{"id":23684,"date":"2026-06-08T23:51:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T16:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/?p=23684"},"modified":"2026-06-08T23:51:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T16:51:04","slug":"my-daughter-gave-her-mother-in-law-a-luxury-cruise-and-a-diamond-ring-i-got-a-plastic-flower-and-a-painful-revelation-that-night-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/?p=23684","title":{"rendered":"At first, the plastic flower felt like an insult. By midnight, I realized it had led me to uncover how much I had been used."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Chapter 1: The Plastic Flower<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
\n
<\/div>\n

\u201cMy daughter gave her mother in law a diamond ring worth nearly twenty thousand dollars and a luxury Mediterranean cruise, yet she gave me, her own mother, a cheap plastic flower worth two dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

That Mother\u2019s Day, I finally realized that you can pour your entire life into someone and still end up completely invisible in their eyes.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

My name is Dorothy Miller, I am sixty seven years old, and I live in a quiet, sprawling home in Pine Valley.<\/p>\n

My husband, George, passed away three years ago, and ever since he left, this house has felt far too large for just one person.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Before his death, the silence in our home felt like a gentle relief, but now it feels like a cruel, lingering reminder of everything that will never return to me.<\/p>\n

I miss the sound of his voice in the kitchen, his silly sense of humor, and the way his footsteps echoed in the hallway in the middle of the night when he went to find a glass of water.<\/p>\n

My daughter, Caroline, called me the evening before the holiday to give me the details.<\/p>\n

\u201cMom, we are having a family lunch tomorrow at the home of Susan, Ryan\u2019s mother,\u201d she said, her voice sounding detached and hurried.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are welcome to come if you would like to join us at one o\u2019clock,\u201d she continued, not bothering to add that she wanted to see me.<\/p>\n

She did not say that they would love for me to be there, nor did she say that they would be waiting eagerly for my arrival.<\/p>\n

She sounded exactly like a person inviting an awkward, distant neighbor out of nothing more than a sense of obligation.<\/p>\n

I arrived at the house right on time, and I immediately noticed that the place looked like it had been lifted straight out of a glossy home magazine.<\/p>\n

There was an immaculate garden with manicured hedges, light colored stone walls, fresh arrangements of lilies, and sparkling crystal glasses set out on the long table.<\/p>\n

Everyone was already gathered on the back patio, with Ryan standing by the grill, his sisters laughing loudly nearby, and the young grandchildren running through the grass.<\/p>\n

Caroline was sitting right next to her mother in law, leaning in close and laughing with a genuine warmth I had not seen directed at me in many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, Dorothy, how wonderful it is that you could make it today,\u201d Susan said, offering me a polite but thin smile.<\/p>\n

Caroline barely looked up or raised her hand to greet me as I walked toward the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cHi Mom, just grab a seat over there somewhere, okay?\u201d she said, pointing vaguely toward the far end of the patio.<\/p>\n

That seat was tucked away at the very edge of the table, isolated from the rest of the family and right next to a massive, dusty flowerpot that blocked half of my view.<\/p>\n

I forced myself to smile at the others and poured a glass of water, trying to occupy myself while listening to conversations that I was clearly not a part of.<\/p>\n

They were talking about upcoming trips to Europe, favorite restaurants, complex family plans, and shared photos that they had never bothered to send to me.<\/p>\n

I listened to them discuss birthdays I had not been invited to and milestones that I had only heard about through the grapevine.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Then, the moment finally came for the gift giving ceremony, and Caroline jumped up from her chair, looking absolutely thrilled.<\/p>\n

\u201cSusan, we have something so incredibly special for you,\u201d she announced, her eyes beaming with excitement.<\/p>\n

Ryan walked over and handed his mother a small, velvet box along with a shimmering gold envelope.<\/p>\n

Susan opened the box, let out a sharp gasp, and covered her mouth as she stared at a ring with an enormous diamond that seemed to sparkle under the afternoon sun.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no, this is far too much for me to accept,\u201d Susan said, her eyes welling up with tears of joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not nearly enough for the woman who raised the man that I love more than anything in this world,\u201d my daughter replied, pulling her in for a tight hug.<\/p>\n

Then Susan opened the envelope to reveal two tickets for a luxury Mediterranean cruise with a private cabin and an all inclusive package.<\/p>\n

