd offer evicting my husband and filing for divorce after he chose to go on a vacation that I paid for with his best friend? Update 1. So, first of all, thanks to everybody who commented. Regardless of what you guys said, thanks for at least taking the time out to say something. I'm grateful for the ones who tried to let me know the truth gently and also grateful for everyone who gave me the harsh reality check that was much needed. I've wasted more than four years of my life trying to win over Brandon but I knew all along

that I was competing with someone I could never defeat anyway. Oh, but my best friend isn't another woman, so you shouldn't have a problem with me prioritizing him over you is pretty much the lamest excuse there could ever be for someone to make their spouse feel like utter crap all the time. I feel awful that I wasted so many years of my life with this guy just because I loved him and was willing to give him as many chances as he needed to fix his behavior.

But the problem was that he never even thought that there was anything wrong with the way he'd been treating me all along and believe that it was perfectly normal for a married man to constantly want to spend all his time with his best friend, regardless of gender. It's a flimsy excuse and makes no sense because at the end of the day, he picked him over me and I won't care if it's a man or a woman he picks. I'll still be hurt that I'm not his priority when he's very obviously mine. At least now I know where I stand and I finally decided to make sure that I get out of this marriage before I end up wasting any more of my time. He's been texting me on and off for a week now to try and get back with me, but it's pointless.

Even Theo tried to text me and explain that I'm overreacting and I'm the one who's making all this weird, but I don't really care what he thinks, so I blocked him. Brandon still hasn't responded to the divorce petition, but he has time and I honestly don't believe he's going to contest it so I'm not worried. Update 2, Vailp, Brandon cheated on me on that vacation. Not with Theo, which at least I would have been prepared for but with another one. whom he met on vacation. He'd only text me good morning in the mornings while he was away and I didn't properly respond to them but only said good morning back to him and left it at that

so he wouldn't get suspicious about what I was doing back at home. On the fourth day, he texted me that he missed me and he loved me a lot at three in the morning which I found a little strange but I didn't let myself get bothered because that would just make me feel weak and I'd end up forgiving him yet again which I didn't want to do this time. So I ignored that text and then after that he came back home and things that I mentioned in my post took place so I didn't have much time to think about that text. Today, I found out that he definitely sent me that text after he'd hooked up with this random woman he met at the hotel he'd been staying at.

This woman reached out to me on Instagram and informed me that she'd hooked up with my husband just a couple of days ago and all the details that she provided me with lined up. She told me that he told her his real name and she'd planned for it to be a one-time thing, of course, but she'd thought that he was really cute so she'd looked up online and had come across his Facebook profile. Now his cover photo is us on our wedding day and that's how she realized that he was married. I'm not active on Facebook and she didn't know I checked my messages there so she did some stalking and managed to find my Instagram account. She told me that apparently Brandon and Theo had been in the hotel bar at the same time as them

and they'd brought her and her friend drinks. That's how they got to talking and she and her friend hooked up with Brandon and Theo separately that night. She and her friend, she and her friend, had an early flight back home the next day and she'd found out about me within the next two days, but she'd hesitated about whether to reach out to me or not, and that's why there was such a delay. She apologized to me and told me that if she'd known that he was married, she never would have hooked up with him but she didn't see a ring on his finger and so she didn't think much and went ahead with him. I honestly don't think the poor girl had to apologize because this wasn't her fault at all. She didn't even know he was married and she was probably just trying to have some fun on her

vacation. It should have been Brandon who should have known better, but he's never been the type to know better. I know that much now. I was hurt when I read her message and cried a lot because it just felt so crappy but deep down, I did know that this was for the best. I thanked her and told her that she'd actually done me a favor because we were currently in the middle of a divorce and it had helped me if she could provide me with proof of her stay at the hotel around the same time that he'd been there. She was nice enough to agree to it immediately without question and even told me that I could out whenever I needed to if I wanted more proof at any point. So ultimately, my husband did cheat and it was his god-awful so-called best friend who encouraged it. I really wish I could

claim to be surprised but I'm not. I'm just really not surprised in the slightest and in fact, I really think that this was a long time coming. And who's to say this is even the first time that they're doing something of the sort? Theo and Brandon have hung out and been away on night out several times even after we got together so I wouldn't even be surprised. if this was a regular ritual of theirs, going out and picking up girls. I'm just disgusted at this point, there's nothing else I have to say on this. Three weeks have passed but he hasn't responded to the petition yet. He still has 10 days to go. This is definitely not going to help his case and I'm really happy that this information

stumbled into my lap like this. He deserves this. Update 3. I guess the woman texted Brandon as well because last night, he called me up begging me to give him a chance. to explain. It had just been a couple of hours since I'd posted my last update at that point and I was really tired from work so I told him that I wasn't interested in his side and I just wanted him to leave me alone but he didn't listen, as usual. Even after I hung up and then declined several calls, he continued to call me so I was left with no other choice but to block him. Then, he decided to message me on Instagram and left me a really long text about how sorry he was and that he just had a moment of weakness. You know, the typical things that men say when they've cheated and want to make

it seem like it's no big deal so we should just forgive them and move on. He begged me to let him have one last chance at making our marriage work and even offered to attend marriage counseling, but let's be real, we're way past that point right now. Counseling isn't going to help any of this and we both know it. So I told him to piss off and then blocked him on Instagram as well. I also blocked him everywhere else just for good measure because I didn't want him to have any access to me anymore. In case of emergencies, he could contact my lawyer. Update 4. So he finally responded to the divorce petition and he's not contesting it, but he has decided that he's not going to agree to my settlement terms and wants to negotiate before the divorce

is finalized, which is going to take a couple of weeks since the waiting period here is relatively shorter. Like, three months or something I believe. So he wants to negotiate and even has the audacity to demand alimony from me since I earn. a lot more than him. You guys can only imagine how ridiculously stupid someone must have to be to try and do something like this after they've literally cheated on their spouse. It's annoying but it's okay because I know I'll win and I know he's digging his own grave, so I can only wish him luck for whatever he does. I spoke to him a couple of days back because he'd actually called up my parents to force them to hand me the phone because for some reason he thought that that's where I was.

I wasn't, I was away on a business trip for like three days and he'd probably come around to stalk me or something and when he didn't see the lights on at home, he concluded that I must be hiding out of my parents to avoid him. He must be delusional too if he thinks that I'm going to go to such lengths just to avoid him. He's not that important and he's not much of a threat either because I know how big of a coward he is. Just to be on the safe side, I've decided to change the locks on my door and to amp up the security around my house because I don't want him loiter. I heard from a few of our common friends that he'd been living with Theo, which is no big surprise, because of course he's going to live with the mistress once the wife kicks him out. I honestly don't even care anymore and I really just wish I could get this divorce over with as soon as possible because I'm actually just done with this guy.

He sucks and I must have been crazy to even think that someone like Brandon could be my soulmate or whatever even for a second. His soulmate was clearly Theo and I just wasted all of our time by staying with him and putting my heart and soul into making a pointless marriage work. At least my parents are supportive of me and think made the right choice. My friends were thrilled because they'd always believed that there was something problematic and off about the relationship that Brandon and Theo had and had always warned me about it. I was an idiot to shrug off their warnings and pretend like Brandon was the perfect guy for me but hey, at least I came around before it was too late. We'd been discussing having kids for a couple of

months before all of this happened during the time that Theo was dating his ex and would come over less often and I'd agreed because I was getting older and I wanted a healthy pregnancy. Now I'm just grateful that I didn't get pregnant and we didn't start trying for a baby at the time because that would have been a total nightmare for everyone involved. I have all the evidence against Brandon and the first mediation session is happening in three days so I'm actually pretty excited to see how things work out. I don't care if he has any regrets right now or not but I'm going to make sure that he regrets whatever he put me through by the time we're done with this. My feelings for him are all gone now and I can finally see him for the loser that he really is

and has been all along. Thanks for all the support, you guys. I hope you enjoy this story. Mom invites husband's former partner to all family gatherings to demonstrate that he made an incorrect choice. The situation escalates when husband reaches a breaking point at mom's birthday celebration and decides to exclude her from our lives. For context, I, 28F, have been married to my husband Sean, 28M, for two years. Sean and I dated for two years before that, but we've known each other for several years since high school. We didn't start dating until a couple of years after college ended. I met him at a restaurant out of the blue, we exchanged numbers, went out on a few dates and that's how we got here, almost four years later. Before me, Sean was dating

another girl from high school Diane. She was a grade below us and had been with Sean since middle school. He and I weren't exactly close but we had a lot of common friends back in school so I saw a lot of him and Diane together. After we graduated high school, I lost touch with him because he went to college in a different state and we didn't see much of each other during that time. When we finally did meet at that restaurant several years later, I ended up asking him about Diane and he told me that they'd broken up a year and a half ago. She'd been the one to dump him because she wanted different things from life and wanted a break to explore the world, but she'd come back to him someday, which just meant that she wanted to be single for a while and see other men without guilt

but wanted to keep Sean around as well as a backup option. So he stayed friends with her after the breakup but minimized contact with her. By the time he met me, he'd moved on almost entirely from Diane and I had also started seeing him in a new light because he'd grown a lot since I last met him in high school. Sean and I became friends very quickly and easily when we met four years ago and we still share the same easy and laid-back relationship even now. He says that that's something he never had with Diane and she'd always tried to make him chase after her because she believed it made her more attractive. She'd flirt with other guys sometimes, go out with her friends all the time without bothering to speak to him for days, and would never bother to check up on how

Sean felt about her behavior. He stayed with her because he was young and stupid and also because he thought that he needed to make that relationship work only because they had been together for so long. Another reason was his mother, who was a huge fan of Diane. Diane had met my mother-in-law Sharon, 49F, many times while they'd been together and whenever Diane would visit, Sharon would praise her and act like a totally different person. And if I go by what Sean tells me, Diane used to do the same for Sharon as well, praising her incessantly and acting like a whole other person to impress her. They'd gossip and talk about other people, mostly Sean's other female friends which he didn't like, and sometimes even Sean's aunts and cousins. Diane is also kind of conventionally beautiful

which meant that Sharon liked her even more. I don't understand why that's a thing but it is what it is. Sean had told me that even after their breakup, Sharon had continued to invite Diane to family events and holiday dinners. He tried to talk to his mother and get her to stop inviting her, but she claimed that she really liked her and even though they'd broken up, she and Diane were still friends so she saw nothing wrong with having her over. They talked almost every other week and were actually good friends so that continued even after I started dating Sean and he introduced me to his family. I'd felt very weird about it in the beginning and I still do, but there's a reason I'd been putting up with it for so long. The first time Sean brought me home to meet his family was for Christmas, four years ago. We'd been dating for quite some time then, almost eight months. Diane was also present there and she was downright horrible to me the entire time.

