What would you do if you came home to an empty house as a teen, only to find out your entire family had moved without even telling you?
Back when this 29-year-old woman was only 18, she arrived home one evening after working her shift at a diner to find her house completely vacant.
Nobody had robbed her family; it was far more sinister than that. Her parents packed up all of their belongings, grabbed her little brother, and moved to another state.
“They left a note on the kitchen counter saying the lease was up in exactly two weeks, they needed a fresh start, and since I was legally an adult, it was time for me to figure life out on my own,” she explained.
“When I tried to call them, I realized they had changed their numbers. I was completely blindsided and terrified. I could not afford the rent on my own, obviously. I ended up living out of my [junky] used car for almost eight months.”
“I showered at gyms, worked three different jobs, and eventually clawed my way out of it. I put myself through a trade school, and now I have a really stable, comfortable life. It took years of therapy to accept that my parents just threw me away like a broken toy.”
Yesterday afternoon, someone knocked on her front door, and when she opened it, she was shocked to see her mom and dad standing there.
Her mom was sobbing on her doorstep, while her dad looked dejected. It turns out her dad got tangled up in a shady cryptocurrency investment and lost absolutely everything.
Even her dad’s retirement money got wiped out, and now her mom and dad are getting evicted from their home. Her little brother is doing a stint in rehab at the moment, so it’s not like he’s around to bail them out.
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Her parents reached out to her high school friend on Facebook and obtained her address that way, after claiming to want to send her a present. Next, they thought showing up unannounced to ask for a handout was a great idea.
“They stood on my porch and fully expected me to let them move into my guest room and help pay off their back rent. My mom actually had the nerve to look at me and say, family has to stick together during hard times,” she added.
“I did not yell. I did not even get mad. I just looked at them and started laughing. It was not a happy laugh, just pure disbelief. I told them my family died 11 years ago when I found that piece of paper on the kitchen counter.”
She closed her front door right in her mom and dad’s faces and slid the deadbolt into the lock before going about the rest of her day.
Since then, her uncles and aunts have been bombarding her with mean messages. Meanwhile, these are the same people who didn’t bother to offer her assistance or check in on her when she was homeless as a teen.
Her uncles and aunts are calling her heartless and saying that her mom and dad are destitute and elderly, so she owes it to them to help.
Her loved ones can’t understand why she still holds a grudge against her parents for ditching her to figure out life all alone.
“I do feel a tiny bit of guilt because my mom looked really pathetic and scared. But I also remember freezing in the backseat of my car at 19, crying and longing for her. Am I wrong for shutting the door?” she wondered.
My heart breaks for what her parents did to her, and I’m proud of her for standing up for them. You can’t treat people like trash and literally throw them out, then come crawling back wanting a handout.
She should tell her uncles and aunts to give her parents money or offer to let them move in with them if they’re so worried.
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By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
