The family lawyer said, "Your mother left everything to one child. #redditstories #reddit — Transcript

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1. 0:00The family lawyer said, "Your mother
2. 0:01left everything to one child, but first
3. 0:03she recorded a message explaining why."
4. 0:04My four siblings grabbed the table. I
5. 0:05grabbed my car keys. "Sit down, Reese,"
6. 0:07my oldest sister Vivian hissed. "You owe
7. 0:09us this much." "I don't owe anyone in
8. 0:10this room anything," I said. "You owe
9. 0:12Mom," my brother Graham snapped. "After
10. 0:13everything she sacrificed for you."
11. 0:15"Sacrificed for me?" Mr. Aldrich raised
12. 0:16his hand. "Your mother recorded this
13. 0:18before she passed. She requested all
14. 0:19five children be present." He looked at
15. 0:20me. "Especially you, Reese." I sat back
16. 0:22down. Not for them, for whatever my
17. 0:23mother needed to say badly enough to
18. 0:25plan it from her deathbed. He pressed
19. 0:26play. Her voice filled the room. Thin,
20. 0:27tired, but steady. "If you're hearing
21. 0:29this, I'm gone. Good. I can finally tell
22. 0:30the truth. My siblings exchanged nervous
23. 0:32glances. I was not a good mother. I know
24. 0:33you all think I was. I know this town
25. 0:35thinks I was, but I need Reese to hear
26. 0:36me say it." My mother was a
27. 0:37pediatrician. She spent 30 years
28. 0:39nurturing other people's children while
29. 0:40quietly destroying one of her own. Me. I
30. 0:42was her fourth child and only unplanned
31. 0:43pregnancy. She never let me forget it.
32. 0:45Not with words, with math. Each of my
33. 0:46siblings got a $500 monthly allowance
34. 0:48starting at 16. I got nothing. When I
35. 0:50asked why, she said they were budgeted
36. 0:51for. "You were not." She tracked
37. 0:52household expenses on a color-coded
38. 0:54spreadsheet. I was listed under
39. 0:55miscellaneous. Vivian got a car at 17.
40. 0:57Graham got sailing camp. The twins,
41. 0:58Perry and Lowell, split a summer trip to
42. 1:00Japan. My 18th birthday gift was a
43. 1:01suitcase. "You'll need this more than a
44. 1:03watch," she said, handing it to me the
45. 1:04morning after graduation. The real
46. 1:05damage started when I was 15. I found a
47. 1:07journal in her nightstand. Unsent
48. 1:08letters to a therapist. One entry was
49. 1:10titled The Reese Problem. She wrote, "I
50. 1:11resent this child. I look at him and see
51. 1:13every sacrifice I made, every promotion
52. 1:15I delayed. I know it's wrong. I don't
53. 1:16care." Below that, "The others remind me
54. 1:17of who I chose to be. Reese reminds me
55. 1:19of who I was forced to become."
56. 1:20Something collapsed inside me that day.
57. 1:21I stopped eating dinner with the family.
58. 1:23Started staying at the library until
59. 1:24closing. When my grades dropped from
60. 1:25straight A's to barely passing, she
61. 1:27didn't ask why. She told everyone I was
62. 1:28going through a phase and suggested
63. 1:29boarding school. My siblings agreed
64. 1:31enthusiastically. Shipped to a military
65. 1:32academy in Virginia at 16 with 3-days
66. 1:34notice. Didn't come home for holidays.
67. 1:35Nobody called. At 19, I dropped out.
68. 1:37Worked construction. By 25, I'd started
69. 1:39a contracting business. By 30, I owned a
70. 1:40house. I sent my mother a photo. She
71. 1:42never responded. The recording
72. 1:43continued. "I kept Reese at a distance
73. 1:44because I was afraid. If I let him in,
74. 1:46he'd see through me. The other four
75. 1:47believed the performance. Reese never
76. 1:48did." Vivian's face was white. Graham
77. 1:49stared at the floor. "My estate is
78. 1:51valued at $6.3 million. The house, the
79. 1:53practice, the investments, I'm leaving
80. 1:54everything to Reese." Graham slammed the
81. 1:55table. "This is insane. She barely spoke
82. 1:57to him for 15 years. There's more, Mr.
83. 1:59Aldrich said. I left nothing to the
84. 2:00others because they already took
85. 2:01everything. Vivian has withdrawn $40,000
86. 2:03a year from my accounts using the power
87. 2:04of attorney I gave her for medical
88. 2:05emergencies. Graham forged my signature
89. 2:07on a home equity line for $180,000.
90. 2:09Harry and Lowell have been charging
91. 2:10personal expenses to my practice credit
92. 2:12cards, $14,000 a month between them. The
93. 2:14twins looked like they'd been
94. 2:14electrocuted. I knew for years. I said
95. 2:16nothing because it was easier than
96. 2:17confronting the children who were
97. 2:18supposed to be my perfect ones. Mr.
98. 2:20Aldrich opened a second folder. Bank
99. 2:21statements, forged signatures, credit
100. 2:23card records, every theft highlighted in
101. 2:24yellow. This is entrapment, Vivian
102. 2:26whispered. It's accounting, Mr. Aldrich
103. 2:27replied. You poisoned her against us,
104. 2:29Graham pointed at me. I haven't spoken
105. 2:30to her in 6 years. She never returned my
106. 2:31calls. They filed out one by one. No
107. 2:33goodbyes, no apologies, just car door
108. 2:35slamming in the parking lot. Mr. Aldrich
109. 2:36handed me a sealed note separate from
110. 2:37the will. My mother's handwriting.
111. 2:38Reese, I should have said this while I
112. 2:40was alive. You were never the problem. I
113. 2:41was. The suitcase I gave you at 18
114. 2:43wasn't a rejection. I packed something
115. 2:44inside the lining. I hope you kept it.
116. 2:45That night I pulled the old suitcase
117. 2:47from the back of my garage and cut open
118. 2:48the lining with a kitchen knife. Inside
119. 2:49was a savings bond in my name purchased
120. 2:51the day I was born. Current value
121. 2:52$212,000. Attached was a note in younger
122. 2:55steadier handwriting. For my surprise,
123. 2:56in case I never learn how to say I love
124. 2:57you out loud.