My parents told me to take the bus to my Harvard graduation because they were too busy buying my sister a brand-new Tesla, but when they finally showed up expecting to watch me quietly walk across the stage and go back to celebrating her, the dean took the mic, said my name, and my father dropped his program as the whole crowd learned what I had built while they were busy acting like I was never the child worth showing up for. – Reading Times

My sister and I maintained a very complicated relationship throughout our youth. I never truly blamed her directly for the way our parents treated us because she was just as much a product of their strange parenting as I was.

However, there was an undeniable and growing distance between us as we aged into our teens. Kaylee grew incredibly accustomed to receiving whatever her heart desired without ever having to lift a finger or face the consequences of her mistakes.

When she accidentally crashed her first vehicle at sixteen, which was a brand new luxury sedan, my father simply replaced it with an even better model the very next afternoon. When I had previously asked for a small loan to help purchase a reliable used car for my commute to my part time job, he told me that I needed to learn the value of a dollar and save up myself.

The most agonizing memory of my entire childhood occurred during my senior year of high school. I had been named the valedictorian of my class, which was an achievement that represented four years of relentless labor and personal sacrifice.