The entire table erupted in applause, and Susan sobbed with gratitude, while Caroline looked proud and radiant, clearly happy to have made that woman feel so cherished.<\/p>\n

I felt a sudden, sharp chill settle deep in my chest as I watched the scene unfold.<\/p>\n

Then Ryan said, in a tone that was noticeably less enthusiastic, \u201cAnd now, we have something for you too, Dorothy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caroline approached me with a small, crumpled shopping bag and handed it over with a look of practiced indifference.<\/p>\n

Inside the bag was a cheap, pink plastic flower, the kind that they sell for a couple of dollars at the supermarket checkout line, along with a generic card.<\/p>\n

I opened the card and read the printed words: \u201cHappy Mother\u2019s Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beneath the printed text, in Caroline\u2019s handwriting, she had written: \u201cThank you for everything, Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those words felt like a slap in the face.<\/p>\n

She wrote it as if I were a stranger who had simply held a door open for her at a gas station.<\/p>\n

The table fell completely silent, and even Susan looked down at her plate, seemingly embarrassed by the stark contrast between the two gifts.<\/p>\n

Ryan cleared his throat in a way that signaled his extreme discomfort with the awkwardness of the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very pretty, thank you, Caroline,\u201d I said, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to keep it steady.<\/p>\n

Caroline had already turned her back to me, returning to her conversation about the cruise ship itinerary as if I had already faded into the background.<\/p>\n

I stayed for another hour, clutching that cheap plastic flower in my hands and watching my daughter treat a woman she had known for twelve years like a queen.<\/p>\n

It was heartbreaking to realize she treated me like a chore she had to finish.<\/p>\n

When I finally stood up to leave, Caroline did not even bother to walk me to the front door.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks for coming by, Mom, just make sure you drive carefully on your way home,\u201d she called out from the patio.<\/p>\n

I did not sleep at all that night.<\/p>\n

I left the plastic flower on the kitchen table and sat in front of it for hours, staring at it as if it were a test of my own worth.<\/p>\n

Forty three years of being a mother, of sleepless nights, of working through debts, illnesses, and sacrifices, had come down to a flower bought at the last minute.<\/p>\n

At three in the morning, I walked into my home office where I kept the documents for my firm, Miller Consulting, which I had built from nothing after losing my job at thirty eight.<\/p>\n

I sat down and started pulling out old folders, looking for answers in the stacks of paper.<\/p>\n

As I began reviewing the files, a haunting question hit me harder than any insult my daughter had ever delivered.<\/p>\n

For whom had I really built all of this success?<\/p>\n

Chapter 2: The Cost of Silence<\/h3>\n

The first folder I pulled out was labeled \u201cCaroline College Expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inside, I found receipts for tuition, off campus housing, textbooks, a new laptop, and even parking tickets I had completely forgotten about paying for her.<\/p>\n

The total came to more than eight hundred thousand dollars, yet that was only the beginning of what I uncovered.<\/p>\n

I found the file for her wedding to Ryan, which included the venue, the expensive catering, the custom dress, the professional photographer, and the high end floral arrangements.<\/p>\n

I had spent nearly a million dollars on that single day of celebration, while Ryan\u2019s own parents had contributed nothing more than a couple of boxes of wine.<\/p>\n

I kept digging and found the records for the three different cars I had purchased for them over the years.<\/p>\n

There were also folders labeled \u201cLoans\u201d that had never been repaid and \u201cEmergency Credit Cards\u201d that I had secretly kept paid off.<\/p>\n

I looked at the invoices for my grandchildren\u2019s private school tuition and realized I had been carrying their lifestyle for over a decade.<\/p>\n

The thing that hurt the most was a transaction from 2019, when Ryan\u2019s business was on the verge of total bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

Caroline had called me in tears, begging for help so they would not lose everything, and I had transferred over a million dollars that very same day.<\/p>\n

Six months later, they had used the money to purchase a boat that they rarely even took out onto the water.<\/p>\n

When I finished running the numbers, the calculator showed a figure that took my breath away: in fifteen years, I had given them over seven million dollars.<\/p>\n

It was not about the money itself, as I had been successful because I worked like a dog, and my husband and I had lived without any real luxuries for decades to build the firm.<\/p>\n

