We always want to help our family as best we can.
However, doing so can be difficult if they resist or refuse our help.
Or worse, if they do accept our help, only to fall back into their old ways and habits.
Sometimes resulting in our needing to take matters into our own hands, possibly damaging our relationships by doing so.
The mother of Redditor InHaMood_ wasn't always a particularly present mother.
Even so, whenever the original poster (OP)'s mother reached out to her for help, she always did so.
However, when the OP's mother recently asked her to help get her out of her latest bind, the OP felt that alternative measures were necessary.
Possibly damaging the OP's relationship with her mother permanently.
Worried she had crossed a line, the OP took to the subReddit "Am I The A**hole" (AITA), where she asked fellow Redditors:
"AITA for winning my mom's storage unit at auction instead of giving her the money to save it herself?"
The OP explained why she felt the need to go behind her mother's back:
"I (24 F[emale]) was in and out of the foster care system."
"My mom would lose custody of me and my three siblings, only to do the bare minimum to get us back, just for the cycle to repeat."
"I eventually aged out of foster care, went to college, and moved to another state."
"I still check in with my mom every week."
"She was diagnosed with heart failure."
"Which came on from other terrible decisions."
"I offer support when she reaches out, whether it's with money, food etc."
"Most of the time I don't hear back."
"And when I do, it's usually because she wants something."
"She has a long history of lying to and stealing from all of us."
"She's currently homeless."
"We have offered her a place to stay if she gets clean and she won't."
"After we turned 18, we reconnected with our extended family, grandparents, and cousins, and those relationships have become important to us."
"A couple of months ago, she called me in a panic at 2:00 in the morning."
"She said her storage units were about to be auctioned off, that she wasn't even behind on payments, and that the owners were trying to scam her."
"She needed $1,000 immediately because there were only 15 hours left before the auction."
"I told her l'd check in the morning once I got to work and see what I could do."
"The next day, I did some digging and looked at the contents of the storage units."
"What was listed broke my heart: family photos, vases from great-grandparents, personal documents (birth certificates, Social Security cards, my mom's clothing and tools, and everything from my grandmother's house (she passed away just last year)."
"I decided to bid on the unit myself and ended up spending nearly $1,200 for it."
"Afterward, I spoke to the owners, who told me they'd been trying to help my mom for months: discounts, payment extensions etc."
"But eventually, she just stopped answering them."
"They said they had no other option but to auction it."
"I was devastated."
"My siblings said that if I hadn't stepped in, all of those memories and important documents would've ended up in a stranger's hands."
"My siblings were relieved and grateful... but my mom?"
"She accused me of violating her trust, told me l 'emotionally robbed her', that I stole from her, and said I was a mistake."
"She even claimed our grandparents would be ashamed of me."
"I ended up taking a few days off work, drove out of state to the unit, and went through everything."
"I only kept what belonged to me and my siblings-photos, documents, anything tied to our family history."
"I didn't throw away a single item of hers."
"Instead, I rented a new storage unit just down the road, moved all her belongings there, and paid three months in advance."
"I gave her all the info."
"Now I'm stuck with this heavy feeling."
"I can't shake the guilt, like l crossed a line or sank to her level somehow."
"But at the same time, I couldn't bear to see everything important to us vanish, especially knowing it would probably happen again in six months."
"AITA for buying the storage unit out from under her?"
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation, by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You're The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
The Reddit community firmly stood behind the OP, and agreed that she was not the a**hole for buying out her mother's storage unit:
Everyone agreed that the OP was ultimately thinking in her mother's best interest, and ultimately, she had a right and claim to all the items in the storage unit as well:
"First off - you are NTA, not by a long shot."
"Next - from this internet stranger to you, I am so sorry for this painful situation."
"I know this is a difficult time for you and your family."
"Most importantly, though - please take the time to be very gentle with yourself in this time."