She was picking on my looks, my height, my outfit, my makeup, and whatnot. She was clever enough to make it all sound very human. like she was just joking, but Sean knew what she was trying to do and tried to stand up for me, but Sharon shut it down and directly asked me if I had a problem with Diane's jokes, putting me on the spot. I knew that if I said that I wasn't okay with it, they'd make it seem like I was insecure or something and put me down even more, so I decided to put on a strong front and said I don't care instead. It was petty of me, but as soon as I said it, I saw them look surprised and irritated,

so I knew that I'd done the right thing. Once Sean and I came back home, he apologized to me for the way Sharon and Diane had behaved and told me that he'd make sure his mom didn't invite Diane anymore, but I'm the one who told him not to do that. I knew the kind of women they were and I didn't want to lose to them, if you know what I mean. I didn't want them to believe that they'd intimidated me or made me feel insecure because they hadn't and I felt like I had to prove it, so I explained it to Sean as well. He was surprised by my opinion on this, but he didn't interfere anymore after that day and so far, every single family gathering that Sharon has hosted, Diane has been there and every time they behave the same way with me. Snide remarks, backhanded compliments, or constant tries to bring up Diane's past with Sean even when there's no need to, just to make it awkward for me. I've faced it all with a brave face and have tried to remain as unfazed as I can. Sharon has even mentioned several times that Diane was the daughter-in-law she would have preferred

and would have been the better fit for Sean as a wife indirectly. It was annoying but I tried to remain unfazed because as long as Sean was by my side, I didn't really care what they said. So Sharon and Diane could yap on forever and it wouldn't make a difference to me. That's how I've been dealing with this for the last four years and I plan on having the same attitude for the next four years, too. I wasn't going to be the first one to snap. and that was for sure. Now coming to what actually happened and the incident that brought me here.

So three days back, Sharon celebrated her 49th birthday, and every year, she celebrates it with all her family and friends. This year, Sean didn't want to go in instead, wanted to go to his co-worker's engagement party instead, which happened to be on the same day. He had valid reasons because his co-worker would only get engaged once and he was really close with him, too. But Sharon forced him to promise that he'd attend her birthday party instead and wore him down after some days so we decided to go to that party instead. Like every other event, Diane was invited too and she dressed up to the nines for some reason. Even Sharon was overdressed but at least it was her birthday that we were there to celebrate. Sean and I had decided that we were going to leave after Sharon cut the cake and then go to the engagement party.

So at around 530 in the evening, my father-in-law brought out the cake. cakes and we were surprised to see two cakes because one of them said happy almost anniversary. Sean and I didn't know what the other cake signified and neither did anyone else so we waited for the birthday girl to explain instead. Instead, it was Diane who took over the reins and to our surprise, grabbed Sean by the arm and brought him to stand by her side. We were both too shocked to do anything because he was suddenly thrust into the spotlight and everyone was looking at him. Then Diane began to talk and explain that almost 10 years ago, on Sharon's birthday, Sean had gone down on one knee and given her a promise ring because they were both 18 at the

time and were about to go off to different colleges within a few months. It had been 10 years since that day and she was still sporting that ring on her finger which she even proudly showed off to everyone present there. She then proceeded to give Sean an awkward hug that he didn't return and Sharon cheered them on while talking about how this time, she willingly let them steal her thunder so they could celebrate what could have been. The whole thing was so incredibly ridiculous that Sean and I just stood there silently with our mouths wide open, much like all the other guests. For a good few minutes, none of us said anything because we didn't know what could possibly be said in response

to something this crazy. Diane continued to babble unjokingly about how Sean was her almost husband and Sharon was her almost mother-in-law so this was their almost anniversary, as if we didn't understand what the joke was and Sharon cut the so-called anniversary cake to feed it to Sean. She first fed it to Diane and then, she tried to feed it to Sean, but I guess he returned to his senses and backed away from his mother when she brought the slice of cake near his mouth. She looked surprised when he did that and asked him, what's wrong? When she asked that question, that's when all hell broke loose and Sean started shouting at her and Diane about what they'd done.

He tore into them and finally let years and years of anger out at the party. He called them both shallow, stupid, and self-involved to the point of being delusional and said that he was ashamed that he'd even been involved with Diane and was actually related by blood to Sharon because both of them were the trashiest women he'd ever had the misfortune to ever meet. I'll admit, even I was kind of taken aback by that outburst because Sean was usually a very chill guy and rarely ever yelled or got angry at people. It took a lot to push him to the edge and Sharon had finally done it, with the help of Diane, of course. After Sean was done yelling at them, he stormed out of the party with me and we took a cab to

his co-worker's house instead. I tried to talk to him on the cab ride there, but he looked visibly upset and said that he didn't want to talk about his mother and his ex at the moment, so I dropped it then. Once we reached the other party, his mood seemed to improve as he met his friends and other co-workers and I was relieved that he was looking better. That day, by the time we came back home, he was in a considerably better mood and I decided to bring up what happened at the party again because I thought he'd want to talk about it then. He did not, and instead, I ended up getting an earful about how some of this was kind of my fault as well. When I brought up the incident at the party, he told me that he did agree that Sharon and Diane had tried to

humiliate me with the cake, but I wasn't all innocent here either. I'd been the one who, for years now, had forced him to stay quiet and allowed Sharon and Diane to behave however they pleased at these events because I felt like I had to prove to them that I didn't care. I'd made it all about myself and my need to show people how nonchalant I was, but I'd totally forgotten that Sean was just as involved here as I was and this was getting on his nerves, too. Sharon, Diane, and I were the ones battling it out with our mind games, but he was the one suffering and nobody bothered to check on him and how he felt about any of this. He didn't expect it from his mother or his ex, but he did expect it from me and said that I'd kind of let him down

by putting my own feelings above his regarding the situation. That night, I argued with him and told him that he was being way too harsh and unfair to me, but now that I look back on it with a cooler head, I do think he had a point. I'd offer forcing my husband to stay quiet for years while his mother invited his ex to family events to put me down? Update 1, okay, so I apologize to Sean this evening. I read the comments. I did a lot of introspection and I talked to a couple of my friends about this too and came to the conclusion that I was in the wrong here and whatever he'd said that day was true. I had been putting my face. I had been putting my feelings above his own and was so busy acting like Diane and Sharon's behavior didn't bother me

that I didn't even stop to think that maybe it bothered Sean so for his sake. I should at least let him put an end to this if he wants to. I made him put his own feelings aside for years so that I could win some sick mind game with people who I didn't even like and in doing so, I jeopardized the one relationship that matters the most to me. I screwed up badly so I knew I had to compensate for it. Sean had been giving me the cold shoulder since the day of the party and I also had been trying to act like it didn't affect me. It's a thing that I've always had and it's been a problem forever because my response is to just always pretend that things don't bother me even when they do. I want to be perceived as nonchalant and unfazed by anything so I act like that and bottle up my feelings which I now realize is a really unhealthy coping mechanism and I definitely need to work on this if I want my marriage to work. But today, I skipped work and decided to go get him dinner from his favorite place instead along with a chocolate cake that said I'm sorry on it.

I came home, set it all up, and made it as romantic as I could because I know he's a sucker for sappy rom-com apologies. Also, because I was just very sorry about everything I'd put him through unwittingly. He came back home in the evening after work and was very surprised to see what I'd arranged for him and he'd forgiven me within 15 minutes of his arrival. We had a teary reconciliation and I ended up crying because I was so scared that I'd lose him over this when he wasn't speaking to me. We talk things out and everything is better between us now since I acknowledged my screw up. I explained to him my constant need to be perceived as someone who's chill and laid back, someone who's nonchalant basically, for no reason other than it looks cool and I don't want to be vulnerable around people. That's the real reason behind this entire mess and he understood and respected the way I acknowledged it and said that I'd work on me. instead of just pushing it all down and bottling my feelings up. He also apologized for being rude to

me but I don't think he needed to do that. He did that because he's a good man and because he loves me which really makes me think that I won in life. After we were done with dinner, we finally spoke about and addressed what had happened the other day with Diane and Sharon. I hadn't heard from either of them after the party and after my fight with Sean. It had all been driven out of my mind anyway. However, Sharon had constantly been texting him to make him apologize to Diane, who was allegedly inconsolable and overcome with grief because of the way Sean had behaved with her. I had to try really hard not to roll my eyes when I was reading the text that Sharon had been sending my husband to guilt-trip him into apologizing to that woman.

Sharon was trying to make it seem like the cake and the whole almost anniversary gag was just that. A joke and there was nothing that they were implying with it, but I called BS on it. This is a married guy that we're talking about here and surely they'd have enough brains to realize how inappropriate and disrespectful this was to me. They went ahead with it because they wanted to humiliate me at the party so they couldn't just write our feelings off saying it's just a joke and that Sean had taken things too far. The audacity to even suggest that Sean and I had taken it too far and had disrespected them with that outburst and then our walkout was just laughable. Sean had been ignoring her texts anyway and today, after I saw those texts, we officially decided to go no contact with her. We'd had enough of her nonsense and wanted no part of this anymore. Update 2. Three days ago, Sean and I blocked Sharon and Diane on all our social media and he told his dad that he didn't want to speak to his mother anymore.

His dad respected that because he understands Sean's feelings, but he also refuses to interfere now since he also loves his wife and knows that he can't leave her. So he's staying out of this completely like he has for the past couple of years. I'm not on board with my father-in-law's behavior, but I can't help it either. Everything was going well for the past two days, but today, Sean suddenly called me out of the blue and said that he had to head to the hospital ASAP because apparently his mother had fallen from the top of the stairs and had fractured her leg. His maternal uncle had been the one to inform him and he left as soon as he heard, as did I. We reached the hospital that his uncle had mentioned at around the same time but before we could even enter, Sharon stopped us in our tracks and she was completely fine. She and Diane had ambushed us in the parking area of the hospital and told us that this was the only way to get Sean's attention because he'd blocked them everywhere. My showing up was something they hadn't accounted for but they just ignored me and went on talking with Sean completely normally as if they hadn't done anything wrong. Diane tried to explain to him that whatever she'd done at the party had been a prank in

she didn't intend to offend him while Sharon backed her up. Sean heard them out for a while, then told his mom an ex to F off right to their shocked faces and walked away once more with me. When we tried to get into our respective cars, Sharon started screaming at us, but we didn't wait around to hear her out. I'm sure she was cursing us out, but it didn't matter because she'd lied her way into seeing Sean again and I couldn't imagine anything more manipulative than that. Sean went back home from the hospital because he was too stressed but I had to go back to work. While I was at work, I received a text from a number I didn't recognize and it happened to be Sean's mother. She screamed at me for 15 whole seconds before I managed to disconnect the call.

I'd just been caught off guard while working or else I wouldn't even have answered the call, but she was screaming at me. All I heard was selective swear words at the highest volume. I don't know why she was mad at me because I didn't have anything to do with Sean's behavior. She'd pushed her own son to this extent, not me. Anyway, I blocked her and tried to get on with my day and finally, when I got back home around six, I got to speak to Sean. He told me that he'd also blocked the rest of his relatives who were close to his mother along with his uncle

because now it was clear that she'd go to any lengths to get him to forgive them and talk. That's all we can do right now because it's not like they're threatening us in any way and neither are they consistently stalking us or whatever so a restraining order is out of the question anyway. Sean has talked to his dad and told him about what happened today, but he still refuses to intervene. It's his choice and Sean loves his dad, so I'm not saying anything right now,

but I don't think the way my father-in-law is acting as a great example of being a good father either. The least he can do is at least talk to his wife and stand up for his son, but he refuses to do even that much. Sean loves his father, but the man has never once stood up for him when it comes to Sharon and I've only kept my mouth shut out of respect for their relationship. Or else I'd have a lot to say about how his entire family is just ridiculously stupid people who literally never think of anything except themselves. How a man like Sean is a part of a family like this, I'll never understand. Update 3, Hey, Everyone.

So it's been a week since the last update and yesterday, we decided to file for a restraining order against Sharon and Diane because of something they did to me. Or at least tried to do, to be more precise. So I was coming back from work the other day, like three days back, and it was a Thursday that day. On Thursdays, I usually stop at a coffee shop near my office and get myself a Frappuccino as a little treat. Last Thursday, I was about to do the same but as soon as I entered the shop Diane and Sharon left their seats where they'd been waiting for me and came right at me with their coffees. Before I could even react, both of them had splashed me in the face with it.