What actually hurt was discovering that my generosity had turned me into an invisible entity.<\/p>\n

To my daughter, I was not her mother, but a bottomless credit card that she could drain whenever she felt like it.<\/p>\n

I pulled out my phone and scrolled through our text conversations from the past year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMom, can you watch the kids this Friday?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMom, Ryan needs to borrow your truck for the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMom, can you lend us money for the tuition payment?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMom, can you transfer the cash today and I will pay you back later?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

There was not a single \u201cHow are you doing?\u201d or \u201cDo you miss Dad?\u201d or \u201cLet\u2019s go have a nice lunch together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then I reviewed my company\u2019s accounts and saw that Ryan\u2019s landscaping business had maintenance contracts for three of my commercial properties.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

I had been paying him thirty percent more than the market rate without ever questioning his bills.<\/p>\n

Caroline was also handling the bookkeeping for several clients I had recommended to her, earning a high salary for very little actual work.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

They were not independent adults at all.<\/p>\n

They were two people living their lives suspended in a safety net that I had been holding up in total silence for years.<\/p>\n

The following Monday, I met with my lawyer, Jessica White, who had been my trusted counsel for twelve years and knew every detail of my business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to put Miller Consulting up for sale,\u201d I told her, my voice feeling firmer than it had in a long time.<\/p>\n

Jessica set her pen down on the desk and looked at me with genuine concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cDorothy, that company is your life\u2019s work, are you sure you want to let it go?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is exactly the problem, Jessica, because it has become my entire life and I have nothing else,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n

I told her everything about the Mother\u2019s Day lunch, the plastic flower, and the millions of dollars I had poured into their lives.<\/p>\n

Jessica listened without interrupting, though I watched her expression harden as the reality of the situation sunk in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you sell the firm, Ryan will lose his contracts, Caroline will lose her clients, and they will be forced to take full responsibility for their mortgage and expenses,\u201d she warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is exactly what needs to happen,\u201d I said, feeling a sense of clarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you absolutely sure you want to go through with this?\u201d<\/p>\n

I thought of Caroline hugging her mother in law, and I nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to know if my daughter actually loves me, or if she just loves what I can pay for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the next week, I started cutting off the support.<\/p>\n

I called Ryan and told him that I was going to request new competitive bids for the maintenance of my properties.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Dorothy, we have been working with you for years and I thought we had a solid arrangement,\u201d he replied, his voice laced with sudden anxiety.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we have, but I am currently reviewing all of my budgets and looking for better value,\u201d I said coolly.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Then I called my clients and informed them that I would no longer be recommending external accounting services, effectively cutting off Caroline\u2019s income stream.<\/p>\n

Caroline called me that afternoon, sounding frantic.<\/p>\n

\u201cMom, what is going on, because Mrs. Peterson just told me she does not need my help anymore?\u201d she demanded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am simply simplifying my business operations,\u201d I answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I need that income to pay our bills,\u201d she cried.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sure you will find something else, as you are a very capable person,\u201d I said, refusing to back down.<\/p>\n

There was a long, heavy silence on the other end of the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this because of the Mother\u2019s Day lunch?\u201d she finally asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, Caroline, this has been coming for many years,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n

Three weeks later, while I was sitting in my office signing the preliminary documents for the sale, I received a very strange phone call.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Miller, this is Robert from the firm conducting the audit for the purchase of your company, and I believe I called your home by mistake,\u201d the man said.<\/p>\n

My blood ran cold at the mention of my home.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou called my house?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, a woman answered the phone and claimed to be your personal assistant, and she authorized me to discuss the details of the sale,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

I hung up the phone and dialed my home number immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Dorothy Miller\u2019s residence,\u201d Caroline answered, her voice cold.<\/p>\n

I felt something break inside me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you doing in my house, Caroline?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

There was a long silence before she spoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cMom, I just came by to water your indoor plants,\u201d she lied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not have any plants that need watering, and you know that,\u201d I snapped.<\/p>\n

\u201cFine, Ryan thought there were some old tax documents in your home office that he needed for his own files,\u201d she tried again.<\/p>\n

I drove home with my hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white.<\/p>\n

