Resentful Teen Becomes An Unofficial Member Of Her Best Friend's Family After Her Parents Made It Clear That Her Neurodivergent Brother Is Their First Priority

Her trip to Disney World with her best friend's family almost got canceled because her brother had a tantrum when he found out he wasn't invited

Chelsi

• Published in Interesting
• August 17, 2023

In a moment of frustration, a 16-year-old lashed out and said she didn't care about her autistic brother's feelings. She yelled at her mom that she wished he had not been born.

OP was seven years old when her brother was born. It was clear to OP he was their priority from the moment he was born.

She completely became invisible when her brother was diagnosed with autism three years later. Her dad works long hours while her mom spends her day taking care of OP's brother.

OP spends most of her time with her best friend, Rachel. Her best friend's mom has been OP's proxy parent all these years.

Rachel's mom took OP to her soccer practices and matches. OP's parents watched her choir recital once in six years, while Rachel's mom was at every performance even though her own daughter wasn't a part of the club.

Rachel's mom is more involved in OP's life than her own parents ever were. They didn't even notice OP was gone when she once spent an entire weekend at Rachel's house.

OP is practically a part of her best friend's family. They even take her on family vacations whenever possible.

This Thanksgiving break, Rachel and her family are going to Disney World Orlando. They invited OP, and she was giddy with excitement when her dad approved for her to go.

This won't be OP's first time visiting The Happiest Place on Earth. She went there once with her family and spent most of the time holed up in the hotel room.

Her then four-year-old brother wanted to go on the rides with their parents. He didn't want OP to be with them, and their parents obliged.

Her brother somehow found out about OP's trip with Rachel's family and had a melt down

He is upset that OP will be visiting Disney World and he won't

OP's mom said she was planning to go to their grandparents during Thanksgiving. It sounded like an impromptu plan to OP to prevent her from going to Disney World.

Her mom asked OP to think about her brother. She said his feeling were more important because he is younger and has autism. That's when OP yelled that she couldn't care less about how he felt.

Her brother was unfortunately around to hear everything OP said. His dad still wants OP to go. Her mom, on the other hand, thinks OP was rude and ungrateful.

OP shared more details about her past Disney experience with her family

She clarified that she doesn't blame her brother for what happened. She resents her parents for not handling his tantrum better.

If OP went to Disney World with Rachel's family without telling her parents, would they have noticed that she was gone?

The demand for OP to be kinder and considerate was ironic and incredibly sad

How much of OP's life will her parents demand for the sake of her brother? She shouldn't wait to find out.

He's the better parent, but considering his wife's version of parenting OP... it's not really a compliment.

At least OP's life wasn't completely devoid of joy thanks to her best friend and her mom

The way their parents raised them made sure that OP will have nothing but resentment for her brother

OP won't have a hard time living away from her parents because she's so used to them not being a part of her life anyway

Years of neglect conditioned OP that asking for her needs, the bare minimum, makes her a burden

OP will spend a lot of her money on therapy someday. What she said about her brother was unkind, that much we can't deny.

However, we can empathize with how she felt at that moment. She saw her one glimmer of happiness being sabotaged once again for the sake of her brother.

There's no one to blame for how things turned out other than the parents. Once OP is old enough to get out of that house, it's almost a guarantee that she won't look back.

Chelsi