And then Diane even grabbed some of the whipped cream from her cup and dumped it onto my hair. I was stunned and just sort of froze on the spot for a while before the baristas rushed to help me clean up a little. They tried their best and made sure to get it all off so a huge shout out to them for literally abandoning their jobs to help me and even the other customers who waited patiently while I tried to wipe it all off. My clothes were all sticky and gross and my hair was disgusting but I was a lot cleaner by the time I was done.

Some of the other customers made sure I was all right and one asked me if I wanted to call a cop, which I did and reported Diane and Sharon. I pressed charges against them but they got off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a fine because this was just a misdemeanor and hadn't actually harmed me. Unless you're talking about my clothes from that day which I can't wear to work again because of the faded brown coffee stain all over the front. Nevertheless, we did press charges. And that went on their record so that'll help with the case.

Sean wanted to take this public and post about this on social media so that more and more people would know and stay away from Diane and also his mom but changed his mind when he realized that I just wanted to move on from this without any more discussion. Honestly, that incident kind of shook me up and it sounds silly, I know, but it did make me think that if things were worse then it could have easily been something more than just them throwing coffee at my face. They could have seriously hurt me if they wanted to because they knew my routine for my social media and they knew my address. so this could have gone south easily. Sean and I have had a decent financial year so we'd already been considering moving and now, after what happened, we definitely will be moving. We'd also been thinking about having babies

and we're going to start trying soon enough, but my in-laws won't ever get to meet my kids. We've cut off my father-in-law as well after he refused to intervene even after the coffee incident. Sean got into a big fight with him and then cut him off as well. I, for one, am relieved that I won't be seeing or hearing from these people ever again now. I hope you enjoy this story. Spouse interacts with our children as if they are buddies, damages their playthings,

and shed tears when our daughter mentioned her friend from school was her closest companion. I apologize if this appears disorganized or has an unusual layout. Most recent fight just happened and I'm still upset plus I've never posted something this. My 29F, husband 33M, we've been married for four years, together for seven. We have two kids, daughter 4F, and son 2M, I'm really not sure where to start. My husband is an overgrown child, he just doesn't know when it's time to be serious. This is the only problem in our marriage. He's extremely loving, affectionate, and kind.

He loves being a dad. He loves our children more than anything and they love him as well. He is constantly playing with them. and I think this is where issues start to arise. My husband cannot understand when it's time to put playtime on pause. I'm serious when I say he's in playtime mode with our children from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep. This results in extremely hyperactive children in the morning when I'm trying to get our daughter

ready for kindergarten, and it's extremely frustrating to have to struggle to get her fed slash clean slash dressed and out the door on time for school, where he then will drive her to. At night, this results in hyperactive children. who can take up to two hours to get to settle down and go to bed, and by then it's way past their bedtime and will sometimes wake up grumpy in the morning because they didn't get enough sleep. He will sometimes even be egging our children on at night when we're sitting with them in bed trying to wind them down to sleep.

It's incredibly infuriating and I will tell him to stop because I'm clearly trying to get them to sleep and all he's doing is keeping them up. He laughs and says he's just having fun. Husband doesn't do hard discipline. He tells our kids to stop. fighting each other or to stop touching fragile objects, but when it comes to timeouts or taking away things like dessert, certain toys, TV time for the day, etc., he all but refuses. He will leave me to be the bad guy and I'm absolutely sick of it. I'm tired of feeling like I'm the

mean mom who doesn't like fun or has to ruin their fun, but he just won't do it. I've told him that he needs to stop leaving all the hard discipline up to me, says he will, but then leaves it all up to me again next time. I dread when the kids are older and things like grounding become a thing. My husband is constantly breaking our children's toys because he wants to play with them. He's broken a little kid trampoline we got for them because he wanted to jump and play on it with them. He's broken too, our daughter and sons, of those toddler-sized motorized cars by sitting on them and riding around with them. Like, I would look out the window and see him riding around on these things having the time of his life.

Meanwhile our kids are standing on the edge of the yard watching him and waiting for their turn. He's broken a little kid basketball hoop by pretending to be on a pro basketball team and doing dunks, which banned and break the actual hoop. Our daughter's birthday was last month, and one of our friends bought her a little scooter. My husband broke it within a week because he wouldn't stop playing and doing tricks on it every time he stepped outside the house for something. Our daughter was devastated because she loved that thing, even more so because she would loves our friend who gave it to her, so to her it was extra special. I also feel terrible that this

toy my friend spent her money and was destroyed by my husband before my daughter barely got any playtime on it. Now, my husband is six foot and about 20 pounds overweight. He has absolutely no business playing on these children's toys, and I've told him time and time again to stop playing on them because they aren't made for a person his size, and that he will break them. And then he does. And he'll sheepishly carry the broken toy into me and say sorry. But then he's back at it again destroying another toy shortly after. We got our daughter a bike for Christmas so she can start learning, and I don't even want to give it to her because I know he'll ruin it for her like he always does with their toys. These are just some of the bigger broken toy examples. There are also countless smaller things of

theirs he's broken, like balls, dolls, little cars, a doll house, a slide, etc. He's always making our kids play with him, even when they clearly don't want to or just want to chill out slash relax and sit and watch a movie. This mostly applies to our son, who is much more introverted slash sensitive than our daughter and usually prefers calm and quiet interaction over the loud and hyperactive playtime my husband always does. A handful of times he has frustrated slash overwhelmed our son by continuously pushing son to play with him, resulting in son to start to cry because he just wants to be left alone. Now finally on to what prompted me to post here.

My husband is always telling our kids, and everyone else that our kids are his best friends. Since our daughter started learning to talk, he's trained her to answer the question who's your best friend? With Daddy. Our son is in early talking stages and he is starting to train him do this as well.

At first I didn't see any issues with this, and actually thought it was cute. But our daughter has made a really really good friend 5F I'll call her Emily at school this year. Daughter is always talking about Emily and asking if Emily can come over slash daughter can go to Emily's house. Today my husband asked our daughter who's your best friend? And our daughter paused for a moment, got a huge grin on her face and said Emily.

And it looked like my husband had just been given the worst news of his entire life. He asked her what? And our daughter started giggling and said Emily again and my husband said no, no, who's your best friend? And again, still giggling, she says Emily. My husband's face went blank and immediately removed himself from her and went into the other room. Our daughter seemed a little confused, but mostly undisturbed and went back to watching cartoons. I followed him and asked him what was wrong and when he starts talking I realize he's beginning to cry. He tells me that he's supposed to be our daughter's best friend and that he can't believe she would toss him aside like that.

Now up until now, like I said, I thought this best friend thing was cute. I never realized exactly how serious my husband took this. If I had I would have tried to put a stop to it early on. But then again, how exactly can you tell your husband to stop calling his kids his best friends? Anyway, I was a bit shocked at this point and I admit I didn't use as much tact in my response as I probably could have and ask him if he's serious. He says, of course I am and I tell him. tell him that he's the parent. He's not supposed to be a best friend to his kids. He's supposed to

be the parent. And that he's 29 years older than our daughter, of course she's going to eventually make friends her own age and start considering them her best friends. He tells me I don't understand and I told him he was being ridiculous and childish. He looks at me as if I just slapped him and tells me I'm being heartless and accuses me of not wanting him to have a good relationship with our kids and leaves the house early to go to work. I have no idea what to do. I almost feel ridiculous. Because how can someone have an issue with their husband loving their kids? I feel insane, and I haven't been able to talk to any friends about this because I feel like they'll all be so you're mad at your husband for playing with your kids. What's wrong with you? But I just don't

know what to do anymore. I don't know how to address these issues with my husband in a way he'll understand so he'll start being reasonable about them. I also feel extremely anxious about everything now, because my husband and I've been trying for the last two months to conceive another baby, and now I don't want to bring another child into the world without having this mess sorted out. But I know telling my husband I want to wait on this third child will devastate him. Edit, since it's being asked a few times, I'm just going to put this here instead of typing the same comment over and over. My husband's relationship with his parents growing up was, In his words, great.

He has three siblings, all successful adults, and his parents' interaction with our kids now give no indication that they are the reason my husband doesn't seem able to grasp parenting himself. Update. A few things first, I just want to thank everyone who commented on my op. I got overwhelmed with the amount of responses while on mobile, had no computer when I posted, and stopped replying, but I read every single comment and story. I've received a few PMs asking for. an update and I'm sorry it's so late. This update would be extremely long if I typed every

single detail and still is kind of long, whoops, so I'm going to try and condense it. So, I sat my husband down the night he got home from work after posting my op and we had a long talk. Again, this would be incredibly long if I wrote all the details so I'm going to summarize and go in the order of my points I made in my op keep in mind. Our talk didn't follow the order of my post, So I'm sorry if anything seems confusing, since it would have been discussed out of order, on not knowing when to pause playtime. I told him that I know he loves playing with the kids, and I love that he loves playing with the kids, but that I really need him to work with me during bedtime.

I also once again pointed out that their lack of sleep is making them grumpy and harder to manage in the mornings, and that they're growing and need their sleep. He's had a couple slip-up since, but he's cooled it down around bedtime now and makes more of an effort to help me with bedtime. He started reading to them instead, I used it to it, and is 20 times better than me at it because they love the funny voices he gives the characters. On discipline, I told him it's not fair of him to constantly make me feel like the bad guy. And that no parent likes disciplining their kids, but they need it to learn and grow into good adults, and that I need him to be united with me on punishments. He's having a little

trouble with this one, but has been trying more, which I appreciate. on breaking their toys, I, again, told him that I know he loves playing with our kids, but he needs to stop destroying their things. That not only is it upsetting them, but it's causing us to needlessly spending extra money to replace things that we don't need to be. I took this part of the talk to suggest we finally get a full-size trampoline like we had been talking about for a little while, and that he should dig out his bike from the garage so he can ride with our daughter when she learns. We're both probably more excited about the trampoline than the kids' l-ol. We talked more about this topic, but these are the most relevant points. He realized he goes a little too far after I described the scene I wrote about in my op,

with him riding around on their little cars while the kids are standing on the sidelines. I'm also happy to report he has stayed off our daughter's new bike. On making the kids play when they don't want to, he agreed that it wasn't cool of him to push just because he wants to play. I told him our kids are people, and just because their kids, doesn't mean they don't deserve to have their boundaries respected or time to themselves. And now on to the best friend thing. This was the first thing we discussed. Long story short, he was feeling hurt and generally having a little trouble accepting our daughter was growing up.

This is really the first big thing she's done or said to show that she is, in fact, growing up, and he just wasn't expecting it and handling it very poorly, which he knew he did. I took a line from a comment on my op and told him our children will have lots of best friends in their lifetime, but he will always be their only dad. This visibly comforted him, so thank you to whoever it was who wrote that. I took a suggestion from someone on the op and suggested that he call up his own parents and asked them for advice on how they handed watching four kids grow up and leave the nest. He really liked this idea and has since done so. I also showed him stories commenters on my op shared about their relationship with their parents. growing up. I told him that I'm not showing him them because I think he's going to become like those parents, but that I think it's important he's see the children's side of things. These stories

hit him pretty hard, which led into this. So, I left something out of my op that I didn't realize was relevant. Lots of people asked how my husband's relationship with his parents was growing up, and I answered that it was great. However, my own relationship with my parents was horrible. Long story short, I don't get along with nor even like my parents, and I see slash talk to them maybe once a year. Growing up was miserable, to say the least. And it affected me for quite a long time where I was a huge ball of anger and resentment because of the way my parents treated me. I told my husband about all of this a few months after we started dating, so he was aware of everything from the start. My husband told me he told himself he would be the best dad he could be, because he wanted our kids to have the childhood he knew I wanted, and wanted for them.

