On New Year’s Eve, My Parents Shut Down My Proposal, Saying “You Don’t Deserve To Carry The Family…”
On New Year’s Eve, my parents shut down my proposal, saying, “You don’t deserve to carry the family name and your brother should marry first. So, I cut them off and moved on until years later.” A hospital confession revealed why I was only kept alive.
Hey, Reddit.
Growing up, my parents made it pretty clear I was the backup kid. I didn’t fight it.
I just built my own life and walked away.
I thought that would be the end of it.
Turns out they had other plans.
Before I get into all that, I need to start at the beginning.
I’m Joey. I’m 23.
I work full-time, keep my head down, pay my bills, and don’t ask my parents for anything. I have an identical twin brother named Ross.
Identical on paper only.
Our faces matched. Our builds didn’t.
Growing up, you wouldn’t guess we came from the same house if you watched how we were treated.
Ross is taller than me, broader, athletic, the kind of guy adults naturally pat on the back. Teachers loved him.
Coaches loved him.
My parents, Walter and Lizzy, built their whole identity around him early on. He wasn’t just their son.
He was their investment.
I was the extra part that came with the package.
I’m not quiet or timid. Never was.
I noticed things early and I didn’t pretend not to.
I use humor when things get uncomfortable, and my parents hated that. They prefer silence and compliance. They called my attitude difficult.
Ross didn’t have an attitude.
Ross had potential.
We shared a room growing up, which is where the difference became impossible to ignore.
Same room, two different lives.
Ross’s side had the window, better light, better air. He had a new desk, clean drawers that didn’t stick, shelves that weren’t bowing in the middle.
When a poster peeled or got ripped, it got replaced. When a gadget came out, it somehow ended up on his side of the room.
My side was hand-me-downs.
A dresser with one drawer that never closed right.
Old paint with scratches that never got touched up. If something broke, it stayed broken.
Nobody ever said that was the rule.
It just was.
You could stand in the doorway and see it clear as day. Physical proof of who mattered more.
Lizzy made it worse without saying a word.
The story doesn’t end here — it continues on the next page.
Tap READ MORE to discover the rest 🔎👇
