I was sitting in a high stakes meeting on a Tuesday morning when my mother called to casually inform me that she and my father had left my eight year old daughter on the side of a highway. Little Abigail had experienced simple motion sickness in their vehicle on the way to the airport, and my parents decided she was a nuisance who would ruin their expensive family vacation. They left her near a desolate roadside market and sent me a digital location pin before hanging up the phone. Operating on pure adrenaline, I immediately left my office building and drove thirty minutes out to a dusty, heavy traffic road to find my child clutching her backpack and shivering from distress. I held my weeping daughter tightly and assured her she was finally safe from the horrible ordeal. As I drove my sweet girl back home, the full weight of the situation hit me with devastating clarity. My parents had treated a simple bout of car sickness as a reason to discard their own grandchild like excess luggage. Once we were home, I settled her onto the couch with a light blanket and reassured her that she had done absolutely nothing wrong. While she slept, I realized my parents had not suddenly become cruel that morning, but rather I had spent years ignoring their selfish behavior to keep the peace. I had been paying for their family vacations, emergency repairs, and loans in a desperate attempt to buy their affection and provide a loving extended family for my child.