Now, I started crying here and was a bit of a mess for a few minutes, LOL. It was honestly one of the most touching things anyone has ever said to me. I told him he is the best dad, and that I love him so much for it. Finding out that this was essentially the root of everything, it was a lot easier to continue on with the rest of my points. Everything has been great since. He really listened to what I was saying this time, and has made a big effort to help me out more while also cooling it a bit with the kids.

Him and our daughter have been riding around on their bikes together every weekend. I've also started learning how to ride so I can eventually join. Again, I want to thank everyone for commenting on my op and helping me gather my thoughts. I thought a few things said about my husband were a bit extreme, but I realized that something that happens when people give advice on a situation they only have so much info on. Next story, B.F. almost proposed in Vegas, then went cold. feet. Turns out he's in love with his coworker and has been cheating for months. I've been with my boyfriend John for five years. We have a pretty awesome relationship, great communication, fun,

easygoing, with good chemistry. We've always talked about getting married, and I have, had, no doubts that we would be getting engaged very soon. Recently, John, myself, John's closest friend and his girlfriend, went on a trip to Vegas for several days. We had a great time, all four of us, and on our last night there, John told us he wanted to go to the Bellagio Fountains to see them before we had to leave. Everyone was up for it, we went for a nice dinner beforehand, and then began watching the fountains and the music came on. It was really romantic, and I was really enjoying myself, and that's when John grabbed my wrist. He turned me toward him and I saw that he was sweating profusely. Like, his face was bright red, and he looked like he was about to pass out from tremble.

so hard. The whole time it looked like he was about to say something, but he never did. He just informed all of us that he wasn't feeling well and wanted to go back to the hotel. Our friends looked really puzzled and were whispering into each other's ears all the way back to the hotel. I kept asking John if he was okay, and he just said he probably had too much to drink. We've been back for a couple of weeks, and he's been acting really distant and cold. I honestly knew something weird was up that night in Vegas, so I called up John's friend's girlfriend, who I'm fairly close to, and asked her if she knew what was going on with John, since he had been at their place a lot this past week instead of coming home. Eventually, she spilled the beans and told me he had plans of

proposing to me that night at the fountains, but then didn't. That's why the two of them had been acting so confused. I kept grilling her and she also told me that John had told his friend that it didn't feel right. She made me promise not to tell John that I knew because she didn't want anyone to be upset with her. I'm feeling sick to my stomach. We live together and he has been spending all of his time at his friend's house or at his parents' place since we got back. He barely calls me or responds to my texts anymore. I don't know what happened that night, but I feel like he's about to end things. I want to talk to him, but I don't know how to approach the issue. Do I just say, hey, I heard you were going to pop the question the other night, but changed your mind?

What gives? Was he really nervous? Ah, I'm freaking out. Edit, he'll be home shortly, I told him over the phone I needed to talk to him, and his words were I need to talk to you too. I'll update when I can. Thanks for all the advice, folks. Update, hello everyone. I apologize for not updating sooner.

but a lot has happened. I'd like to say thank you to everyone who posted comments and to those who tried to reassure me. So John came home last night around 11.30 as I was watching TV in our bedroom. He came in and looked like absolute shit, his eyes looked tired and baggy and he smelled like beer. He apologized to me for the way he had been acting recently, and told me he knew that I knew about the almost proposal as he had talked to his friend Mike and he told John that his girlfriend Tara had told me everything. He basically said to me that he had the whole thing planned out. He was going to propose and Tara and Mike would take pictures, then we would go back to a romantic,

more expensive room in our hotel, which Mike and Tara had to end up staying in that night so as to make sure I wasn't aware of the fact that John was supposed to propose. They switched key cards while I was walking back. He then told me what I was afraid of. It just didn't feel right, I was looking at you, and it just wasn't what I wanted. Ouch. He told me that he had been nervous ever since he bought the ring, but that he'd thought it would go away once he actually proposed. In the moment, he said he knew that it was not what he wanted,

and thought it would be better to not ask me to marry him because he knew it wasn't what he'd want in the long run. So at this point I'm in hysterics, as I pretty much know that this is the end of the relationship. I tried to be calm and rational about it, but there was one point where I was crying so hard that I literally got down on my knees, put my head in his lap while he sat on the couch, and just kept incoherently saying please in between sobs. Not my proudest moment.

But at that moment, this man was my best friend, the future father of my children. I just never, ever in a million years, pictured our relationship coming to this point. He ended it with me last night because it didn't feel right, and that's all he could say to me, over and over it just doesn't feel right anymore. I can't see myself with you. At that point I could barely breath, feels like I'm having a panic attack, so I call my mom and she comes to pick me up from our place. My poor mom, she just looked so helpless while I sat there in the car crying so hard I eventually got a nosebleed. So, I wish I could say this is the end of the story, but more has happened since last night. This morning, I'm on Facebook, looking through a bunch of old picture of

John and me, sobbing uncontrollably and sending him text after text with reasons why we should be together, and I eventually stumble onto Mike's page through a tagged photo. He updated his status from a few hours ago to something along the lines of California was amazing, wish work would send me for more than five days. My stomach started doing flips, because John kept telling me he was spending the days he was practically ignoring me with Mike. But Mike was in California for several days, and we're in Canada, so not very close. I freaked. I called Mike from my house phone and when he answered, I said, hey, it's acidacic acid and all he could say after a few seconds of silence was fuck. Basically, Mike's been covering for John's ass while John is spending time with the girl he's been

apparently fucking for the past six months. I know this girl, John works with her and she's always been really sweet to me whenever I've seen her at John's work-related events. Mike, told me that John had told him he was falling in love with her. He said this after the incident in Vegas. He's been spending almost all of the past two weeks with her. Mike then told me he had promised not to say a word to anyone, not even Tara, but he felt guilty and was glad I called him. He apologized and said if I had to tell John that he told me, I could. That's all I know for now. I haven't bothered contacting John yet, and I don't know if Mike told him that I know. I don't know what I'm going to do. I've been throwing up all day. I took one of my mom's Aedavans and I'm

feeling a bit calmer right now, but whenever I think about it, which is practically all that consumes my thoughts, I feel disgusted, humiliated and devastated. It actually feels like my heart is breaking in too and I have no control. I need to get my stuff from our place, I need to find a new place. We have a dog who gets the dog. I love my dog. It all feel so surreal. Uck. Update same post via edit. John called me a bunch of times while I was in an RX-induced-slash-depression coma. I woke up as he was calling me again and kind of just answered the phone without thinking about it. He was crying and apologizing, I guess Mike told him that I knew, and saying he was confused. He asked me where I was and I lied and said I was

with my sister an hour away from here at her place. I asked him if he was with her, He said yes, but that he'd be home tomorrow, so could I please meet him to talk about things at our house? I said sure. I asked my mom to drive me to our place a little while ago and I kidnapped my dog, brought her back and I'm feeling much, much better. I'm also not meeting with him tomorrow. You guys, I didn't think it would help this much to ask you guys for advice. But I've read each and every one of your comments and dear God,

I feel 1,000x better than I did a few hours ago. Thank you, thank you. Like, I feel so, so different, it's weird. I hope you enjoy this story. My new mother falsely accused me of taking her valuables, causing my father to transfer my educational savings to her. As a result, my entire household turned their backs on me. However, upon discovering the truth, they now seek reconciliation with me. Back. Five years ago, I, 23F, was accused. accused of theft by my stepmom Chloe and because of that, literally my entire family ostracized me. And they didn't just cut me off. My dad even took away my education fund to give it to that liar, so I had to start working instead. So the backstory is that Chloe already didn't like me,

and then, a couple of days after she got married to my dad, she accused me of stealing her jewelry box and selling everything. She planted some evidence here and there as well, like a few of the missing items in my room at my dad's house, than a couple of receipts in my purse and stuff like that. It was very well thought out and executed and definitely not a spur of the moment decision. And I know for a fact that she herself had sold her jewelry just to frame me, but nobody believed me. I tried to explain to my family that I hadn't done anything and that she was lying, but there was just no point. They cut me off, humiliated me completely, and pretty much just ruined my mental health with their accusations. They haven't spoken to me in the past five years, but all of a sudden, now that

they know the truth, they want to mend their way and want me to give them a second chance. Even my biological mother who had literally raised me for the most part since after her divorce, my dad, who had become my primary custodial parent didn't believe me. She had also cut me off back then, and now she wants to talk to me, but I don't want to speak to them. I don't want to interact with any of them right now, and I've been very clear about it. I feel like I'm finally doing well for myself, I have a stable career and I'm not depressed anymore like I was for the past couple of years. So the last thing that I want is my family back in my life. But my mom has told me that back then, because of all the evidence that was there against me, they had no option, but to believe Chloe.

So I can't hold that against them and I need to forgive them so we can reconcile as a family. I don't feel the same way about the situation, though, so I'd offer not wanting to reconcile with my family. Edit, hey, I'm sorry guys, but I really don't know how they figured out the truth all of a sudden. I haven't even asked him about it because I know that it's going to require me to actually talk to them so I can get to the bottom of this. And I don't think that I'm in the right space of mind for that right now, I just want to focus on my work and myself and that's it. I don't want to do anything to do with my family, at least not at the moment. Update one, hi, so I reached back out to my mom, and I told her that my decision was final.

I did not want to speak to her right now, nor did I want to speak to anybody else from the family so all of them need to stop contacting me. So far, they had been texting and calling me, and just because I was a bit confused about whether I was doing the right thing or not, I hadn't blocked them. But now that I was sure that I didn't have to talk to them if I didn't want to, I just went ahead and blocked them. It really feels like a huge headache has gone away because lately, I've been feeling really guilty about not wanting to talk to them. I kept thinking about what my mom had said, the fact that given the circumstances of my strained relationship with Chloe, combined with the

so-called evidence that they had found, it felt like she must have been telling the truth. And I thought about things from the point of view and I don't know why, I started to think that maybe if I had been in their place, I wouldn't have believed myself either. But then, they knew me as a person, they had literally raised me and known me from when I was a child. So as my family, they should have believed me, they should have known better. I was torn between these two perspectives, but at the end of the day, I'll do what I want to do. If I don't want to speak with them right now, I'm not obliged to do so, just because they feel bad about whatever happened in the past. They had five years to figure out stuff for themselves, but they didn't. They didn't even try

and even now, they wouldn't have found out about the truth, had my father not stumbled upon it completely by accident. So yes, I finally did end up asking my mom how they found out the truth before I blocked her because I was really curious. And she told me that a couple of days before they all reached out to me, my dad had been using Chloe's laptop for some work since his own wasn't working and he had to give it up for repair. While working, he accidentally opened her email instead of his but before switching accounts. He noticed that she had a new email talking about some unsold jewelry curiosity got the better of him and he decided to check that email and unfortunately, for Chloe, it was an email from the guy

that she had actually sold all her jewelry. Apparently, there was this last item, a pair of gold earrings that he had purchased from her but since they were really pretty, he hadn't had the heart to have them melted and made into anything else because the craftsmanship on that pair was excellent. But now, five years had passed, and neither had he sold those earrings, nor had he done anything with it. He was retiring, so he was going to be closing shop, and he wanted to know if Chloe wanted to buy those earrings back. He had even attached a picture of those earrings, and my dad recognized them because, of course, she had made such a hue and cry about all the jewelry that apparently I had stolen and sold,

that my family was bound to remember every single one of them. Then, it was not that difficult for my dad to put two and two together, and then he confronted Chloe. She tried to deny everything at first, but then, she started crying about how I had always hated her, and she knew that if I had continued to be a part of their life, I would have definitely tried to ruin their marriage at some point. She told my dad that she recognized me for what I really was, I bought a vampire for my dad's money, and she didn't want me to ruin his life so she decided to drive me away. She tried to make it sound like it was something that she had done for my dad's own good, but now that the truth was out, there was no fooling him anymore.

