Some people value their old work because it’s proof of how far they’ve gone.

The following story is about a man who felt hurt when his mother threw away his old engineering exams.

He tried to explain their importance as reminders of his hard work and journey through university.

But instead of understanding, the situation turned emotional and made him question their relationship.

Let’s take a closer look!

AITAH For Wanting To Leave My Mother?

I am a senior engineering student. I currently live at home.

This is something that has been weighing on my mind for quite some time now.

A few months ago, my mom and I were cleaning out my closet.

We stumbled across a stack of old engineering tests I took throughout my undergrad.

As I went through the stack, I got nostalgic.

This young man was excited to look at his engineering exams.

I said to my mom, “Hey, look at these.

These were the weed-out exams I took during my first two years at university.”

Unamused, she quietly snatched the exams out of my hand. She threw them in the garbage.

I replied, “Can’t I at least have some time to look at them before throwing them away?”

She slowly looked up at me. She said, “Why? What is so important about them?”

She added, “Hurry up, I want to clean this closet out.”

Her mom immediately cut off hs excitement.

I paused for a moment out of surprise.

Then I said, “Well, these exams were a big part of my life at one point.”

I said I wanted to have some time to reminisce on them.

Frustrated, she responded. She said, “And what about my life? My sacrifices?”

This is nothing compared to what I went through for you and this family. I am your mother.”

He was heartbroken.

At this point, I was a bit heartbroken. I just blankly stared back. I continued cleaning out the closet.

My brother overheard the conversation. He said, “That is a whole bachelor’s degree right there.”

This irritated my mom. She replied, “Why would you say that?

Now he is going to spend more time looking at them.”

He felt like her mother did not care about him.

Looking back on this, I am honestly just sad.

My own mother did not even seem to care about me.

She also did not seem to care about the degree I worked hard to make her proud of.

I have had events similar to this happen in the past.

So now, he’s thinking about moving out and moving away from her.

This situation is making me realize something.

I might be better off moving away from her.

This could help me avoid more incidents like this.

Nonetheless, I am still conflicted about how to feel. AITA?

It’s normal to feel hurt when something meaningful to you is dismissed so quickly.

Those exams may have looked like just “old papers” to his mom, but to him, they represented years of hard work that helped him shape his future.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a teen who is being called ungrateful because he’s not overjoyed his parents bought him a gift they did not discuss.

Let’s check out the comments of other people on this story.

This user makes a valid point.

You have no obligation to your mother, says this one.

Short and simple.

This person chimes in.

Meanwhile, here’s a different perspective.

One person’s clutter is another person’s milestones.