Even against their own family, people can hold a grudge for years. In today’s story, a daughter gets back at her parents for years not giving her something she really wanted.
“My mom and stepdad have been together since I was little.” Hi, my name is Sarah and I’m 25 years old. I have two older brothers. As kids, we were never allowed to have girlfriends or boyfriends over for the night, which I thought was fair. The girls could stay the night with my brothers when they were about 16, but they had to sleep in the spare room. Once more, fair. I can see how that makes sense.
I’ve always been a bit of a tomboy, so it makes sense that teenage boys weren’t very interested in dating me. I didn’t get my first boyfriend until I was 18. Even though we were both over 18, my parents wouldn’t let him spend the night at all. That standard would not have bothered me if it had been applied to my brothers, but I felt like they were being favored over me. It’s not even because they didn’t like my boyfriend at the time. He looked like everyone loved him.
I broke up with them after about six months because the relationship didn’t last long. I met the man I’m now engaged to when I was 22 years old. We’ve been together for a year. We’re getting married soon. So, like every other time, my parents wouldn’t let him spend the nights until I asked them about it a few months after we got engaged. Even though there wasn’t a problem, they knew I was mad and let him start using the extra room. It didn’t really matter because we moved in together soon after.
I might be a jerk now. My mom called me for the first time since the move and asked about wedding planning. I told her I still had a lot to do but was getting it done, and she practically insisted on coming up to me and having a week of “mother-daughter bonding time” where she could help me plan the wedding. My fiancé isn’t very social, and he’s happy to be the one making all the wedding decisions for me. He only wants to say a few things, and I always include them when he does.
We had dinner out with them the first night they were here. I’d like to make it clear that they aren’t married and have no plans to get married again. Both of them have been divorced before, my stepdad twice. Then, as the night went on, they asked to be shown to their room. My mother was shown to one guest room, and my stepfather was shown to another. We have three bedrooms and plenty of space because we don’t have any kids yet. My mom said there was plenty of room for both of them in one, and she told my stepdad to join her.
I told her that it was my house and I didn’t want them to share a bed there, just like she said. When I told her that my brothers were getting better treatment than me with their partner, she told me the same thing over and over again. In fact, I told her, they were in the same situation as me because neither of us was married. She tried to explain that since they had been together for so long, it was different. I told them it didn’t matter because this was my house and my choice was final, just like how my mom would end any arguments about it back then. I told her that my brothers were allowed to have partners while I wasn’t, but she said I was “making it up.”
They stayed the night and went home the next day, which was fine with me since I was busy planning my wedding by myself. I haven’t heard from them since. But my grandmother called to scold me for it, so I’m not sure if I did anything wrong.