July 15, 2023 at 4:49 am

Person Asks if They’re Wrong for Pretending Not to Recognize Their Parents When They Tried to Reconnect

by Matthew Gilligan

AITAParentsReconnect Person Asks if They’re Wrong for Pretending Not to Recognize Their Parents When They Tried to Reconnect

Do I know you from somewhere…?

You look familiar but I just can’t put my finger on it…

Oh right, you’re my mom and dad!

Uh oh…that doesn’t sound good, does it?

But did this guy act like an a**hole?

Check out his story and see what you think.

AITA for pretending not to recognize my parents when they tried to reconnect?

“I was raised mostly by my uncle and aunt. My older sister developed a serious illness when I was 6 and my parents decided that they couldn’t care for both of us I guess, so they kind of unceremoniously dumped me at my grandparents and my uncle took me in.

Like, didn’t even explain to me what was going on, just “you’re going to go visit gran for awhile” and never picked me back up. My grandparents and uncle explained it later, and they were pretty livid at my parents. I’ve seen my parents maybe 5 times since then and not at all for the last 9 years. I decided to stop having contact with them when I was 12 and since I was the only one reaching out all communication broke down.

It turned out ok, I love my aunt and uncle and it turns out they can’t have kids so they’ve always said I’m their miracle kid, I was just misrouted by the stork at first. I was formally adopted by them when I turned 18, I wish it had been earlier but there were some red tape things that would have made that really expensive and difficult. I’m 21 now.

My sister passed away between thanksgiving and Christmas and I made a trip back from school for the funeral, but I stayed in the back and left before my bio parents could talk to me. They called my uncle to try to talk to me, but I said I didn’t want to so he told them that I wasn’t available at the moment.

They finally caught up to me over Christmas when I went to midnight mass with my gran, and approached me and tried to give me a hug. I did recognize them, but I pretended not to and just backed off and said “Sorry, do I know you?”

They said “We’re your parents!” and I said “My parents are at home.” and went and sat down with my gran. They sat behind us and I could just feel the stare, and on the way out they were like “You really don’t recognize us?” And I said “Oh, are you my dad’s brother? I think I remember you from when I was little.”

My gran thinks they deserved it trying to come back to me like nothing happened, but they wrote me a long letter about how hurt they are and how I should understand that they were trying to do the right thing and how they’ll always be my parents and I can’t change that.

Other family members think I was too harsh as they’re grieving, but I don’t think they should get a pass just because they remembered me now that my sister is gone.”

Here’s what Reddit users had to say about this.

This person said they’re NTA and he did a great job.

Screen Shot 2023 06 25 at 8.32.06 AM Person Asks if They’re Wrong for Pretending Not to Recognize Their Parents When They Tried to Reconnect

Photo Credit: Reddit

Another Reddit user said they handled this perfectly.

Screen Shot 2023 06 25 at 8.32.25 AM Person Asks if They’re Wrong for Pretending Not to Recognize Their Parents When They Tried to Reconnect

Photo Credit: Reddit

And one individual said their parents lost the right to be in their life years ago.

Screen Shot 2023 06 25 at 8.32.40 AM Person Asks if They’re Wrong for Pretending Not to Recognize Their Parents When They Tried to Reconnect

Photo Credit: Reddit

Yikes!