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She has very little family left.
By Megan Quinn — Written on Jan 04, 2023
A woman was left heartbroken and confused after being excluded from a family event just one week after she went above and beyond to host her family for a celebration in their own home.
Sharing her story on a thread on the UK-based parenting site, Mumsnet, the woman asked other forum users if she was being unreasonable for being upset with her family after they excluded her.
Her family did not invite her to their New Year’s party after she hosted a Christmas gathering.
The woman, who revealed that she was in tears writing the post, began by sharing that she has very little living family remaining.
“I have my gran and my auntie left, I have no present father and my mum passed away in 2015,” she wrote.
The woman added that she suffers from PTSD and other mental health issues.
On Christmas Day, the woman invited her grandmother and aunt over for dinner.
“I made my gran and my auntie a lovely Christmas dinner and even let my gran stay the night of Christmas Eve (her request),” the woman shared.
Hosting and preparing dinner was no easy task for the woman.
“I am on benefits so putting a dinner on like that was hard even just for me and my little boys never mind myself, my two wee boys, gran, auntie, and father of children,” she wrote.
The following week, on New Year's Eve, the woman’s grandmother was set to come over and spend the day with her family.
After being up all night caring for her youngest son, she decided to call and ask if she could push the plan to New Year's Day instead
Her grandmother, however, had other plans for New Year's Day — involving her own family.
“My gran said no that she was going to my aunties,” the woman wrote.
“I asked her if did she not think that was a bit s–ty not inviting me or my kids up for the day since I hosted at Christmas… and she said no she didn’t.”
She added that she and her children had been excluded from a funeral of a family member the previous year and not receiving the invite to another family gathering felt especially spiteful.
She fears that the family will fall apart since there are very few of them who are left.
“I'm now left unable to sleep really tearful because I really do feel left out and with those being the only two left, there's always a huge disconnect between us,” she shared.
“I just feel like no one cares about me or my kids.”
The woman asked other forum users if her reaction was appropriate.
“I feel lower than low at the minute because I don't know what I've done to be treated this way,” she wrote. “I always go above and beyond for other people but it's never ever reciprocated.”
Other users supported the woman and believed that she was not acting out of line given the situation.
“What an unusually cold response from her [grandmother],” one user pointed out.
“So sorry you feel so low, I’d try and focus on having a special one with your boys if you can and if it was me I wouldn’t be sending out invites to them for a while, I’d be waiting to see if they bother with me first.”
“You are definitely not being unreasonable. You sound extremely sweet and caring and I can't fathom why your gran and aunt didn't invite you,” another user commented.
“It would be nice if people always reciprocated our own generosity and kindness. Unfortunately, they don’t always, that’s very much on them, not you, and you cannot control what they do,” another user wrote.
Other users suggested that there may have been drinking involved at the woman’s aunt's house and they did not invite her since she and her children are a package deal.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.