WHAT HER PARENTS WANTED FOR THE $10,000 THEY GAVE HER FOR COLLEGE IN RETURN SHOCKED HER

Ruth always loved painting, since she was a small child. She always dreamed herself in New York. It was more than a mere hobby for Ruth to paint. She was creating stories with her brush strokes. As her parents saw her interest towards painting as a simple hobby, they wanted their daughter to study more “practical fields.”

During one dinner, while Ruth was busy with her thoughts about college, “We’ve decided to give you $10,000 to help pay for college,” her mother said.

“Thank you so much! This means I can apply to my dream art schools in New York!” Ruth said, as she was over the clouds.

But then, her father started. “There are two rules,” he said. “First, you can’t leave the state for university. And second, you can only choose from the degrees we approve of — medicine or law. We don’t think an art degree is the right path for you.”

“But I’ve been painting my whole life. You know how much this means to me,” Ruth responded with a heavy heart.

“We’re doing this for your own good, Ruth. Stop being ungrateful. We just want you to have a secure future,” her mother said then.

“How can you call it help if it comes with strings that strangle my dreams?” Ruth cried, but her parents stood firm. “Ruth, we’re not trying to strangle your dreams, that is an ungrateful thing to say. We’re trying to ensure you have a future that’s not dependent on whims,” her father responded.

“Art isn’t a whim! It’s who I am. Don’t you understand? By restricting me to medicine or law, you’re asking me to give up a part of myself,” Ruth said back, as she tried to reason with them.

“We’ve seen too many struggles in fields like art. We don’t want that life for you. Can’t you see we’re doing this out of love?” Her mother said then.

“But love shouldn’t come with conditions that force me into a mold I don’t fit,” Ruth said to her mother. “I appreciate the gift, I really do. But if it means sacrificing my passion, my dreams, then what’s it worth? Isn’t my happiness and fulfillment important too?”

As Ruth realized that her parents wouldn’t understand her, she decided to leave. She lived in her friend’s house for a few weeks, as she wanted to stay away from her parents for a while. Then she realized that her parents only wanted their daughter to have steady job, which they were acting for her sake, for her future.

As Ruth wanted to study art, she started to prepare her presentation for her parents. She wanted to show them the love she had for art, and that art can be profitable too, with the right planning and budget.

“Mom, Dad, I understand your concerns, but I need you to see things from my perspective,” she said to her parents. “Pursuing art is not just an urge; it’s my passion, my calling. I need the freedom to explore this path fully.”

“I know you want what’s best for me, and I appreciate that. So, here’s what I’m proposing, regular check-ins and updates on my progress. You’ll see firsthand how committed I am to making this work. Please, trust me to follow my dreams.”

As her presentation was over, “We never realized how much this meant to you,” her father said. “Your presentation… it’s clear you’ve thought this through.”

As they agreed to fund their daughter’s college, Ruth was ready for her journey to become an artist.

ANOTHER STORY ABOUT A REDDITOR’S PARENTS, AND HER HUSBAND

A woman had stated on Reddit, that her family had stoppet talking to her, after she had married. After five years, they tried to contact to her, as she couldn’t understand why. She had shared her story, and asked for advice.

The woman had explained that she had started a relationship with her former boss. “My husband (30m) used to be my boss. About 9 years ago I started working as his assistant. We spent about 2.5 years ignoring our mutual attraction until we gave in. We then went to HR, who reassigned me, and the whole thing was strictly above board from the time we began dating. I got pregnant about a year later, and my husband and I decided to just get married.”

She had stated that she left the work, because she was having problems with her new boss, as she didn’t expect any problems with her family. “While we’d only really been dating for about 1.5 years, we knew each other completely, loved each other, lived together, and there was a baby on the way. We knew how it would look, but I had to leave the company anyway due to problems with my new boss, so we didn’t anticipate this causing any issues, except with my parents.”

Then she had talked with her parents, about the situation of how she is in love with her boss, and he is. “They (62m/57f) have always been overprotective, so I knew they wouldn’t like me dating my boss, and hadn’t told them, but I had to tell them if I wanted them at my wedding. We decided to be mostly honest with them, about how it was strictly professional until it wasn’t, how the second it got unprofessional we went to HR, how he had never taken advantage of me, but now we wanted to get married and we wanted them there.”

She decided not to tell her pregnancy to her parents. “We did not mention the baby, because I felt that giving them that information in addition to the rest all at once would just break them. I was only about 4 months along when the wedding happened, so the bump was easily hidden by a flowy dress.”

Then her parents left her wedding, “The wedding itself went off without a hitch, and apart from my mother pulling me into the bathroom shortly before the ceremony to ask if I was sure about this, which I said I was, my parents seemed to take it well. The ceremony and reception were at 2 different venues, and we had to travel from one to the other, and my parents never arrived at the reception. I called them and got ignored, and then my brother called them and they told him that they were going home.”

As they stated to her brother, they were uncomfortable with the situation. “I don’t remember the exact reason they gave but it amounted to them being tired and uncomfortable. I tried contacting them after the wedding, but found that I was blocked on everything except email, which I used to send them a long letter essentially saying that I’m an adult who made an adult choice and I hope they can respect that.”

She had no interaction with her parents for five years after her wedding. Then on their fifth anniversary, she had shared her two children and announced that she was expecting the third. After that post, her parents tried to contact her. “5 years later, I have not heard from my parents since my wedding. My husband and I are not big on social media in general but I recently posted something for our 5th anniversary in which I mentioned our 2 kids and third on the way. Within a month of making this post, my parents left a voicemail saying they saw the post, and, having had no idea that they had grandchildren previously, now want to meet them. I haven’t responded and there have been a few follow ups since then asking why I haven’t.”

She had stated that she doesn’t know what to do. “I don’t know what to do, but my gut instinct is that 5 years is too long, and it’s about the kids, not about them respecting my choices or relationship. However, I can’t help but feel that I’m being unfair, and my brother agrees, because I told them in my email that if they could learn to respect my choice and my marriage eventually, then we could talk, and now I’m retroactively applying a time limit.”

Then she learnt that her parents stayed away because of the skin color of her husband. “My dad snapped that he wasn’t going to take this from a “cushi”, a slur meaning dark skinned. My mother immediately tried to run damage control but I ended the call. They have since messaged me several times trying to explain that calling my husband a racial slur wasn’t indicative of a racist attitude, and he wouldn’t have said that in front of the kids, so they should still get to meet them.”

She had concluded as, “I’ve spent 5 years wondering how they were so offended by me marrying my boss that it earned no contact for half a decade. Turns out they’re just racist. It’s almost nice to find out. If it was just the boss thing I would have sympathy for them and we might even be able to reconcile, but with this, it’s now just a question of if I’m going to knowingly expose my mixed race children to a couple of racists, which I am obviously not going to do.”

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