When I arrived, I found my daughter sitting at my desk, surrounded by contracts, financial statements, and confidential business documents.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you find what you were looking for, or were you just snooping?\u201d I asked, standing in the doorway.<\/p>\n

Caroline looked up, her eyes red from crying, but her face was twisted with fury.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you really going to sell the company without telling us a single thing?\u201d she demanded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my company to do with as I please,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it affects us all, and Ryan depends on those contracts while I depend on those clients!\u201d she shouted.<\/p>\n

I looked at her and saw a thirty five year old woman sitting in my chair, digging through my private life, and scolding me for making a decision about what I had built.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is precisely the problem, Caroline,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is that supposed to mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou made your entire life depend on me, and then you treated me like I did not even exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this all just over a plastic flower?\u201d she scoffed.<\/p>\n

It hurt me deeply that she still believed the flower was the issue rather than the lack of respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was never just about the flower, it was about seeing that you could plan, spend, and effort to make Susan feel special, while you treated me like an annoying obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caroline started to cry harder.<\/p>\n

\u201cMom, I love you,\u201d she sobbed.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you love me, or do you just love my money?\u201d<\/p>\n

She did not respond, and at that moment, my phone rang with an incoming call from Ryan.<\/p>\n

\u201cDorothy, Caroline told me what is happening, and we need to talk about this as a family,\u201d he said in a commanding tone.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, Ryan, you need to learn how to live like adults,\u201d I said, and then I hung up.<\/p>\n

Caroline looked at me as if I were a total stranger.<\/p>\n

\u201cMom, please, do not sell the company,\u201d she pleaded.<\/p>\n

The next day, she called me twenty eight times before noon, and that afternoon, she showed up at my door with Ryan, just when the truth was about to destroy them.<\/p>\n

Chapter 3: The Hard Truth<\/h3>\n

Caroline was standing in my doorway, her face swollen from crying, while Ryan stood behind her with his jaw clenched in frustration.<\/p>\n

\u201cMom, please, we just need to talk about this like adults,\u201d she said, trying to regain some control.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday you entered my house without permission, answered my phone, and pretended to be my assistant to steal private information, which is not talking like adults,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n

Ryan stepped forward, trying to intimidate me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith all due respect, Dorothy, this does not just affect you, as we have families, children, and financial commitments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a family too, and for the first time in years, I am finally going to think about what is best for me,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Caroline wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you sell the firm, we lose everything, including our house and our main income,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cThen you are going to have to start all over again, just like I did,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really want us to just lose it all?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cThat is how life works for everyone else, and you are no exception,\u201d I answered.<\/p>\n

Ryan exploded with rage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just petty revenge for a gift, what an absolute exaggeration!\u201d he yelled.<\/p>\n

I stared him down without flinching.<\/p>\n

\u201cRyan, you are thirty seven years old and you have never paid your own mortgage on your own,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour business survived only because I kept it on life support, and Caroline has an income only because I handed it to her on a silver platter,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

Caroline looked down at the floor, unable to meet my eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is called family, and families are supposed to help each other,\u201d Ryan muttered.<\/p>\n

\u201cHelp goes both ways, but tell me, daughter, when have you ever helped me without needing something in return?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen have you ever come to see me just to spend time together, or asked me if it hurt to sleep alone in the house where your father died?\u201d<\/p>\n

She opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out because she knew I was telling the truth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen did you bring my grandchildren to see me because they actually missed me, rather than because you needed a free babysitter for the afternoon?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her face went pale as the reality of her selfishness began to sink in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave you grandchildren, is that not enough?\u201d she asked, her voice cracking.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, Caroline, you brought them into the world, but you only brought them to me when it suited your schedule,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

Ryan grabbed her arm, trying to pull her away.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go, she has clearly made up her mind and there is no point in arguing with her,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

But Caroline pulled away from him and looked at me.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, Mom, just tell me what I can do to fix this,\u201d she begged.<\/p>\n

I looked at her, and for the first time in years, I saw neither arrogance nor haste, but pure fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you to discover who you are without my money, and I want you to understand that love is not something you demand with bills or show only when you want a handout,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if I finally understand that, will you change your mind?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

I shook my head slowly, feeling a weight lift off my shoulders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not selling to punish you, I am selling to finally free myself,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