"It sounds like you're carrying a big burden of things with you - other people's words and pain, memories that perhaps aren't yet healed, and many other things."
"The 'heavy feeling' you said you feel stuck with, the guilt and concern you feel are very real feelings, and I hope that you truly do give yourself space and grace to feel your feelings here, to cry, to vent, and even to laugh when needed."
"I wonder if the feelings you describe might also be a sort of grief: grief over the situation, grief at your Mother's health, grief at the evident pain your Mother is experiencing in life that led things to get this bad, and even grief over an innocence (or just a time in your life) that you may realize isn't there anymore."
"Consider also being deliberate in the language you use to describe what just happened."
"'Buying it out from under her' sounds different than a reframe of 'saving important family treasures, and helping the family'."
"Are there ways that you can describe this differently in the words you use?"
"Are things Mom might be saying to you actually spoken from her place of pain and fear, not from her truest sense of love?"
"Lastly, again - I am sorry for your situation here, and sincerely hope that things get better."- Used_Wafer6049
"Op, you can't save her by helping her the way she wants to be helped."
"Furthermore, she's proving to be an emotional hazard for you."
"You know in emergency response, they teach you you can't save someone unless it's safe for you to do so?"
"They do that because if you make a mistake, now there's two people who need saving."
"You have to put on your air mask first."
"NTA."- TheGoldDragonHylan
"NTA."
"I think that's a great solution."
"If you gave her cash, what are the chances she wouldn't have used it to save the unit anyway?"
"And even if she had, what about the following months when she defaults again?"
"It doesn't sound likely that she would have given you the items, so this way you legally could retrieve what belonged to you or others, and even gave her the opportunity to keep her own things."
"I'm sorry to say, your mother is probably never going to change."
"This is who she is."
"I don't think you need to go no contact if you don't want to, but I think you need to lower your expectations."
"This will always be how she treats you, so protect yourself and what is important to you."- Rare_Sugar_7927
"NTA."
"Even though it was real, there's no guarantee that she would have gotten the storage unit back or spent the money like she was supposed to."
"It sounds like she's really upset that she's not the 'keeper' of the family valuables anymore."
"Maybe she's afraid no one will care about her without it, maybe she's afraid was going to hold it for emotional blackmail money down the line, maybe it was the only thing she felt like she was doing right."
"Whatever the reason, it's not actually about what you did."
"You did the right thing, and she just can't handle her emotions."- Otherwise-Leek7926
"I don't know how much therapy you have done to try to overcome your chaotic childhood but I think you need to do some more."
"You've emerged a strong, stable, intelligent person but it seems to me that you are making choices about your mother that are not in your own best interests."
"You are NTA."
"If anything, you have done too much for her."- EmceeSuzy
In many ways, the OP did exactly what her mother wanted: to save the storage unit and all the meaningful possessions in it.
Based on her history, the OP's mother was in no position to say anything she said to the OP.
In fact, it sadly seemed that the OP's mother was in no position to be a mother at all.
Woman Asks If It's Wrong To Hold Grudge After Mom Told Her When She 8 Years Old That She Wished She'd Aborted Her
While some people view having and raising children as the greatest blessing, some parents hold their children's existence against them for their entire lives.
And when they feel that way about their children, they're unfortunately typically pretty honest about it, cringed the members of the "Am I Overreacting?" (AIO) subReddit.
Redditor heavelymango knew from the time she was young that her mother did not really like her and significantly favored her sister.
But when her mother told her at the age of eight that she wished she had aborted her, the Original Poster (OP) held on to that grudge for years after the fact.
She asked the sub:
The OP had a grudge against her mother.
"I (22 Female) have been holding onto a grudge due to something my mom told me when I was roughly eight or nine years old."
"Growing up, I was a rebellious kid and always felt as if my mom favored my older sister. My sister would always get whatever she wanted."
"I know she was born with Down syndrome and always needed more attention and care, but if my sister wanted my tablet, for example, she would have it for the whole day while mine was limited to 30 minutes so she could have it."
