After 8 Years Of Being Ignored, I Bought A Beachfront Resort. Then Booked It Full, Told My Mom: “Just Like Your House, Mine’s Out Of Room.”
My name is Amelia. For eight years, I was the family afterthought. While my sister, Olivia, and her family of six were treated like royalty, my two children and I were cast aside. The most painful example of this was our familyβs annual summer vacation.
Every year, my mother, Evelyn, would host a two-week gathering at her charming four-bedroom beach cottage in North Carolina. And every year, like clockwork, I would get the same phone call in March.
βAmelia, honey, Iβm so sorry,β sheβd begin, her voice dripping with false regret. βBut thereβs just not enough room at the beach house this year. Oliviaβs family is so big now, and you know how the kids need their space. Maybe next year.β
Meanwhile, Mom would roll out the red carpet for Olivia, stocking the house with their favorite foods and buying new toys for the kids. Iβd see the pictures on Instagram: my nephews and nieces building sandcastles, Olivia relaxing in a hammock, her husband, Mike, grilling on the deck. It was a perfect family vacation we were never invited to.
The worst part was telling my children, Alex and Mia, why they couldnβt go to Grandmaβs beach house like their cousins. How do you explain to a child that their grandmother doesnβt think theyβre important enough?
This favoritism extended beyond vacations. Olivia, who married her college sweetheart and had four kids, was the βgolden child.β I, a divorced single mother who had built a successful graphic design business from scratch, was always βstill figuring things out.β Olivia loved to twist the knife. βMust be nice to have such a flexible schedule,β sheβd say with a phony smile. βI couldnβt handle not knowing where my next paycheck was coming from.β
Last summer was the breaking point. Watch: [in comment] – Made with AI