As frustration and confusion swirl, the emotional turmoil of feeling unheard and overlooked grows. The search for these precious artifacts becomes more than just a hunt for papers; it’s a struggle to reclaim a part of identity and the painful confrontation with the possibility that some pieces of one’s journey might be gone forever.
I am currently facing a significant issue regarding my university deadlines. I have a deadline for a university application this Friday, and previously had one last Friday. A few years ago, when I moved out, my parents insisted on keeping all my college and university materials safe in their larger house.
Last month, I informed my mother that I needed my sketchbooks from my university work to apply for master’s programs. I repeatedly mentioned this, and she kept saying she would have my father look in the attic for them.
This Sunday, I went to pick them up, but no one had looked for them yet.
Last night, they informed me they cannot find anything. They found my brother’s things and some scrap material, but nothing resembling three years of university work.
My parents have essentially lost my university work, compromising my current applications. My mother is now stating that I need to sort this out myself because she feels I have given them a hard time.
Edit 1: I do not live at home and contacted my parents a month before the deadline, keeping reminders until I could get home. When I was home, I searched the house with no luck. My parents said everything was in the attic for safekeeping—the attic does not have a drop-down ladder, making it impossible to access unless you are over 6ft tall like my father.
My work was apparently in a location I could not physically reach. I am an architecture student, and while I have digital presentation sheets, the interviews heavily rely on sketchbooks, hand-drawn sheets, and models, which I found trashed in the attic (the models).
My parents have not apologized or spoken to me since Wednesday, and my deadline is today. My portfolio was planned out before the deadline; I had the sheets set up in Photoshop with titles and annotations, but I required my sketchbooks, models, and larger drawings to take to a plotter to scan and import.
Conclusion
The original poster (OP) is facing a severe setback due to their parents losing crucial university materials necessary for a master’s application. The central conflict is the OP’s dependence on their parents for stored items versus the parents’ failure to safeguard or locate these items, leading to heightened stress just before a deadline. The OP is experiencing distress and uncertainty about whether their frustration is justified given the circumstances created by the parents’ actions.
Given that the parents failed to secure irreplaceable physical academic materials despite being asked well in advance, should the OP prioritize demanding an apology and accountability, or is the immediate focus solely on mitigating the application damage, even if it means accepting the parents’ dismissal of responsibility?
Here’s how people reacted:
I am not in the art field. A sketch book to me is an unfinished or idea area. Where you try something and test it out. I wouldn’t think those need to be kept. Are your parents artists? Are they artists who went to school for art? If not they would not know the importance of what to them look like doodle books. Now you actual books that you needed for classes they may keep.
Everyone saying handle your own responsibility is full of it. I generally agree with that sentiment but your parents were careless. Their response is the worst part.
>mum is saying i need to sort this out myself now
… Not even an apology? I would never be able to trust my parents again.
It’s worth noting that your parents aren’t assholes for losing your work, they are assholes for their blasé response and lack of responsibility for fucking up
You admit you agreed to keep your stuff at your parents’ house. They are assholes for losing your sketchbooks but you knew you’d need them a month ago. Waiting until 2 days before the deadline to do anything about it is in you.
ESH.
Life lessons are hard and I’m sorry you’re in a bind. You’ll find a way through it and be better for it, I’m sure! Good luck to you.
I’m guessing you’re in an art-Art discipline (as in drawing, not history), so your work is important as part of a portfolio? That’s a big thing to lose. I can completely understand being mad.
Can you contact your university/college and get a copy of your submissions?
They lied about it being a safe place to store your stuff and now are trying to flip their failure to follow through as you being the bad guy. Assholes.