{"id":65742,"date":"2025-06-24T20:46:37","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T20:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=65742"},"modified":"2025-06-24T20:46:37","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T20:46:37","slug":"when-i-was-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=65742","title":{"rendered":"When I Was 15,"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I always knew my mom\u2019s things would one day cause problems. Not because they were valuable\u2014but because they were hers<\/em>. And the longer she was gone, the more people forgot that.<\/p>\n

She died when I was 12. I\u2019m 26 now, and I\u2019ve guarded her things like my life depended on it. Her jewelry. Her ring. Her little watch. Dad gave them to me at 15 after his then-girlfriend tried stealing some. That wasn\u2019t the first time\u2014his sister once tried to swipe a pearl pendant. I never forgot it.<\/p>\n

Then came Rhoda\u2014his now-wife\u2014and five new kids. At their wedding, I caused a scene. But only because two weeks before, Dad asked if I\u2019d give Rhoda my mom\u2019s Claddagh ring. And the wedding necklace. And the watch\u2014as a gift.<\/p>\n

Then he said Rhoda wanted the wedding ring<\/em>. My mom\u2019s. My grandma\u2019s.<\/p>\n

I said no.<\/p>\n

Rhoda called me later. \u201cWhat kind of daughter are you being to me right now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re 38. I\u2019m 26. Let that<\/em> sink in.\u201d<\/p>\n

She begged. I stood firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of it\u2019s yours,\u201d I said. \u201cNot now. Not ever<\/p>\n

also read…<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I always knew my mom\u2019s things would one day cause problems. Not because they were valuable\u2014but because they were hers. And the longer she was gone, the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65744,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65742\/revisions\/65744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/65743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}