Last year, I was casually scrolling through my brother’s social media when something stopped me cold—photos of a family trip I had never even heard about. Everyone was smiling on sunny beaches, eating at restaurants I had only dreamed of trying. When I asked my mom why I wasn’t invited, she simply said they were “tight on budget.” Her answer lingered in my mind, leaving a quiet ache that whispered I didn’t really belong.
A month ago, everything turned upside down. I bought a lottery ticket just for fun, and somehow, I won four hundred thousand dollars. The moment my mom heard, she insisted the money belonged to the entire family. She said it wasn’t fair for me to keep it while they were “struggling.” I understood their difficulties, but I also remembered how quickly they had excluded me. So I gently told her the winnings were mine to handle responsibly.
