It’s a well-known fact that blended families don’t always blend seamlessly, but some people don’t even try to make it work.

When one young woman invited only her biological siblings on a healing getaway after their father’s death, she never considered just how hurt her stepsister might be after being cruelly and intentionally excluded.

Read on for the full story.

AITA for not letting my stepsister come on my “siblings only” trip because she wasn’t adopted until she was 15?

I (23F) planned a trip with my bio siblings (25M, 20F, 18M) as a way to reconnect after our dad’s passing.

It was meant to be just us, like when we were kids.

But since then, the family has changed.

My dad remarried when I was 13, and his stepdaughter (now 21F) came into our lives then. She wasn’t adopted until 15 and never really connected with us.

When she discovered the plans, she felt hurt.

She found out and accused me of “excluding her from the family.”

My stepmom is furious.

But the biological siblings don’t feel like she belongs on the trip.

But the others agreed it was just for us.

AITA?

No one likes feeling left out, no matter the circumstances.

Let’s see what Reddit thought.

Maybe her and her siblings should just be honest, both with themselves and with their stepsister.

This commenter wonders if the stepsister ever really stood a chance at fitting in.

A little empathy could have gone a long way in building a bridge between the original siblings and their stepsister.

They’re free to make their own choice at the end of the day, but this user doesn’t think it’s the right one.

In trying to hold on to what once was, she failed to see how badly she would hurt the stepsister standing right in front of her.

Grief doesn’t excuse shutting someone out.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.