He kicked her out of the house because even if we humored whatever she had said in her defense, that she thought I was constantly trying to get my dad to spend money on me, it still didn't make sense for her to accept my education fund. Also, it was a pretty stupid defense to try and make me look like a gold digger when I'm literally my dad's only daughter. and I didn't even ask him for more money than he already paid for in child support. The only thing that I had ever really expected from my dad was for him to cover my college tuition because I planned on going to college out of state and I knew that it was going to be expensive.

I didn't want to work alongside college because it would get too hectic and stressful and the degree that I was aiming for was quite hard anyway. I knew that my dad made enough money, so it would not be a big deal for him, and I didn't want to rely on my mom because at the time, she was planning on that. starting her own business. I don't understand how any of this was going to make me look like a gold digger, especially when the person who was accusing me of being a gold digger was actually the biggest gold digger herself. Chloe literally quit her job a week after she got engaged to my dad. Then she framed me for stealing all her jewelry and selling it, even though I know for a fact that

she herself had done it, and she already had the money from that, which must have been quite a lot because from what I know, it had all been her mom's jewelry and not only was it beautiful, it was all expensive-looking stuff as well. Then, after the whole fiasco with me, I know for a fact that she accepted my education fund money from my dad, which she decided to use to apologize for my behavior. What she eventually ended up doing with all that money, I don't know, but the fact of the matter is that if you're talking about who is a gold digger in the true sense of the world, I don't think I can beat Chloe. Anyway, her defense made no sense and my dad was able to see through it.

So he kicked her out of the house, and from what I have been told by my mom, she is staying with her dad right now and begging my father to take her back every day, but he has already filed for a divorce. My problem is that they had five years to look into this, but they believed Chloe blindly. Even my own mom, who knew exactly what kind of problems I had with Chloe, didn't take my side when it was time. She, of all people, should have known that I was not a thief. So all these apologies really don't mean anything to me anymore.

The bottom line is that they gave away my college fund to a liar and even now, they wouldn't have found out about the truth if my dad hadn't accidentally opened her emails. They were so trusting of her that they didn't even think this was worth looking into or investigating at a deeper level. They just took her word for it and kicked me out of the family. After that, they never even bothered to check up on me. I had to look out for myself, and I was completely on my. own. And let me just tell you, even though what 18 people do consider you an adult, I was inexperienced and young and broke. So I felt just as lost as I would have if I had been any

younger. It was one of the most difficult times for me, and I don't think I would have survived by myself had it not been for my friends. They couldn't afford to pay for me to go to college, even though I did get into my top choice because it would be very expensive and their parents were already funding their education. And I didn't want to rely on them like that or burden them by asking them to co-sign student loans for me either, especially when I was already sleeping on their couches. But, thankfully, one of my friends had already decided to take a gap year and work for his dad, so he got me in as well, and I started earning, and soon enough, I had saved up enough money to rent an apartment and start living on my own. Since then, I have

continued to work really hard and diligently and I'm even in talks for yet another promotion in a couple of months. I accomplished all of this on my own without any help or moral support from my family, so I don't think that I owe it to them to talk to them just because they have finally realized that they were wrong. If they had just believed me back then, I wouldn't even have been in this position right now. I probably would have been doing way better. I would have been able to go to the college of my choice and work in companies of my choice. I'm not saying that I'm not grateful for what I have right now, but knowing that this is not my full potential, that just hurts. I don't think that I'll ever be able to bring myself to forgive them for what they did,

and I don't think that I have to forgive them either. Just because they are sorry now, doesn't mean that I'm obliged to let everything go all of a sudden. Now, if at any point of time, I do feel like I want to forgive them, then I might, if I don't, then I won't. And I refuse to feel bad for it either. My mom has no right to make me feel guilty for not wanting to reconcile with them, especially when she herself didn't feel guilty for cutting me off so abruptly. She knew that I didn't get along with Chloe, she knew that Chloe had every reason to frame me, but even then, she chose to believe that woman over me. I'm not even kidding, for years after getting kicked out, I kept trying to figure out why exactly these people believed her over me,

especially when I had never lied in my life. All my life, I had always tried to be a good kid and a good daughter to my parents and yet, that hadn't been enough. But it came down to it, they believed some random loser woman who just happened to be married to my dad over me. And yes, even if I think about the fact that there was some evidence against me that Chloe had very cleverly arranged, they still didn't have enough reason to believe her. After all, the proof that she had arranged it would have been very easy for her to frame me, especially when I was not even aware of what she was trying to do behind my back, and I was not on alert. If I'm going to be using language, all the evidence was circumstantial, and if Chloe had

had actually been so short of the fact that I had stolen and sold everything, then she should have gone to the cops. I had suggested it a couple of times myself back when everything was happening, but it was my family who had stopped that from taking place, probably because they were too worried about the family reputation just in case I did turn out to be a thief. That's how low their confidence in me actually was, and the more that I think about this situation, the angrier I feel. So whatever, I don't think that they messed up, and now they're just going to have to live with it. Update 2, hey, so I blocked my family a couple of days ago. For the record, they had already been blocked for a really long time.

They had just managed to find out my new contact info from other people. I don't know who exactly gave it out, I'm guessing some cousins or maybe friends. But regardless of the situation, they decided to contact me again and this time, they wrote me an email, collectively, saying that they were all really sorry for their behavior for the past five years and that they should have believed me instead of kicking me out like that. They told me that they really wanted to meet me and set things right again. And even if we don't end up reconciling immediately, they think it's worth it to at least give it a chance. I don't know what to say to them, so I just ignored that email.

I have spoken to a couple of my close friends about this and they think that I don't have to speak to them if I don't want to, just like everyone else, especially given that it's taking me a really long time to get over whatever has happened. Like I had mentioned in my last update, I had been depressed for a very long time. And now, I'm finally doing better after a lot of therapy and working on myself. I don't want to ruin all that hard work, so I really want to stay away from them. But at the same time, I really also want to give them a peace of my mind because it's been five years, and I feel tempted to let them know exactly how I feel about them. I can still deal with the fact that my dad and my paternal grandparents are delusional enough to believe that they still have a chance,

but it's my mom that I'm really upset about. Even back when everything was going wrong, I had expected her to be in my corner, but she had also turned her back on me. So more than anybody else, I want to let her know that she really let me down. She should have stood up for me, I really want to tell her that, but then, that's going to mean that I have to talk to them. In my past few interactions with them recently, I have been polite enough. But now, they're beginning to get on my nerves and I feel like if they continue bothering me like this, I'm going to snap eventually. And I really don't want to do that. It's taking me a really long time to get to where I am today, be it emotionally or financially, and I don't want them to ruin it for me.

But I think that if they send another email after this, then I might definitely snap at them now. Also, now that that's out of the way, I feel like I really mentioned why I didn't get along with Chloe. A lot of people have been asking me how our relationship actually began, and how did it ever even come to a point like that? So I feel like I have to say that, even though our relationship had never been good in the first place, I never expected her to do something like that because that's actually insane. Anyway, when my father started dating her, I already didn't like her much because I found her to be very pretentious and I don't know. Her vibes were just very weird. From the beginning, I just tried to avoid her and she would do the same for me.

so it's not like we had much of a relationship in the beginning. But then, slowly, as her relationship with my dad got serious, she started trying to boss me around. She started trying to control me, and I wouldn't listen to her, because I really didn't feel like I had to, she would manipulate my dad into trying to get me to follow her ways. And they were little things, but it still felt pretty bad because she was trying to control the way that I dressed,

the things that I ate, and even the times when I went out. At one point, it got too much for me, so I told her that I knew what she was trying to do. I knew that she was trying to act like she was my mother, but at the end of the day, the fact remains that she's really not my mother. I actually have a mom, I don't need her to be a second one, so I would really appreciate it if she stopped interfering in my life. She could marry my dad if she wanted to, I didn't have a problem with that, but I don't have to tell the same way that I treat my mom and I really don't have to be obedient to her.

I didn't fight with her or anything, just put her in her place, and since then, she started disliking me. She never told my father about it, but I guess she was just gearing up for this one big move after her marriage, and she was successful and fooling my family. Now that I think back on it, I'm pretty sure that there was something very wrong with her because I can't imagine a grown woman having such full-blown beef with a teenager and then actually doing something so horrible to them just to get back at them for putting them in their place. Anyway, that's the kind of person that my family chose to believe over me.

And it's not like I didn't bring this up with them in my defense. I did try to tell them that she had it in for me right from the first instance and that she was probably trying to frame me, but they didn't believe me. They thought that I was crazy and I was just trying to shift the blame onto her because I was too ashamed of myself. Actually, I'm too ashamed of my family because I have to be associated with idiots. Now, I really hope that they don't contact me anymore and just take the hint. Update 3. So, unfortunately, my mom decided to show up at my house today. She told me that one of my cousins told her the address, which I think is really out of line because she was a person I actually trusted in the past five years, and she knew that I didn't want my mom to show up. So this was a huge

breach of my privacy, but I'll deal with that later. Right now, I feel like I just have to talk about what went down with my mom. When she showed up a couple of hours ago in the evening, I was very tired from a long day at work, so I told her to go away because I really didn't want to talk to her. But she stood her ground, and she told me that she was not going anywhere until she spoke to me because five years had already passed

since she had made that huge mistake, and she was not making another one by leaving right now because she had been trying to talk to me for a long time now, and it was about time that I heard her out. I didn't want to create drama, so I just let her in because I thought that I could get it over with. When she was inside, she hugged me, she started crying and told me that she was really sorry about everything that she had done. She said that she had just been very taken aback by everything that Chloe had accused me of and because of all the evidence, she had actually started to believe that

maybe Chloe was telling us the truth. Then, she told me that I had been kicked out of the family. She had thought about getting in touch with me several times, but then, she thought that I needed to learn my lesson and start being disciplined. Only now, after she had found out the truth, did she realize that she had made a huge mistake and she just wanted to make up for it because I was her only daughter. She didn't think she could afford to lose me and she said that she knew that deep down, I felt the same way about her, that I didn't want to lose her either. So I told her that in the beginning, maybe I did feel the same way, that I didn't want to. to lose my mom, but in the past five years, I've learned to live without my family and now, it really makes no difference to me anymore. Then, she started crying, telling me that she knew that I was only saying this out of anger, and I had every right to be angry because after all,

she had really let me down, but then, she knew that it was not the truth. She continued to hug me and kept crying, but I told her that now that I had given her an opportunity to talk to me, I really needed her to leave because I wanted to relax after work. Then, she started getting upset. She told me that it had taken her a lot of convincing for my cousin to give out my contact info and my address, and she knew that I was upset with her, but there was still no reason to be so rude to her. At that point, I finally just lost it, and I told her that she and her ex-husband had pretty much ruined my entire life.

