Hi, I’ve been a lurker for a bit on this account, but I now have a situation I need to know if I’m wrong about.

So, I (32F) have been dating my girlfriend I’ll call Ruby (48F) for around 10 months. Yes, I’m well aware of our age gap. I’m a fully grown woman. I can make my own choices. Ruby treats me well, and she’s been the first in a long string of shitty exes to do so.

For some context, me and my parents (67F and 65M) have never been close, as they honestly didn’t really give a shit about me when I was a kid. I was always being handed off to nannies and ignored when I would try to play with them.

They would always leave me behind with said nannies when they went on business trips and vacations, and then when I got older, they would just leave me all alone.

It was a shitty way to grow up, but I’ve moved on from it. I can’t let my childhood define my entire life. Once I moved out, we rarely talked besides holidays and birthdays.

Anyways, in the past couple years, my parents have started reaching out more and trying to connect. I was a little weary at first, as I thought maybe they wanted something from me, but after feeling them out for a bit, I think they just feel bad for how they ignored me when I was young.

I slowly started letting them into my life, and a few months ago, told them about Ruby. They immediately jumped into telling me how I’m too young to be dating someone so old and so on and so forth. I shut that down immediately. I told them they don’t get to say stuff like that to me, ever. They can support me after all the stuff they pulled, or go away. That seemed to shut them up.

Fast forward to last night, me, Ruby, and my parents all had dinner together. It was their first time meeting her. It was going smoothly up until Ruby pecked me on the lips before going to the bathroom. The second she was out of earshot, my mom just blurted out something like (I can’t exactly remember) “Ruby absolutely disgusts us. She’s disgusting.”

I didn’t say anything, but I was just so stunned as they both started trying to explain that they can’t accept this relationship or some bullshit. I barely remember, all I could hear was static. I flagged down our waitress, told my parents that we’re leaving, and paid the bill as we all sat in awkward silence (I guess they didn’t want to embarrass themselves in front of the waitress? I don’t even know). By then Ruby was back, and she was totally confused.

I explained everything in the cab home, and I honestly started tearing up a bit. I was finally starting to think I actually had parents, but then they go and say shit like that. Ruby was pretty shocked and comforted me.

Now, my parents have been calling and texting me, scolding me for leaving like that, and saying that they just want me to date someone right for me. They even looped a couple aunts and uncles in (who never even really gave a damn about me ever) and have them telling me to answer my parents and apologize. Just need to know, was I wrong?

Small edit: I just wanted to say a big thank you to every single person who left a comment. I apologize for not answering anyone, between the situation and work I’ve been just extremely exhausted and not been able to formulate decent replies. I will try to answer some questions once I get off work today though 🙂