Losing someone you love is one of the hardest things a person has to go through in their life. So, people are lucky when they have someone to share their grief with, someone who supports them during such a hard time. Unfortunately, some people, instead of helping, can make it all even harder.
Like this stepson who decided to kick his stepfather out of the home and threw away his stuff after his mom’s death. To make matters even worse, years later, he came back into the stepdad’s life to ask for a favor.
More info: Reddit
Sadly, not everyone is empathetic enough to sympathize with a grieving person they don’t like
Image credits: Terrillo Walls (not the actual photo)
A man married a woman who was 19 years older than him despite many people looking at the relationship weirdly
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
Sadly, after 7 years together, the woman tragically died, leaving her husband a homeless widower, as her house went to her son
Image credits: Michal Balog (not the actual photo)
The man asked the stepson to stay at the home for 2 weeks until he collected himself after the loss, but he got kicked out, and all his belongings were thrown out
Image credits: u/Numerous_Object6914
4 years later, the man ran into this same stepson, who asked him to buy the house he once got kicked out of
The OP met his wife when he was merely 26, and she was 45. Many people weren’t big fans of this relationship, as the age difference and the fact that he was an immigrant bugged them. But it didn’t matter to them. It’s clear that they were very much in love.
The wife had a son, who was 18 years old at the time the couple started dating. Unfortunately, the author didn’t have a good relationship with this son, but at the time, it didn’t cause much trouble.
The reasons why step-parents don’t get along with their stepchildren vary. Maybe it’s hard for them to accept each other in their lives and it can take time for it to click. Maybe they’re just incompatible human beings. Or maybe there are some underlying issues. As with many situations in life, it depends on the situation.
The reason why the OP and his stepkid didn’t get along wasn’t specified. Actually, no matter what they were, it’s heartbreaking that with time, this tension started causing trouble despite them being civil at first.
These problems started after the wife tragically died in an accident. Sadly, around 1.19 million people die in road traffic accidents each year.
To talk about grief, Bored Panda got in touch with certified EMDR Therapist Khalida Himes. Check out her Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube channels. She pointed out that such harsh and unexpected deaths like accidents can make grief even more complicated. “When the loss of a loved one is sudden, it can disrupt their lives for months and even years, and they may find it difficult to regain a sense of ‘normalcy’ and report a sense of meaningless, hopelessness, and uncontrollable despair.”
So, understandably, the OP was crushed by feelings like that. In fact, he was so destroyed that he wasn’t able to look for another place to live, as his wife’s house now belonged to her son. He asked him to stay there for a little bit, at least until he could collect himself. As K. Himmes told us, “It is extremely important to allow yourself to grieve in a way that feels appropriate.”
But the stepson wasn’t empathetic to his stepfather’s grief and kicked him out. If that wasn’t enough, he also threw all his belongings away. This destroyed the OP even further, as much of this was the memories of his deceased wife.
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
Our interviewee said that every person experiences grief in their own way, as it stems from internal feelings. Maybe being a total jerk to his stepfather was this man acting out due to the loss he experienced. Or maybe he’s just not a nice person. We don’t know him enough to make determined statements.
Ever since this conflict, the men haven’t been in contact for 4 years. It changed when. one day, during his annual visit to his wife’s grave during her birthday, the author ran into her son there. They had some small talk, and the original poster ended up giving out his contact information.
After some time, the author received a phone call from his stepson. He was asked if he would be interested in buying the house he was kicked out of. Apparently, this man needed some money for business ventures.
When OP suggested he take out a loan, he answered that he already had one. While taking out a second one isn’t impossible, it can be a little bit tougher, and he likely didn’t want to commit to the bank even more.
He also expects not to be kicked out of the home after his stepdad purchases it. In a nutshell – he wants his stepfather to treat him way better than he treated him. So, no surprise, this infuriated the man enough for him to vent about it on Reddit.
People there were no less infuriated than him. They were appalled that this dude so badly mistreated his grieving stepfather and was entitled enough to ask for any favor. Basically, folks urged the OP not to give in and not to buy the house. The man, who back in the day didn’t even give him 2 weeks to grieve, doesn’t deserve any help now.
These netizens weren’t wrong, were they? After all, it seems that this stepson sounds like an opportunistic and unempathetic jerk. We can’t rule out the possibility that he has some underlying problems that make him act this way. Still, it doesn’t guarantee that it would change both the stepfather’s and netizens’ opinions of him.
Check out our interviewee Khalida Himes’ Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube channel!