If she had just stood by my side and told my dad that I was telling the truth, then there might have been a proper investigation into the whole thing, and they would have found out that Chloe had been lying all along. That way, I would have been able to go to college, and I would have been able to have the life that I wanted for myself without having to struggle so much. So just because of her decision, not to believe me, my entire life had been turned upside down. Whether she liked it or not, I did not want to talk to her anymore, at least not at the moment, and if I did want to reconcile with them at any point, I would come to them myself. But for now, she would just have to deal with the fact that I didn't want to see her and just get out of my

house. I was very upset so I yelled at her and she seemed shocked but then, she recovered, and she told me that she could understand that I was very upset and she would come back later but I had really hurt her. I couldn't care less about that, though, I just told her that I wanted her to leave, and eventually, she did go away. To be very honest, at this point, their apologies don't really mean anything to me. Whatever damage had to be done, it's already been done, and then saying sorry is not going to take it back. I just want to move on with my life. I already have moved on with my life halfway. What I needed was some closure and I think that I've received that as well. So right now, I just really want to be done with this whole thing and I hope that she doesn't come back

anytime soon because I feel like I've already had a lot of stress and anxiety to deal with the past couple of days, I don't need any more of that anymore. Update 4, hi, so it's been three weeks since my last update and since then, my family hasn't gotten in touch with me except for sending me an email around last week. Yet again, it was a collective email from my parents and my paternal grandparents telling me that they were really sorry about everything that had happened and they would continue to be sorry for the rest of their lives if that's what it takes for me to forgive them. They had heard about my interaction with my mom, and they know that I don't want to write now,

so they will stay away from me, but they really hope that at some point in time, I'll be able to forgive them and I will try to reconcile with them myself. They also told me that my father, even though he didn't show themselves, is more apologetic than anybody else because he thinks that all of this could have been avoided if he had just trusted me instead of his wife. He also apologized to me for screwing up my chances at college and told me that he was willing to write me a check so that at least now, I can go to college. But I don't feel like taking money from him right now, so I have decided to pass up on that, at least for now. In the future, I might forgive

them, but I might not. I don't really know because I haven't made up my mind since this is a very complicated situation. However, for now, I'm very content with my life as it is, so I don't want to bring about any new changes. I hope you enjoy this story. Former spouse and his partner guardianship of my child following neglecting her for a period of eight moons. I, a 33-year-old female, was united in matrimony for eight cycles with my former spouse Peter, aged 39, but we parted ways. Divorced a year ago because he confessed that he'd been having an extramarital affair with his ex-girlfriend from college for about three years. I hadn't seen that coming at all because Peter and I had a four-year-old daughter, so for him to have an affair with his ex even after

he had a daughter was unbelievable for me. But it was true when we ended up getting divorced and I decided to raise our daughter on my own. He got married to his ex-girlfriend, Mandy, 38F, a few months after our divorce was finalized. I got to know about his wedding from his friends because naturally, after the divorce we didn't bother to keep in touch. I also managed to get full custody of our daughter and he only visits her on the weekends under my supervision but after his wedding, he just stopped visiting at all. I was fine with it because that just meant no more silence while he tried to play with our daughter and I stayed in the room and tried my best not to kick him out.

He'd visited a few weekends while we were getting divorced and I'd let him because our daughter seemed to like being with him but once he stopped, I didn't bother to reach back out again. It's been close to a year since our divorce was finalized and the last time I saw him was eight months ago, if I'm not mistaken. Since then, I've been focusing on work and raising my daughter because of the that's all there is to do for me. But last weekend, Peter showed up at my door without warning and it was a really intense interaction. When I opened the door to find him there, I thought that he was there to meet our daughter, but he told me that he was there to talk to me. I found that

kind of strange because we'd had nothing to talk about for almost a year now but nevertheless, I told him to continue. And he told me that his wife, Mandy, was planning on pressing charges against me if I didn't give them full custody of our daughter soon. She wanted me to hand over my daughter because she felt that as a single mother, I wouldn't be able to provide for her as well as they would. And in a way, I'd be depriving her of a comfortable childhood on purpose, which is why she felt that those were grounds for her to press charges against me for neglecting my daughter. And so, Peter was at my door, asking me to hand over my daughter to them right away and soon they'd have the legal procedure

completed as well because I was incapable of raising her on my own according to his wife. I totally flew off the handle when he said that to me and slammed the door shut in his face then told him to get lost unless he wanted me to call the cops on him. I couldn't believe that he'd even thought for a second that he could just come up to me and demand that I'd give my daughter up after he'd straight up ignored our existence for almost an entire year. I wasn't phased by whatever Mandy was threatening to do, either, because it was literally baseless. She couldn't just press charges against me for neglecting my daughter only because I was a single mother because that's just ridiculous. I wasn't scared of that, but I was scared of Peter returning and reminding my daughter that he existed once more. It had been hard enough to get her to forget about her dad without telling her the truth and I just couldn't put her through that once more. I also just didn't like the idea of him having any access to me at all because whatever he'd said the other day was actually really creepy and the fact that he didn't think there was anything wrong about what he was suggesting was also concerning.

So I decided to move in with my parents for a while until I felt safe enough to go back to living on my own. own. It would also be convenient because then my nanny would also be able to take a break for a couple of days. And so, two days after Peter's reappearance, I moved back in with my parents and had been living with them since then. I didn't hear from Peter after that until two days back when he showed up at my parents' place as well. He knew that this was the only other place I was likely to be but now that I had my mom and dad with me, I felt a lot more confident and ready to fight with him. My daughter was fast asleep at the time and she was being looked after by my mother in the upstairs room so no matter how loud I got, she wouldn't be able to hear me and I was free

to say whatever the heck I wanted to. He looked really upset and told me that they weren't going to press charges. They couldn't even if they wanted to, but he still found it unfair that I'd just taken away our daughter's custody forcefully only because he'd cheated. He told me that the real reason he'd come back the other day after so long was because both he and Mandy could feel the that his daughter's absence had left in their lives even though she wasn't her bio-mom. Apparently, she'd met my daughter several times while they were still together and whenever he'd take our daughter out, they'd go and meet Mandy. So they'd begun to think of themselves as her parents, too and Mandy believed that she would have made a good stepmom had I given her the chance

to prove it, which I didn't. Peter said that it was unfair of me to file for full custody knowing that it was unlikely that he'd be able to get joint custody since our daughter was still relatively young and also, he'd been cheating for three years before he finally confessed. One of the major reasons he didn't get full custody was because of his job which happened to be taxing and he had to work long hours and travel often, which wouldn't leave him with enough time to look after our daughter personally and I didn't even know Mandy that well. So she wasn't even in the running to get custody regardless of her relationship with Peter. The best arrangement his lawyer could manage for him legally was visitation rights, but I don't see how

that was my fault exactly. He's the one who messed up his chances of getting joint custody by cheating because his infidelity did play a huge role in the custody battle. And after his divorce was finalized, he pretty much gave up and let me have full custody so I honestly don't understand why he's blaming me for any of this. He told me that he just wanted to reconnect with his daughter and so did Mandy, which is why they were here asking me for another chance. He tried to persuade me to give them another shot at being parents by saying that it would be beneficial for my daughter in the long run. and even said that I'd regret not letting them bond now when in the future, my daughter would demand an answer as to why she was never allowed to be a part of her father's life. So to avoid being blamed in the future, Peter wanted me to let them build a proper relationship

with my daughter because, despite the infidelity, he insisted that he'd always been a good father and Mandy was desperate to see her one more time. I didn't know what to say at the time, but I knew for a fact that I didn't feel comfortable letting them be around my daughter because I had zero trust or faith in them on a personal level. My husband had betrayed me and lied to me for three whole years. That's not something I've let go of just yet and Mandy had been with him in their lies all along. So for them to ask me to let them be a part of my daughter's life after all that they'd done seemed like a ridiculous idea. I don't know if I did the right thing or not, but once more, I told Peter that it was too late to change the past now and he needed to come to terms with the fact

that our daughter wasn't his anymore because he'd been totally MIA for the last eight months of her life. It had been really difficult for me to explain his absence to her and I wasn't about to do it all over again just because he and his wife wanted to be with her right now. Then, I told him to go away again and shut the door and he did go away at the time, but since then, he's been texting me nonstop and trying to persuade me to let them have a shot. He keeps insisting that our daughter needs him just as much as she needs me and that I'll regret my decision in the future when my daughter resents me for saying no to him in the present. It's gotten to a point where I genuinely don't understand if I'm doing the right thing here or not by keeping them apart.

Ida for not letting my ex-husband be a part of our daughter's life after he cheated on me and cut us off for eight months? Update one, okay, so I decided against letting him back into our lives. I was crazy to even be considering it and I think it was because I was feeling over-emotional since I was seeing him after a really, really long time. But yeah, not going to happen. I spoke to my parents about what I'd been feeling. They were vehemently against even speaking to him again because he's just a horrible person who screwed me up and completely ruined any chance I had at happiness in future relationships by lying to me and cheating for three freaking years. Despite being in a relatively happy marriage. It probably wasn't happy enough for him,

I suppose. It's been two days since I posted and most of the comments on my original post have been ones that advised me never to let him into my life ever again and to try and get a restraining order against him. I think that's what I'll do if he shows up again because I don't think he's the kind of guy to give up easily. I've contacted my lawyer already and are trying to terminate any parental rights he has at all because he obviously doesn't deserve to be a dad. The kind of father who can just abandon their child for months at the end without an explanation and then come back when it suits them isn't someone who can be trusted at any cost and I know it better than anyone. Besides, I don't even know what he'd been up to during those eight months

that he didn't visit us at all, so it's really strange that he thinks I'll just welcome him back with open arms now that he's finally ready to bond with his daughter. Tough luck, buddy, but that's not how the world works and that's certainly not how my world works. I've even blocked him everywhere because the last couple of texts that he's sent to make me feel empathetic towards him rubbed me the wrong way because they're all phrased like I'm the villain here and he's the long-suffering victim who's been separated from his daughter because of my cruelty and selfishness. As if he never cheated and then pulled the appearing act on me afterward. I can't believe I let myself get carried away at all because of his

sudden reappearance. I don't think I'm coping with this as well as I thought I was and I really cannot afford to fall weak again, so I'm taking the advice that most people here seem to have for me and looking into therapists. I think that'll be a good way to move forward and try to put this episode behind me and it'll take up my time but at least something productive will come out of it and maybe I'll be able to stop over-analizing and overthinking. Update 2, hello, it's been three days since my last update, and today, Peter sent me an email about why exactly he'd come back to us after so long. And I'm not going to lie, it's messed up even by his standards. I don't know what kind of weird crap he and Mandy are up to, but I'm glad that I

already spoke to my lawyer and are already ahead of him because a couple of things that he said were concerning, to say the least. In the email, he told me that after the divorce was finalized, Mandy told him that she didn't want him to be in touch with me anymore, so he gave up custody of his daughter and decided to focus on his married life now. The reason they'd broken up all those years back when they were in college was because she'd always been way too family-oriented and he wanted someone who had ambitions other than getting married and having kids but both of them had changed over time and once they reconciled a couple of years ago at the reunion. They realized that they'd messed up by breaking things off and started

an affair. She dumped her then boyfriend and Peter claimed that he'd wanted to tell me but by the time he'd mustered up the courage to confess, I was already pregnant and the longer he postponed telling me, the more difficult it became and with time. Even Mandy had started feeling attached to our daughter so it all got complicated for him and he just let it continue that way for three years until it finally dawned upon him that what he was doing was messed up and that he needed to clean up his act or else he'd end up living a lie for the rest of his life. So he told me and then the divorce happened and he ended up giving up custody of his daughter because he wanted to devote all his time to being a good husband to Mandy.

Unfortunately, over time, they realized that Mandy still did want a family but she was too old to conceive now without facing health complications during the pregnancy. And so, they decided that instead of trying to have a baby of their own, they could just ask me to let them co-parent the child that Peter already did have. And that's why he'd visited me that day but when he realized that I wasn't going to be intimidated into handing over my daughter, he tried to take a much less threatening and much more manipulative route which also didn't help much. So now, his last option was to tell me the truth and hope that I'd understand where they were coming from.

