Life is a series of choices — what to have for lunch, where to go to college, when to come out to Mom and Dad and, most importantly for this story, when to work on that beach-ready bod.
From the depths of Reddit comes this cautionary tale about the importance of the nuclear family and the bonds that tie it together. So easily they can fray, over seemingly so little.
A distraught 20-year-old sister, we’ll call her Rachel, fills in the details:
I feel like I am slowly losing my mind.
So over the summer my brother Jake (19) and I came home from college and he was was planing to tell the others that he was gay. It was all he talked about on the way home. Our mother picked us up at the airport and took us home. My brother Will (14) said hello to us and made us breakfast. He told us he had to go; he had to be at the lake for his workout.
The board is set and the game begins. Why is Rachel descending slowly into madness? Will Jake finally come out? And what 14-year-old really says he needs to head out to the lake for his workout?
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So many questions.
Jake asked Will to wait and Will said, “Dude, I literally can’t. I’m paying money for this session. I don’t get a refund or extra time.” Will is really into fitness/body building. He told us he was sorry and he would be back in 2 hours. So Jake sat myself, my two sisters and our parents down to come out as gay. Will came home and asked Jake what he wanted to tell him and Jake was being immature and said “don’t worry about it.” Will found out from Hannah (13).
Seems like all’s well that ends well to us, but something isn’t right.
Jake last night was talking to me about how rude Will was. I told him Will was trying to apologize.
Now Jake was intoxicated and he told me how our mother planned to disown Will for not being there for the announcement. I spoke to my mother and she all but confirmed this. She does not want a son who puts working out before family. I feel like I am the only sane person left in the world and could use some help.
The comments can be summarized with two simple words: “That’s crazy.”
In the (likely) case that this is a big meaty lie sandwich, this story is just nutty enough to make for one excellent Lifetime movie. Lake Of Fire, Feelings Of Another Brother, Waiting For What’s Real — we’d probably watch it.
And if it’s an honest tale of stubborn miscommunication, we hope Rachel moves far away from her whack job family and gets herself a good therapist.
RomanHans
I remember when I was fourteen and I used to make breakfast for my family before I worked out with my personal trainer.
Masc Pride
This poor girl seems really stressed out. Disowning a child is the act of an incredibly shitty parent. Cutting off one kid to support another also shows that mom isn’t all there. Plus, they are just teenagers. If the younger brother finds out about the mother threatening to disown him, it will undoubtedly create more animosity between the two boys. So if mom wants to lose a son, stress out her daughter and have her two sons hate each other, she’s doing all the “right” things!
dean089
Mom is messed up, but I put part of the blame on all this “Coming Out Day” stuff. Turning something that should be a seamless transition into a Big Deal is nonsense.
Masc Pride
@RomanHans: It seems like the mother is being really harsh and extreme for some reason. Makes it seem like there may be some favoritism that could’ve already been causing a rift before Jake’s “moment”. Jake also seems a bit bratty, and “the favorite” usually is a bit of a diva.
barkomatic
This is probably fake, but “disowning” a 14 year minor is atrocious. Also, if he already knows his brother was gay what’s the point of sticking around?
captainburrito
So now the gay child is not disowned but another one gets the axe?
Captain Obvious
Well we have an idiot who gloated about sexually assaulting women potentially becoming the president of the US so an idiot who’d disown her child for missing another coming out seems right on course. We’re going down in flames, people.
Chris
When things calm down a bit, I’d hope big brother would talk some sense to his mom. It’s not as if the 14- year-old is set in his ways or even said anything homophobic. Mom has over-reacted, IMHO.