She covered her mouth with her hands and started to cry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you, Mom,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n

I put my hand on the door, ready to end the conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you too, and that is why I am doing this,\u201d I said, and then I closed the door.<\/p>\n

I heard her crying outside for nearly ten minutes before the car finally pulled away from the driveway.<\/p>\n

Two weeks later, the sale was officially signed and finalized.<\/p>\n

Three months later, I moved to a small, quiet house facing a beautiful lake in a town called Silver Lake.<\/p>\n

It was small and simple, with a wooden deck and a garden full of wild weeds that I was just starting to learn how to tend.<\/p>\n

I sold the large house in Pine Valley because I no longer wanted to live surrounded by empty rooms that held broken expectations.<\/p>\n

The money from the sale was more than enough for me to live comfortably for the rest of my days.<\/p>\n

I opened a separate trust fund for my grandchildren, but I attached one condition: they could only access the money when they turned eighteen, and their parents could never touch a single penny.<\/p>\n

I also paid off Caroline and Ryan\u2019s mortgage one final time, but it was not a gift; it was my final financial goodbye.<\/p>\n

I left them the house debt free and a short letter: \u201cFrom today onward, there will be no more loans, payments, or bailouts, so I wish you strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caroline stopped calling me for six weeks.<\/p>\n

It hurt, of course, because a mother does not stop being a mother just because she finally sets boundaries.<\/p>\n

But I also started to breathe again, signed up for local pottery classes, and started taking long walks by the lake every morning.<\/p>\n

I became friends with a neighbor named Martha, who invited me to dinner with her children, and I was shocked to see how they treated each other.<\/p>\n

They called each other without needing money, they hugged without any guilt, and they actually listened to each other without bargaining.<\/p>\n

One day, Jessica sent me a message: \u201cJust so you know, Ryan\u2019s business went bankrupt, and Caroline is now looking for a job at an elementary school.\u201d<\/p>\n

I read the message several times, and while I felt a deep sadness, I felt no guilt at all.<\/p>\n

They were adults, and for the first time in their lives, they were finally facing the consequences of their own decisions.<\/p>\n

Six months later, a letter arrived in the mail, but it was not a desperate call or a text.<\/p>\n

It was a handwritten letter from Caroline.<\/p>\n

\u201cDear Mom, I have tried to write to you many times, but I always ended up wanting to ask you to fix everything for me again,\u201d the letter began.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I am not writing to ask for anything, as Ryan and I are getting a divorce,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bankruptcy broke us, or maybe it just showed how broken we already were.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a job as an administrative assistant at a school, and I earn much less now, but for the first time, I know how much my own life is actually worth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized something I am ashamed to admit: for years I mistook your love for an obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI got used to you solving every problem, and I stopped seeing you as a human being.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI treated you as if you would always be there, waiting, paying, and forgiving, and what happened on Mother\u2019s Day was not just about a flower, but proof of how little I was paying attention to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not writing to ask for your forgiveness, but because I finally understand that you did not sell the company to destroy me, but to stop destroying yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you are at peace, because you truly deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith love, Caroline.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cP.S. I kept the plastic flower, and I have it in my kitchen window because every time I see it, I remember your face that day, and the exact moment I broke your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

I cried more than I had since George died, but they were not tears of pain.<\/p>\n

That night, I sat on the terrace with a cup of tea and wrote a reply in my journal.<\/p>\n

\u201cDear Caroline, thank you for your letter, as it meant more to me than you can imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

I did not send it yet, because some wounds need to heal properly before they can ever be reopened.<\/p>\n

Some relationships can only be rebuilt when they are no longer held together by guilt, money, or fear.<\/p>\n

Perhaps one day Caroline and I will meet again, not as a mother who pays and a daughter who demands, but as two women capable of looking at each other truthfully.<\/p>\n

For now, I am sixty seven years old and, for the first time in decades, my life belongs entirely to me.<\/p>\n

After so much pain, that realization is also a form of justice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter 1: The Plastic Flower \u201cMy daughter gave her mother in law a diamond ring worth nearly twenty thousand dollars and a luxury Mediterranean cruise, yet she gave me, her … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,22,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-inspiration","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23686,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23684\/revisions\/23686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}