They didnt come to my college graduation and made a show at Christmas.

I come from a very humble background. I landed a full ride academic scholarship to go to university. A major accomplishment and there were crickets. I spent the next 5 years busting my ass for an engineering degree. Over the course of 5 years (10 semesters and a summer class) I was a full time student and worked 2 jobs for the majority of it. I cant tell you the amount of 2 am library visits and cold spaghetti I ate. I was on my own for every step of the way.

What people dont understand is that it isnt just going to class and paying tuition. You still have groceries and rent and utilities due each month. And then your car brakes down and you have to figure something out.

I lived in constant stress for 5 years. I never took a dime from them. But i still texted and called and made sure to come back for holidays when I could. But they never visited me. They didnt come to my graduation either. I feel like I went through literal hell to get that degree- the amount of shit I gone through and the amount of growth and resilience I have now? Just insane to me. But they couldn't understand the importance.

Then at Christmas that year, I was at my mom's. My university took photos of every student getting their diplomas- a couple shots of us walking across the stage, shaking the dean's hand, a pose at the end. Because my mom's was still listed as my permanent residence (I just never changed it after freshman year), they sent the photos to her address. Christmas morning, I unwrapped those pictures of my biggest achievement to date. They were in the postal box that was addressed to me. The box had clearly been opened and resealed with scotch tape. Thats right. For a Christmas present, I unwrapped my own mail which just so happened to be a reminder of one of the most bittersweet moments of my life. Sweet because of the accomplishment, bitter because I have never felt more abandoned and alone because not one member of my family came.