If you remember, Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings" carefully guarded the ring, "his precious," especially because he sincerely believed it was a birthday gift from his grandmother. Well, the whole story didn't end well for him - certainly worse than for our narrator today. But she has actually way more rights to the ring than Gollum...
So, let's get to our story today. It's a story about memory, family feelings, affection, as well as golden children, guilt-tripping, and various other things. Interestingly, these things are so common that they continue on in many families, even after children grow up and become adults.
More info: Reddit
If you believe that family and relatives are the people whom you can always rely on, and who can always side with you, then you're definitely mistaken
Image credits: The Yuri Arcurs Collection / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The author of the post owns a beautiful ring which was bequeathed to her by her late grandma, with whom she was always very close
Image credits: EmilyStock / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Recently, the author's brother asked her to gift this ring to him, since he wanted to propose to his girlfriend with it
Image credits: The Yuri Arcurs Collection / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The author, however, said no, because this ring actually had a great sentimental meaning for her
Image credits: Drazen Zigic / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The brother didn't give up, and resorted to outright guilt-tripping, having their parents at his side
Image credits: BigONerd
But the author still kept her stance, especially after her aunt told her that her grandma foresaw such a situation when she willed the ring to her, and not to her bro
So, the Original poster (OP) has an older brother who plans to propose to his girlfriend soon. And the guy came up with a brilliant idea - to do it with their late grandma's engagement ring. Indeed, this idea combines family symbolism and the chance to save money on the ring... but there was just one "minor" problem. The thing is, the grandma did not bequeath the ring to him, but to his sis.
Our heroine was very close to her grandma during her lifetime, so it's no surprise that the old lady left the ring to her. The author rarely wears it, usually keeping it in a box at home as a memento of her. Incidentally, this is precisely what her bro appealed to when he asked her to give it to him. He said it was "just sitting in a box."
The original poster refused. Neither persuasion, nor pleas, nor even threats and insults actually helped. Her parents sided with her brother and, after once inviting the author over, actually set an ambush for her, trying every means possible to guilt-trip her into giving up the ring. Incidentally, the bro's girlfriend, as it turned out, had no idea about this whole story.
To our heroine's credit, she withstood this onslaught. And then, when her aunt revealed that her grandmother had willed the ring to her, partly foreseeing her grandson's future desire to possess it, the author's conscience and remorse vanished entirely. Now she knows for certain that she's not simply preserving her grandma's memory - she's actually fulfilling her last wishes.
Image credits: b-egerland / Freepik (not the actual photo)
It's entirely possible that in the situation described, we’re indeed dealing with some form of parental favoritism, as the author's parents' reaction, as well as her grandmother's "foresight," clearly point to it. In fact, the "golden child" phenomenon isn't actually limited to childhood - its effects persist well into adulthood, as this BBC article notes.
The study's authors claim that parental favoritism manifests in some way in nearly 65% of families with multiple children. As a result, even if parental favoritism wasn't so overt, other children may experience low self-esteem, mental health issues, and may even have more strained relationships with their families for years.
By the way, this study, recently published on APA News, claims that daughters or younger kids are usually parents' favorites. Meanwhile, our heroine's brother is a man and was, apparently, the firstborn in the family. Well, every rule has its exceptions. Be that as it may, the OP's grandma clearly knew something, so it was no accident that she willed her precious ring to her granddaughter.
People in the comments also supported the author, assuming that her bro either wanted to take advantage of his long-standing "golden child" status or was simply being cheap, wanting a "free" ring and unwilling to shell out for it. This is indirectly supported by the fact that his girlfriend didn't know about this whole ring saga before. So what do you, our dear readers, think about this story?
Most commenters unanimously sided with the author, urging the woman not to give in and to keep her property anyway
