Abby Connolly
However, she couldn’t help but notice that there weren’t any photos of her or the other kids hung up anywhere.
“There was no sign of the kids anywhere,” she explained. “All of the photos with her dad were older ones from before we met.”
In all of the photos her stepdaughter had hung up, there were none from her family life after her mom’s passing.
Her boyfriend, on the other hand, hung up a bunch of pictures of his siblings, which made her stepdaughter’s choice of pictures feel more deliberate.
“I always knew she wasn’t super crazy about her siblings,” she said.
“I always hoped as she got older, she would feel love for them. But it feels like she doesn’t think of them as family or as special enough to be included. The three kids who noticed were hurt.”
The next day, her husband called her stepdaughter to ask about the photos, especially since her siblings were upset.
She told him that she only wanted to hang pictures of people she considered family and didn’t consider her stepmom or other siblings her family.
After hearing what her stepdaughter said to her husband, she doesn’t want to attend the housewarming party with her kids anymore.
“I know she’s also entitled to feel how she does,” she explained. “As a mom, I just want to not put my kids in situations like this where they feel unwanted.”
Her husband and in-laws have been arguing with her about the kids not being there, but she doesn’t want them walking around their sister’s house feeling like they don’t belong.