"As a kid, I lashed out more because of this. She could take all of my things, but I could never use hers."
During a heated moment, the OP's mother said something unforgivable.
"Eventually, this led to an argument with my mom. I don't recall the whole thing, but it was related to my sister and how I felt my mom didn't care about me or give me the same amount of attention."
"The fight got heated, and I probably told my mom that I hated my sister and her."
"I remember she said back, 'I never wanted you from the start. I knew I should've aborted you when I had the chance.'"
" I didn't know what aborted meant at the time, and I remember I looked it up, and it made me cry. I never forgot it, and it lingers in my mind whenever I am home."
The OP's mother pressured her to "let it go" and move on.
"Even growing up, I still brought it up, and she would get mad, saying I need to let it go and how I'm stubborn for not just forgetting what she said."
"There was even a time in high school when she took me to a therapist, and she complained about how I never dropped what she said."
"She says I need to move on from it because it has affected my relationship with her, and she wants to fix it."
"I know I'm older now and it was so long ago, but it still hurts, and I feel like it's made me not want to have her in my life in the future, and I have told this to her."
"How I don't want her in my life once I move out, get married, or have my own kids."
Fellow Redditors weighed in:
Some reassured the OP that this sounded like a core memory more than a grudge.
"The axe forgets. The tree remembers."
"It sounds less like you're holding a grudge and more that this is a formative, core memory for you."
"It won't stop being a core memory (unless maybe with the help of a lot of therapy). Has your mom ever apologized for saying that? Because you don't have to forget to forgive, but if she's not remorseful for saying that terrible thing to her young child (not just remorseful that you remember it), then she probably needs therapy (or is a narcissist/sociopath/similar)."
"You are certainly not obligated to 'get over it.'" - Hot-Can3615
"This is not a 'grudge'; it is pain that is still felt to such a degree. If she said it, then she was thinking it. She'll probably never apologize, but that doesn't mean your pain is or was invalid." - Fast_Register_9480
"NOR. This kind of thing needs a real apology. Like she needs to acknowledge the damage and genuinely care about it. Brushing it off won’t make it go away." - TentacleWolverine
"NOR. Did she really want to fix things? She basically just told you to get over it from the start instead of giving you a sincere apology."
"That isn't working on anything. She wants you to get over it so she can pretend that she never said it, so she doesn't have to feel bad about what she did. It doesn't sound like she cares much about how you feel."
"She just doesn't want to deal with it. For that reason, I would still have issues with what she said." - Chemical-Ad6809
"If your relationship with your mother is being affected by the actions of your mother, your mother is responsible for fixing it."
"You should know you probably aren't ever going to get closure, but you don't have to swallow it down. It helps to be the person you needed when you were younger out loud to yourself, but especially to others."
"For example: My name is Liz, and my mom told me to go ahead and do it already and save us all the heartache when I finally had the courage to tell her about how much I've been struggling with self-harm and suicidal ideation. I'm never going to forgive her for that, and we have never been close as a result of her actions."
"You aren't holding onto a grudge; you have a core memory of your mother distilling her feelings into a world-shattering sentence."
"You did not have a secure attachment before and can't have one now because of the deep trauma. You do not apologize for being stabbed."
"Find another therapist. I mean it. Someone who cares about your well-being wouldn't force you to apologize for being verbally abused as a child. I'm 29 now, and I lived through it. I still struggle with suicidal ideation daily, but once I stopped relying on my mom and unstable sources for support, my life got better immediately."
"You want things for comfort and familiarity. Don't let your mom or your therapist gaslight you into crossing a boundary."
"It might help to ask for a written five-part apology from your mom. 1. Acknowledge what you did 2. Say why it was wrong 3. Promise not to do it again 4. Ask how to make amends. 5. Share your feelings at this time if there's anything you'd like to say."