He told me that Mandy already felt like she'd been a mother to our daughter at some points when it was just the three of them and I wasn't at home and she just wanted a chance to live that life once more and I was the only person who could make it possible for them. And this was their plea to me to let them have the family that they'd always wanted just for Mandy's sake. I mean, I've got to hand it to them. It really does take an insane amount of confidence and guts to send something like this to the woman whose life you messed up. They lied to me and cheated for three years, including a time when I was pregnant and yet they expect me to be kind to them and think of them. And let them build a relationship

with the child they discarded like a toy less than a year ago because now they'd suddenly realize that Mandy was too old to have babies but she still wanted a family. They could have done so many other things like they could have chosen to adopt or to opt for surrogacy but instead, they chose to do the least sane thing and tried to intimidate me into giving up a child they hadn't even cared about for several months until it occurred to them that we could share the child and the experience of parenthood. Like, this is my daughter here that we're talking about

and not an article of clothing or a toy that we can just pass around according to our convenience. I knew that both of them were crazy but this is just way too much even for Peter and Mandy. I'm glad I've already spoken to my lawyer and I've also forwarded that email to her because this is seriously insane. To even think that I'd agree to this

under any circumstances is so really, ridiculous that I'm struggling to even wrap my head around it. It really does take a special kind of delusion to approach the woman you screwed over together and then make an absurd demand like the one they made. I'm just relieved that my daughter isn't yet old enough to make sense of these things because I don't think I would have been able to explain this to her. Let alone her, I can barely make sense of any of this myself. Had this been happening to someone else, I really would have just loved to know what exactly went through my husbands and Mandy's head while they were formulating their plans and strategies because I'm sure that's how they were treating

this. Like some military operation. It's positively absurd but my current priority is making sure my daughter and I are both safe and all right because there's just no telling what these people might do next. I don't trust them one bit and after this email, they've pretty much proven for sure that they don't even deserve to be trusted either. Update 3. My lawyer contacted Peter yesterday and told him that the petition to terminate his parental rights had already been filed and he needed to sign it soon or else it would lead to another custody battle and that would be unnecessary for everyone involved. Naturally, he didn't take that kindly and today, a couple of hours back, both Peter and Mandy showed up at my parents' place while I was about to leave for work.

I told them that they needed to stay off our property or else I'd call the police so they did take several steps back out onto the street but they were really stubborn and Mandy said to me that what I was doing was going to destroy my daughter's future because everyone knew I wasn't capable of raising her by myself and by being egoistic. I was depriving her of her only chance to have a real family. I can't even put into words how wrong that was on so many levels and how offensive it was to me personally because what was that even supposed to mean. I flared up at her and ended up screaming at her at the top of my lungs in retaliation because the thing she was saying had gotten under my skin in the worst possible way. This woman was literally a homewrecker so she, of a

all people, had no right to lecture me on what my daughter needed or what a family was. She was the one who'd ruined a perfectly happy family and my husband had happily gone along with her but now they were back to try and let them play happy family with my daughter. Even someone in an insane asylum would know how ridiculous that sounds. And I'm also fully capable of raising my daughter on my own because I have a job and make a decent amount of money, enough to live nicely and give my daughter the life that she deserves to have. So I'm not too worried about the financial part of it. As for my daughter's family, I think I'm enough for her at the moment, and in the future, I might get married again and she'll have a

father but right now, I'm literally all that she needs. And once again, they had cut this very same daughter off for almost a year because then they didn't think they wanted her and now that they want her, I'm not good enough of a mother for her all of a sudden. I swear both of these people are so stupid and delusional that it's painful for me to even think about it. I told them to leave because I was getting late for work, but Mandy decided to throw a temper tantrum right there on the street. And I'm not even kidding, she actually just sat down on the street and told me that I couldn't leave unless I let her see my daughter once

and said that she wasn't going to move until I gave into her demands. It was ridiculous and I asked Peter to move her, but that fool sat down right beside her. Had I not been in such a foul mood, I probably would have cracked up, but, thankfully, when my dad realized how exasperated I was, he decided to finally call the cops and have them removed forcefully. There was not much to do but wait while the cops drove down to our place and even then, they kept arguing with us and threatened to protest against me because I was depriving my daughter

of a happy life on purpose. It was that word deprived that kept triggering me because as far as I'm concerned, I'm doing my best for my daughter and I'm sure when she grows up, she'll appreciate the fact that I didn't let her psycho dad take over her upbringing. And who's to say she'll be safe with him anyway? For all I know, they could literally abduct her and be off with her if they felt like it because I think they've proven that they have no concern for anyone else whatsoever. And I told him what I thought of them but they were still adamant and told me that I was just keeping them apart because I had a personal vendetta against them. Which, again, if someone had been in my place

then they probably would have felt the same way. They're the ones who ruined my personal life so I think it's really fair and reasonable for me to have a personal vendetta against them. The arguing went on for a while until the police showed up and had them taken away and even then. They refused to even act like they regretted their psychotic behavior and continue to threaten me saying that they'd be back and that they wouldn't let me keep them away from their daughter anymore, which is just disturbing on another level. Altogether. But I did choose to stay home since I was feeling extra paranoid because of their behavior and also decided to file for a restraining order today itself.

I think that had been overdue because today, they showed me just how crazy they could be when it came down to it. I was amused by their ridiculous behavior, but I won't lie, it was kind of scary as well. So I'm trying my best to get rid of them altogether and also I'm going to move to a new apartment soon enough because clearly, none of my addresses that my husband knew of

are going to feel safe anymore. Update 4, I've moved into a new apartment and Peter, thankfully, has no idea where I'm going to be able to. live now. I've also managed to get a restraining order against him and I now have full custody of my daughter. I have managed to keep my sanity intact during the past few weeks and thankfully, I'm out of this nonsensical crap now. I don't know what Peter or Mandy are up to now and I've also told my friends that I don't ever want to hear about them from them ever again and neither do I want them to tell them anything about me. The past few weeks have been very tense for me because my ex-husband kept

texting me and harassing me for multiple phone numbers on and off. And Mandy spread some nasty rumors about me so I'm sure that the power couple was doing their best to bring me down. It didn't work though, unfortunately. But whatever, I'm just done. My daughter is okay, I'm okay, and that's all that matters to me. I'm all the family she needs and the same goes for me. I hope you enjoy this story. Spouse abandoned our household to become a member of an exclusive group that prohibits romantic entanglements with his companions, then returns seeking acceptance after a lengthy absence. I, a woman aged 29, entered into matrimony half a dozen years ago,

but have been divorced for three years now. I have two sons with my ex-husband Adam, 30M, aged four and five, but I have full custody of them since he didn't want to be bogged down because of his family. He and I were happily married for three years, had two beautiful kids, and were even planning on buying our own house so we could move out from the apartment we lived in when he suddenly hit me with the I want to be single and explore the world right now. We'd been together since high school so we were all we knew. He was my first everything and I was his so I always assumed that for us. It was a together

forever kind of thing and he was fine with not having been with enough people other than me. But after three years of being married, he told me that he wasn't happy and wanted us both to be free of this burden, talking about our marriage and our family so we could live our life to the fullest. It was all weird, free thinker talk like my dad would refer to it and I didn't understand any of it because I thought he loved me. And he insisted that he did love me but he also loved himself apparently and wanted to give himself a fair chance to explore the world. I even suggested opening up our marriage temporarily, no matter how much it hurt me, just so I could make sure that he stays married to me and doesn't actually leave, but he wasn't into that idea and was hell bent on getting

divorced so that both of us could do this the right way. I was heartbroken after that discussion because it had literally come from nowhere and when I started crying in front of him, he told me that it'll all be fine and to have faith in our love because if we were meant to be then he'd find his way back. It was ridiculous and unfair, but that's how our marriage ended. One fine day, he just decided to pack his bags and leave so he could explore the world and be on his own for a while, leaving me and his two kids behind without giving a damn about what would happen to us. I'd even asked him what he thought was going to happen to the kids and he suggested that I leave them with someone I trust and then I should go explore the world, travel and meet new people

and live a generally adventurous life as well so I could grow. I was stunned because as far as I'm concerned, if we bring kids into this world then it's our responsibility to make sure we raise them well, protect them, and make sure all their needs are met. As a parent, you literally cannot and should not go running off to travel the world leaving your kid behind and that's what convinced me that he was completely off his rocker at the time. So I didn't fight the divorce anymore and didn't contest it. The settlement was easy since he didn't want anything and was ready to give it all up. His parents were loaded so the alimony and child support wasn't a big issue either. He got visitation rights but he rarely ever visited and even when he would. He'd make me drop the kids off at his parents' place and then wait in another room so he could meet them without being reminded of the past, but even those visits stopped after the first couple of months.

I found out the real reason behind the change in his behavior a lot later from a friend of mine, Rachel, who happened to have a couple of friends in common with Adam. Rachel's cousin happened to be part of the friend's circle that Adam had been influenced by and she's the one who told me about them. About two months after the divorce. I don't blame her for not telling me earlier because she and her cousin weren't exactly close so she hadn't found out about the truth until after the divorce was done with. Besides, even if I did know the truth, it wouldn't have changed anything about the divorce. Anyway, Rachel's cousin, according to what she told me, led a very promiscuous, wild, and adventurous lifestyle. Not just him but his entire friend group of about six or seven men believed that we shouldn't be

tied down by relationships and had made a pack to remain single. Adam had been introduced to this friend's circle by a co-worker of his who'd believe that he'd get along well with these guys, even though he wasn't single and couldn't be part of that school of thought, given that he was married with two kids at that point. But Rachel's cousin had bragged to her and a couple of other family members that they'd managed to convert a guy into believing that he didn't need to stay with his wife and kids. That he apparently needed to shed this dead weight so he could move on and do better in life and that's what he'd done by divorcing his wife and giving up custody of his kids so he could finally

fully commit to their ideology. He'd been bragging about the cult-like status of their group and how they'd managed to turn someone into one of them, which meant that there was definitely something powerful and compelling about their beliefs. So Rachel, out of curiosity, had asked her cousin what this guy looked like because she wanted to know what kind of a man would just abandon his family because of what his new friend said, especially a married man with two kids. Then when her cousin pointed to Adam in a group photo they'd taken, she put two and two together and texted me about it literally as soon as she was out of the event. This had all taken place at a family gathering of hers and once that was done with, she'd immediately asked me if I was willing to meet her

and thankfully, I'd said yes, so she'd rushed over to my apartment and spilled the beans on what had happened with Adam. To say that I'd been furious would be an understatement when I learned what the real reason behind my husband's decision to leave had been. He'd done this to fit into some stupid group and to be seen as a person who was brave and adventurous and stuff. He'd left his wife and kids behind for something like that and when I got to know the real reason behind his ridiculous behavior, I honestly felt like I would have been happier if he just slept with another woman. At least that would have been a more respectable reason to end his marriage and abandon

his children but this? Yeah, this just didn't cut it. I wanted to call him and curse him out but didn't because after learning the real reason for his departure, I was convinced that he was just crazy. There were no two ways about it and there was also no point in hoping that maybe saying or doing something would make him change his mind. It wouldn't and I knew that now, so I just decided to make the best of my circumstances and raise my sons to be better men than their father had been and also to work harder at my own job and make sure they never felt abandoned. So I hired a nanny and started working twice as hard at the office so I wouldn't have to bring the office home with me, and as soon as I'd come back home, all my time would be spent with my kids. My parents helped out a lot and occasionally even my in-laws tried to help but kept it to a minimum, probably out of shame for what their son had done.

