Oh, darlings, strap in because do I have the tea that’s going to make your day. Picture this: a serene day turned battleground over… a stuffed toy. Yes, you heard me right. It’s like Toy Story met Game of Thrones minus the dragons but plus all the drama. And trust me, you’ll want to read this till the end for Roger’s Hot Take on this delicious debacle.
Once upon a recent time, a real person shared a story on Reddit that’s as heart-tugging as it is bewildering. Our protagonist, a 22-year-old whose emotional attachment to a childhood plushie, Emma the Husky, becomes the center of a family feud that frankly, makes the War of the Roses look like a minor scuffle.
So, our hero is visited by their girlfriend’s mom and two nieces, ages as adorable as they are apparently, persuasive. After a nap in our hero’s sanctuary, these little cherubs discover Emma and decide, in their infinite wisdom, that they must have her. Because clearly, our grown-up protagonist ‘doesn’t need it.’ Cue collective eye-rolling.
Now, let’s pause and appreciate this stage of the saga. Our protagonist gently declines, sharing a heart-warming tale of Emma’s sentimental value, only to be met with tantrums. Enter the girlfriend’s mom, casting our hero as the villain in this episodic drama for refusing to yield. The terms ‘a-hole’ and ‘pathetic’ were thrown around more freely than confetti at a wedding.
Galvanized by a sense of injustice, our protagonist’s offer to replace Emma with a similar stuffie is tossed aside because, get this, the nieces want the shirt Emma wears too? Talk about high maintenance!
Jumping to the climax, our tale spins into a whirl of espionage as Emma is whisked off to safety, surveillance equipment is ordered (because who wouldn’t?), and the girlfriend’s family, minus the dad (our shining knight), gets a verbal lashing.
But wait, there’s more! Enter stage left, the 13-year-old sister, cast out for siding with our protagonist. I mean, if this doesn’t scream Netflix adaptation, I don’t know what does.
**Roger’s Hot Take**:
Sweeties, the moral of the story isn’t that everyone should cling to their childhood treasures like a lifeline—I mean, do if it makes you happy. The juicy core of this tale is about boundaries, respect, and frankly, the art of knowing when to not be a total… let’s say, ‘interferer’ in polite society. We’ve got our protagonist, standing their ground not just for Emma’s sake but for what Emma represents. And then there’s the other camp, hellbent on teaching a lesson about ‘letting go’ but instead, schooling us all on how *not* to handle family negotiations.
In the kingdom of entitlement, these nieces, their grandma, and the maternal figures are royals, and our protagonist? A mere peasant defending their last grain of sentimental value. But here’s where they got it wrong: it’s not just a toy; it’s a vessel of memories, a fragment of childhood innocence, and frankly, none of their beeswax.
So, my loves, next time you find yourself coveting something that isn’t yours, maybe take a beat. Remember, not all treasures are meant to be shared, especially when they’re drenched in someone else’s history.
And to the outcast ally of our protagonist, I say this: Welcome to the resistance. We meet on Thursdays, and we don’t share our toys.
Until next scandal, darlings, keep your toys close and your sass closer. This has been Roger, signing off from HotTakes.
Original story
My (22F) gf’s mom came over with two of my gf’s nieces (6 and 3F). We were welcoming and nice and let the two girls nap in my room when they got tired.
They had found my childhood stuffie, which is a husky I had named Emma and took her everywhere for 15 years. Emma is also wearing my favorite shirt from when I was two, because I wanted to keep it close. They took a huge liking to her and asked if they could take Emma back home with them, because I clearly didn’t need it.
I told them no, and explained how much I loved her and how much she meant to me. I told them that I had a great aunt who I loved, but she’d passed away long ago and she had gotten me Emma when I was a baby, so I didn’t want to let go. I (slightly embarrassedly) told them I actually still slept while cuddling her. I told them the story of the shirt, but they wouldn’t budge.
They began screaming because I wasn’t letting them have the husky. My gf’s mom heard what was going on and immediately sided with the girls, because ‘I am too old for a stuffed toy’ and ‘shouldn’t really care’. She called me an a-hole and told me that I’m pathetic for ‘loving to make innocent children cry’ and that ‘I just love the feeling of power I have over them’, before leaving, with the promise of coming back to get the husky when I couldn’t do anything about it.
My gf and her dad are siding with me, but my gf’s siblings, mom and aunts are all with the two girls. So, AITA?
Update: I have reached out through my gf and offered to buy the girls similar ones from Amazon or IKEA, but I’ve been told it’s got to be Emma because the girls want the shirt too
Update 2: this got deleted earlier but Emma has been taken to safety, a ring camera and mini security cameras have been ordered, and my gf’s family except her dad have secured a nice telling off/talking to (read: yelling at for upsetting me)
Update 3: I didn’t think I’d be back so soon but here I am. The 6 year old’s elder sister (13F) has just shown up at our doorstep saying she was kicked out by her grandma because she heard what happened and agreed with me supporting ‘people who love making children miserable’.