"My mom can be a good person and a bad mom and role model. Being in your own company is so much better than poor company." - PotLuckyPodcast
Others hoped the OP would go no contact with her mother sooner rather than later.
"NOR. It’s emotional abuse. And you do not owe her closeness after that, especially as she refuses to be accountable for that and try to make it up to you."
"She knows you have her number, and she can’t forgive you for knowing what a colloidal b***h she is."
"It’s unlikely that will change; it will at least be turned back on you with her the victim."
"Stop expecting her to apologize. If she doesn’t pay your bills, ghost her." - SnooCheesecakes2723
"My mom said something similar. My brother and I were adopted, and when I was a teen, in front of a church lady, she said, 'We didn't even really want you, but the people didn't want to split y'all up, so we just took you, too.'"
"Me and the church lady were shook. When I say my falbbers were ghasted. Like huh? She didn't remember saying that when I brought it up years after the fact."
"I also got grounded two times for two separate nine weeks (for C's on my report card) and a three and a half to four months (for smoking at 16 and getting caught because she liked to just pop up out of nowhere), and we just had a talk about that, and she didn't even remember."
"She said, 'No, I didn't. I never grounded you for that long,' and when I gave my rebuttal, she said, 'Well, if I did, it definitely wasn't for no nine weeks or months,' and this started because she was praising me for reading so much and liking books. I said, 'Well, when you were grounded like me, that's all I could do (no TV, no friends outside of school, no music, nothing but my room and books)."
"There's a reason I only call or answer her calls once or twice every few weeks. And I only call to get food, really..." - ManicalMoe
"‘Fine, I'm sorry’ is not an apology."
"Whilst I’m sure it was said in anger, most things said in anger have a grain of truth. There are also some things that no half-decent parent ever says to their children, no matter how angry they are, and this is one of them! It also sounds like she has made repeated similar comments of not wanting you as her child."
"I understand her eldest had a disability, but this is no excuse for neglecting and emotionally abusing her younger child. Lots of families deal with a child with additional needs whilst still managing to prioritise their other kids. Children with Down syndrome are capable of understanding ‘that’s your sister's, not yours; give it back’ !! It sounds like your mum has mental health issues?"
"Do you have a present father or other family you can turn to?"
"Protect your peace. Your mum has hurt you time and time again, honestly, for no real gain other than momentarily satisfying her anger. You owe this woman nothing." - Background_Term9810
"I went through something similar. When I was a little girl, my mother used to make comments that implied she didn't want me, though it was never that explicit. 'I only had you because your brother wanted a sister,' and 'My figure never recovered after you; after your brother, it did.'"
"Each comment stayed with me, but I never addressed it with her. I tried to move on and leave it in the past. She did a lot of horrible things throughout my life, but her behavior was always ignored because that's the precedent my dad set, where she can do essentially whatever she wants."
"A few months ago, she came to see me because I was desperate for help and sick. Instead of helping, she made my life so much worse. I won't go into details. At one point, I could no longer keep it inside, and I told her that she is a narcissist, to which she responded with, 'It would have been better if I had never had you.'"
"In some ways, it felt really good to hear her come out and say it. It felt good to hear the truth I've always known."
"I don't know what you should do, but I've chosen to not forgive."
"Every time I forgave, I just let her know that she can get away with whatever horrible things she had done. Her apologies were never real apologies. She always found ways to blame me or others for whatever she had done."
"And I'm truly just done with it. As sad as it is to not have a mom, it's sadder to pretend that you have one when in reality you don't... quite the opposite, if anything." - Neos_Mom
"So, OP, what will hurt more: keeping her and the grudge in your life or making a break and going low or no contact with her?"
"Frankly, we've no idea of what she might have been dealing with at the time, but regardless, what she said was said only to cause pain and suffering. 'Sorry' doesn't magic that intent away."
