Parents Leave Daughter to Friends Do Not Return for Her — 7 Years Later, Girl Gets a Message from Them

• A 17-year-old teenager has lived with her parents’ best friends since she was 10.
• Her parents abandoned her to go on a worldwide trip for seven years, keeping minimal contact with her.
• She finally received an e-mail from her dad declaring their intent to come home and take her back so they could become a family again. However, that is different from what the teen wants for herself.

At 10, a young girl had no choice but to live with her parents’ best friends after they declared their plans to travel the world. From living in the busy city of Chicago, she adjusted to a slow country life in Montana.

Her parents arranged temporary guardianship to their best friends from elementary school, Pete and May. They lived on a horse ranch, and while that was a refreshing setting, the young woman couldn’t help but feel abandoned.

“I was (of course) really angry, depressed, and sad at first because I felt like my parents abandoned me,” she revealed. Initially, she thought her parents would return for her after a few months, but that wasn’t the case.

Pete and May tried their best to empathize with the teenager, especially in dealing with her negative feelings. They treated her like their own daughter and practically raised her during the most critical formative years.

After the first year of the young girl living in Montana, Pete and May realized there’d be a chance that her parents would never come back. They stepped in as her parents, and they became a true family.

They taught the girl how to help out with the ranch and how to ride horses. They’d go horseback riding in the fields and the mountains each weekend.

Seven years after abandoning her, her parents suddenly wrote that they were done traveling and were ready to pick her up so they could be together again.

Eventually, Pete and May gifted the young girl with her own horse to love and care for. Although it’s not the life she imagined she’d live as a child, it’s the life that suited her so well.

“I am genuinely enjoying every second of my life,” she admitted. After the first few months of feeling abandoned, she stopped missing her parents. She saw Pete and May as the only parental figures in her life.

Despite this, she’d have semi-regular contact with her parents. They’d hop on a voice or video call, exchanging postcards and e-mails.

Seven years after abandoning her, her parents suddenly wrote that they were done traveling and were ready to pick her up so they could be together again. They added that they missed her and couldn’t wait to see her.

The young woman, 17 at this point, was distraught. She felt it was unfair that they said this because they wouldn’t have disappeared for seven years if they had missed her.

She added that after seven years in Montana, she’d built her whole life around her new home. She didn’t want to live in a city, nor did she want to abandon her horse. Most importantly, she saw Pete and May as her parents.

Through the years, Pete and May called the young girl’s biological parents to visit her whenever they had time. Even though they could have, they never did.

The woman took her story online to ask for opinions on telling her parents she didn’t want to move back in with them. Many people commented that her parents could be criminals, especially since they hid away for so long.

Admittedly, the teenager never thought of her story from this angle. She doesn’t know how to find out whether it’s true, but the thought of her parents doing something illegal scared her.

All she knew was that her parents had always been strange. People close to them said they had “very little sense of responsibility,” never took things seriously, and were always getting in trouble.

After discerning her situation for weeks, the young woman decided on her fate. She chose not to return to her biological parents, and she enlisted the help of Pete and May to tell them.

Before telling her biological parents, she had to tell Pete and May her thoughts. They assured her they considered her their daughter, so she could stay as long as she wanted.

Since they assured her that she’ll always have a home in Montana, the young woman asked Pete to help her write a proper response to her parents’ message. “I don’t think I’d be able to write a message without getting emotional,” she said.

The teenager hopes the message will make it clear to her biological parents that she no longer wants to return home, especially after being abandoned for seven years. After reading through the comments of those on the internet, she’s unsure what kind of people her biological parents genuinely are.

All those who’ve read the girl’s situation believe there’s more to the story than what the teenager knows. They urged her to follow her heart by choosing to live with Pete and May, who gave her unconditional love and care when her parents didn’t.

In a similar story, a mom abandoned her four kids after wanting a better life for herself. While she ditched her responsibilities, her ex stayed with his children and chose to raise them the best he could.