Imagine getting divorced and raising your kids on your own. Would you ever resent your ex for abandoning his kids, or would you joyfully pour yourself into parenthood without complaint?

In this story, one single mom loves her life for the most part, but one day she had a pity party and admitted her feelings to her sister-in-law.

Now, she’s wondering if she messed up.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for venting after my divorce?

A little backstory – I, 45f, was married to my ex-husband, 46m, for 20 years when he served me with divorce papers on our 20th anniversary.

I had a protective order for my kids (14m, 10f) and I against him and he felt like serving me with divorce papers would be a solid way to manipulate me into dropping the protective order.

He miscalculated that risk, I didn’t fight the divorce. The kids and I relocated 1,200 miles away to live close to my family so I would have familial support – he agreed to the custody agreement and visitation schedule with zero argument.

She knew what she was getting herself into.

I knew being a single mom would not be easy. I knew what I was getting into when I stated that I wanted this custody arrangement.

I also knew that I had, what I believed to be, a wonderful family support system to help me when I needed backup with the kids.

I bought a house, enrolled the kids in school, and transitioned to our new life.

Things were going well.

She had a great relationship with her SIL.

My SIL and I got along so well, we would get together with the kids and have dinner as a big family, make crafts or just hang out.

It was everything I had hoped for – until one day I mentioned that the night before when I was doing laundry, I had a little breakdown and was frustrated that I was the only parent there for my kids.

I resented my ex for abandoning them, I resented him for not doing the bare minimum, I resented him for going on weekend trips out of town but not sending money for his kids to go to therapy, I resented him for not having to find a babysitter if he wanted a night away.

She told her SIL about her breakdown.

I vented to my SIL and told about this little pity party I had in the laundry room, truly just venting because I WANT my kids and I will do anything for them.

My SIL was very mad at me – told me that this is what I asked for and I shouldn’t complain. AITA?

It sounds like her SIL was the wrong person to vent to. There’s nothing wrong with feeling the way she feels about her ex. He was horrible for abandoning his kids, but she sounds like a great mom who just needs a break once in awhile.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

There’s nothing wrong with venting.

It might be better to vent to a therapist.

This person reassures her that she made the right decision.

Here’s a comment that really bashes the SIL.

But another person thinks her relationship with her SIL will recover.

Next time she might want to vent to someone else.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.