"Me, I think spending time alone or with friends or in therapy away from her might be what you need here. You might come to some sort of acceptance, but if this is something that's just going to keep coming between you, then stop trying to have that relationship." - Tal_Tos_72
After the OP received feedback, she shared a few clarifications from her original post.
"I wanted to clear some things up, take accountability where it's due, and provide some much-needed context from many people commenting the same questions."
"I want to be completely honest. We had many arguments, and I was a rebellious kid. I acted out and argued with my mom."
"I don't want to give off the impression that I was an entirely innocent kid who never did anything wrong and my mom just snapped out of nowhere. We both said hateful and hurtful things to each other during our fights."
"Growing up, the only way she would accept an apology was if I got on my knees and begged her for forgiveness. If I ever asked her to apologize to me, she would say, 'I have nothing to apologize for; you should be the one begging for my forgiveness.'"
The OP had a lot of physical memories, too.
"Things also would turn into physical arguments, not just verbal ones."
"There were times when she would get so angry she would get physical. Like yanking me by my hair, twisting my arms, or throwing things at me (like remotes, a bug spray can, or a radio)."
"When she yanked my hair, I would fight back just to get her to let me go, and she would scream that I was trying to kill her and she would get me arrested. When she twisted my arm, and I begged her to stop because it felt like it was going to break, she would say she hoped it did."
"When she threw objects at me, she would say she wished they would hit my face."
"I remember in middle school, during an argument, she said she wished she could break my face and that she hated it because I look like my dad. I won’t lie, whenever she said things like that, I would say nasty comments about how she chose to have him put us in her."
While the OP wasn't financially ready to move out yet, she hoped to as soon as possible.
"Why haven't I moved out yet? The main reason I haven't been able to move out is financial."
"I wasn't making enough to support myself without worrying about whether I’d end up having to crawl back home."
"Thankfully, I have recently found a better-paying job. My plan is to move out between mid-to-late October, or early November at the latest."
"The only reason I can't leave this exact second is because I have a few legal/administrative things to get cleared up so I’m completely untied from my mom, which will take a few weeks."
The OP also had proof that her mother liked her sister better.
"Has my mom ever admitted to favoring my sister? Yes."
"In arguments, she has explicitly told me that she doesn't see me as her legitimate daughter, and that she adored my sister more and forever will. She has also called me a 'monster,' told me there is a certain type of evil inside of me, and said she was afraid I would be just like my dad and try to harm them."
"She would even tell me that she was telling family and friends these things about me, but then later claim she 'just said it in the moment' and wouldn't be crazy enough to actually tell people that."
"Because I was so confused growing up and didn't know if she was lying or telling the truth, I started avoiding our family when they came over."
"Naturally, that just made things worse because she would get mad at me for avoiding them (even now as an adult), completely ignoring the fact that she was the one who lied about what she told them."
Unfortunately, the OP didn't have support from her father.
"What about my dad? My dad is not in my life."
"He was around sporadically, but never as a stable parent. My parents separated before I was born and divorced when I was two or three."
"Growing up, it was just constant back-and-forth toxicity, with him telling me how toxic my mother was, and her telling me the same about him."
"He would mostly only come over to see my sister, and often used me to care for her if he wanted to take her out to eat. Ultimately, my dad didn't care about anyone else other than my sister (and his drugs)."
"I hope this can clear some questions on the original post. I know I didn't provide many details as I originally should have. I honestly didn't want to post something too long, and I honestly did not expect it to be noticed."
"Thank you all for taking time to talk to me and share your thoughts."
The subReddit fully sided with the OP, pointing out that no matter how heated the moment was, it would never excuse the terrible things the OP's mother had said to her.
If the OP's mother really wanted a relationship with her, she'd drop the defensiveness and demands, offer a genuine apology, and work hard to be better for both of her children.
That takes a very rare kind of person to pull off, and it didn't sound like the OP's mother had that in her.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://findahelpline.com/i/iasp