They were the ones who were paying the child support installments every month and I knew it because from what I'd heard, Adam was busy blowing all his money on trips to exotic locations at high-end hotels. Now that he had no family to think of, he could spend all his money on crap like that and nobody would bat an eye. I raised my kids to the best of my abilities and now I have too sweet, obedient, and adorable little guys who love me and each other. We're all the family we need and I've pretty much pushed my marriage out of my mind altogether because that was just annoying to think of. I've also paid my dues at work so now I'm in a great position and earned double the amount than I used to earlier. I've been doing great for the last two years and I didn't think that I had anything to worry about anymore until last week when Adam finally showed up after almost three years of being completely AWOL. My kids and I were at home since it was a Sunday.

We have enough money to buy our own house now, but I've stayed in the same apartment since I really love this place and it's convenient for the commute to work as well. Clearly, I should have moved because, unfortunately, since I'd remained in the same place, Adam knew where to find me. He just showed up at our door randomly that day and I think it must have knocked the wind out of me

to see him after almost three years. Neither of us said anything for the first couple of seconds, but I took in his appearance. The crazy big bouquet of red roses he was holding, and the way he was smiling with tears in his eyes. Call me heartless, but I didn't feel moved or emotional, but I just felt pure hatred for him, and before he could say anything, I slammed the door shut with such force that I swear I felt the floorboard shake. I told my kids to go inside because I knew he was going to try and convince me of something or the other and I wasn't going to keep it PG-13. all the hatred, hurt and anger was bubbling up and I didn't want my kids to see whatever

ugly fight was about to happen next. Sure enough, as soon as I'd told my kids to leave, Adams started whining about how this wasn't the welcome back that he'd been expecting. I could hear that he was trying hard not to cry but really, all that did was just aggravate me even more. He was the one who'd put me through all this crap for years and now he had the audacity to cry and act like the victim. He then went on to tell me that he'd come back to Apolli.

and to say that he was sorry for all that he'd done in the past, but now, he just wanted his old life back. I was shocked, but I let him go on because a part of me wanted to hear this apology or whatever that it was supposed to be because it had been three years and I'd never had any sort of closure. I'd put it out of my mind but seeing him again had brought it all back and I guess in some sick way, I was really relishing the opportunity to show him his place. Just so he would know that we were all better off without him and nobody missed him in his absence. He went on for a couple of minutes about how he'd had his fun in these past couple of years, but at the end of the day, he'd just feel empty because he had nobody to come home to except for

empty hotel rooms. He confessed that he'd been feeling like he was missing something for the last couple of months and he'd finally made the very difficult decision of coming back and apologizing now so he can finally make amends. Apparently, the high of traveling and exploring life with his new group of friends had worn off after the first few months, but he'd continue to stick to that lifestyle because he was too afraid to come back. He felt like since he'd sacrificed a lot for that life, he had to fully commit to it, but now he couldn't imagine going back and just wanted his old life back. The more he talked,

the more I felt like opening the door and punching him in his stupid face as hard as I could. I couldn't tolerate any more of his BS, so I told him to just leave us alone and that I didn't want to see him or talk to him at the moment. But Adam being Adam, he believed. He believed, that he could change my mind by continuing to ramble and standing outside the door and begging me to come back to him. After a point, it started getting on my nerves and I also had to bring the kids out of their room so I could serve them dinner so I just hit the door and yelled out that we're not his family anymore so he needed to go away now. I think that took him in shock because, after that, I didn't hear him anymore. As soon as I'd given the kids their dinner, I called my

attorney and told her everything that had happened just to be on the safe side. Then I called my parents and told them about Adam's visit, whatever he had said, and then what I'd said. They reassured me that I'd done the right thing given the circumstances and that I had nothing to worry about. I didn't call my in-laws because I didn't know what to say to them about any of this and I'm sure they'd find out later from their son anyway. But as soon as I was done with those calls, I received a call from Rachel and since she'd been the one to inform me about the real reason why Adam had left all those years ago, I answered the call because I had a feeling she'd tell me something about Adam. And I was right since as soon as I answered the call, she asked me if Adam had come around,

and when I said yes, she told me that her cousin had called her up to inform her why. Rachel and I are really close friends and have always been, even apart from this situation with Adam where she's been a major source of information for me regarding him, thanks to her cousin. After she'd told me about whatever her cousin had told her all those years ago, she told her cousin that if there was anything he found out about Adam. He was supposed to come straight to her since I was the one he'd screwed over. When her cousin found out about me, I guess he stopped feeling very proud of himself about converting Adam but I don't blame them. I blame Adam for being so easy to influence. Her cousin had promised us that he'd keep us updated on him and had even reached out to apologize

to me one time after he learned about me. I'd forgiven him since I never had anything against the guy but were not friends or anything. He'd tell Rachel what Adam was up to, which is how I knew what he'd been up to since he'd blocked me after the divorce. And so now Rachel's cousin had contacted her to tell her the truth about why exactly Adam had returned and she then passed on the information to me. Their friend's circle had a group text ever since they all met each other and a couple of hours before Adam showed up at my door, he'd sent a text to the group telling everyone about what he was about to do. The guys had been supportive but Adam had apparently lashed out at them for their fake support.

He'd told all the other guys that he felt cheated by them since he'd left his entire life behind, but they'd betrayed him by getting into relationships over the years and now, he was the only fool who's left his wife and kids behind to travel and have fun with his boys. The other guys, who were now all dating, by the way, told him that it wasn't fair of him to expect. that they'd always stick to one school of thought for their entire life and especially when they'd come up with that ideology about not being tied down and stuff back when they were in their mid-20s and were still relatively young. But right now, most of the guys were pushing 30 and didn't want that lifestyle anymore. In fact, a couple of the guys were already in serious, committed

relationships that had already lasted more than a year, and one of them was even engaged. So all that they'd talked a big game about back in the day had just been thrown straight out of the window and the only person suffering now was Adam since he'd been the only guy stupid enough to buy into whatever rubbish these guys were spewing. Adam then got into a huge fight with these guys because these were the same people who had actually congratulated him when he'd left me and now they were all trying to get a taste of the life that he'd left behind on purpose. Even though the guys were still being supportive now when he'd told them that he wanted to go back to his old life, it wasn't enough for him and he wanted them to apologize for making him leave his wife and his kids. That's what

their fight was about and the other guys refused to apologize and rightfully so. They'd just told him about their beliefs, but they'd never said that he needed to leave us to be part of their circle. He'd have to give up any ideas of going around the world with them and having the kind of fun they'd do since he had responsibilities at home and had to think of me and his kids, but he could have still remained friends with them. They'd never given him any ultimatum or whatever, but it had been his own personal choice to abandon us all for the life he thought he wanted just so he could fit in. And he was doing the same thing yet again, now that most of the guys were in relationships. He felt the pressure to fit in yet again, and that's why he'd

come back to us. Not out of any sense of duty or because he felt empty like he'd told me. Maybe that could have been part of the reason, but it wasn't the whole reason and when I heard about all of this from Rachel, my blood boiled because I'd felt a little guilty for turning him away and that's why I'd had to call my parents for reassurance. Had I known these things before? he came by then he would have really received the bashing of a lifetime from me, but Rachel's cousin had been extremely busy with work at the time all these things were being discussed in their group text and he hadn't checked his phone so he didn't know. When he did find out after work, he told Rachel about it as soon as he could and then she called me to tell me about it so I ended up

finding out after Adam had already visited and we talked. However, now that I knew what he was really here for, I also made up my mind that I wouldn't let him come back at any cost and neither would I feel bad about it. He'd never ever felt bad about the things that he'd done and put me and his kids through, so I didn't see the need for me to feel so guilty about it either. He was just a terrible person, period. And this was the way it was going to be, so I steeled myself for his next attempt to try and come back, but it never happened. For the next couple of days, I didn't hear from him and even though I'd told Rachel to ask her cousin about him, he told me that he had no idea what Adam had been up to either since he'd blocked all the guys from the group after that fight.

Even Rachel's cousin had been blocked, in spite of the fact that he had nothing to do with the fight and hadn't even known about it until later. It was a bigger issue for me now since if Rachel's cousin was blocked, it meant that I'd have no way of being in the loop regarding what he was going to do next. Adam was the kind of guy who discusses something as small and insignificant as buying a shoe with other people before he actually goes through with it, so of course he'd discuss everything with his friends before actually doing anything. But now that Rachel's cousin was blocked, I had no way of knowing anything. So naturally when my in-laws called me three days ago, I was caught completely off guard and didn't know what to expect. They told me that they were calling to discuss what I'd said to Adam the other day when he'd come to visit me and make things right with me. I told them that I didn't want him back and it was just as simple as that, but they went on to tell me that they'd continue to pay child

support and had made sure that their kids grew up well, so I had no right to say that this wasn't his family anymore. We got into a verbal spat over it because they were actually defending him and then I ended up hanging up on them. I've been thinking about it, but I can't even begin to fathom how exactly I'm in the wrong here. I just don't think that that's the case here but my in-laws were right that they'd held up their end of the agreement and Adams still has visitation rights. He's just not used them in a while. I don't understand what to do right now. On one hand, I really do wish for my kids to have a father, even though I know I know. I'm enough for them at the moment, but I don't want to deprive them of anything. I don't even know

if it's legally my place yet. I just can't figure out what to do right now and my kids are honestly all that I'm thinking of at the moment. I'd have for telling my ex-husband that my kids and I are not his family anymore after he left us behind for three years. Update 1. Hi. Thank you for all the comments and help. I've decided that I'm going to appeal and get the custody arrangement changed so he doesn't have visitation rights either. I don't know if I'll succeed or not, but it's worth a try. It's been two days since I posted here and that's the advice that most of you guys had for me, so I'm doing that and my parents agree with it, too. Paying child support just meant that Adam and his parents had held up the legal end of the arrangement, but everything else was all me.

I'd raise my kids while he had his fun with the guys. He doesn't get to pick and choose when he can be a part of our lives and be with us on his terms. Update 2, I filed for termination of Adam's parental rights earlier today and I really, really regret not having done so sooner. I should have done it as soon as he stopped coming around to see the kids after the first couple of months when he left us the first time but oh, well, better late than never. A lot of people here had a lot to say about me making this move, but I take my words back about not depriving my kids of a father. They never had a present dad in the first place and there's no telling if Adam might want to take off someday. again. He was absent for three years so now he can take a permanent leave from being a parent and go do whatever it is that he wants to do but not at the cost of my emotions or my kids' well-being. That's not

okay with me. And I really don't think I'm depriving my kids of anything at all since they never had a father anyway. So it's not like they're going to miss him. Update three, so I didn't manage to get his rights terminated altogether but at least now he can only meet the kids as long as the visits are supervised by me. At least that's something and he can't just push us around anymore. If he can prove to the court that he's capable and fit to be a consistent father then maybe we can renegotiate this arrangement sometime but as of now, this is the best that he can get out of us. As for me, he's not getting back with me ever and that's non-negotiable. After the court hearing, when he tried to talk to me again, I'd snapped at him and finally

told him that I knew all about his pathetic need to fit in with his friends and told him that he could go marry them instead because I'm done and if he wasn't the father of my kids then I probably wouldn't even have spit on someone like him. Then I walked off with the kids and left him and his parents staring at me open-mouthed, which was pretty damn satisfying. Anyway, that's how it is now. I don't know what the future holds but I'm glad that this all worked out well for the children at least. They're my only concerned so now. If Adam can become a responsible father and finally step up as a dad then maybe my kids won't have to go through life without a dad. And maybe they won't have to learn to shave from online tutorials,

but if he tries anything even remotely funny ever again, then he'll have hell to pay for. He's messed with my head enough as it is, but he's not going to put our kids through anything of the sort.