{"id":5800,"date":"2026-08-14T22:25:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T22:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/echostoryus.com\/?p=5800"},"modified":"2026-08-14T22:25:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T22:25:25","slug":"part-2-my-family-blamed-me-for-christmas-i-stayed-home-and-their-celebration-collapsed-without-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/echostoryus.com\/?p=5800","title":{"rendered":"PART 2 \u2013 My family blamed me for Christmas. I stayed home\u2014and their celebration collapsed without me."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
\n
PART 2: CHRISTMAS WITHOUT MY CREDIT CARD<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Preston\u2019s reply came immediately.
\nDad, what does that mean?
\nI looked at the message for several seconds before setting my phone facedown on the kitchen table.
\nFor most of Preston\u2019s life, I had believed that being a good father meant always answering.
\nAlways fixing.
\nAlways paying.
\nAlways smoothing over whatever mess had appeared before anyone else had to feel uncomfortable.
\nThat morning, for the first time, I decided silence could be an answer too.
\nI poured another cup of coffee into Eleanor\u2019s blue mug and watched snow drift past the kitchen window.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

At 9:17, Preston called.
\nI let it ring.
\nAt 9:21, he called again.
\nAt 9:26, Marissa called.
\nThen came another message.
\nDad, the shuttle leaves in forty minutes. Where are you?
\nI typed four words.
\nI\u2019m staying home, Preston.
\nThree dots appeared almost instantly.
\nWhat?
\nThen:
\nStop joking.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then:
\nWe already paid for everything.
\nThat sentence almost made me laugh.
\nWe.
\nI walked into the living room and looked at the little Christmas village Eleanor had collected over twenty-five years. The tiny ceramic bakery. The church with the cracked steeple. The toy shop Preston had accidentally knocked off the mantel when he was eight, leaving a chip in the roof that Eleanor refused to repair because she said every family village needed evidence that a family had actually lived there.
\nI wondered when ours had stopped feeling lived in and started feeling managed.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

My phone rang again.
\nThis time I answered.
\n\u201cDad,\u201d Preston said before I could speak, \u201cwhat are you doing?\u201d
\n\u201cI told you. I\u2019m staying home.\u201d
\nThere was a pause.
\n\u201cYou can\u2019t just decide that this morning.\u201d
\n\u201cI decided it days ago.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d
\n\u201cI mean I\u2019m not coming to Colorado.\u201d
\nBehind him I could hear airport announcements, suitcase wheels, children talking, and Marissa asking someone whether the ski equipment had been checked.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then Preston lowered his voice.
\n\u201cDad, everyone is already here.\u201d
\n\u201cI hope you have a good trip.\u201d
\n\u201cAre you angry about the motel?\u201d
\nSo he knew.
\nNot only had he known, he had been waiting to see whether I would discover it.
\n\u201cI\u2019m not angry about the motel,\u201d I said.
\nThat seemed to confuse him.
\n\u201cThen what is this?\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s me staying home.\u201d
\n\u201cDad, come on. We can change things when you get there.\u201d
\n\u201cNo need.\u201d
\n\u201cMarissa only booked the motel because the lodge was crowded.\u201d
\n\u201cThere are six bedrooms.\u201d
\nAnother pause.
\n\u201cYou read the emails.\u201d
\n\u201cYes.\u201d
\nHis breathing changed.
\n\u201cThose messages weren\u2019t meant for you.\u201d
\n\u201cNo,\u201d I said. \u201cApparently only my credit card was.\u201d
\n\u201cDad.\u201d
\n\u201cI have to go.\u201d
\n\u201cWait.\u201d
\nI hung up.
\nFor the next hour, I turned my phone to silent and made breakfast.
\nTwo eggs.
\nToast.
\nA little bacon.
\nNothing special.
\nYet sitting alone at my kitchen table felt strangely peaceful.
\nNo one was telling me what shirt to wear.
\nNo one was asking whether I could cover an upgrade.
\nNo one was warning me not to bring up Eleanor because it might \u201cmake the mood sad.\u201d
\nAt eleven, I drove to the cemetery.
\nI brushed a thin layer of snow from Eleanor\u2019s marker and stood there with my hands in my coat pockets.
\n\u201cWell,\u201d I said quietly, \u201cI finally did something you probably would\u2019ve told me to do years ago.\u201d
\nThe wind moved through the bare trees.
\nI could almost hear her answer.
\nRaymond, you always confuse being needed with being loved.
\nShe had said that once.
\nI had forgotten it until that morning.
\nWhen I returned home, there were twenty-three missed calls.
\nPreston.
\nMarissa.
\nMarissa\u2019s mother.
\nOne of her sisters.
\nEven Marissa\u2019s father, a man who had barely spoken more than ten sentences to me in twelve years, had suddenly found my number.
\nI ignored all of them.
\nThen, shortly after noon, my banking app sent an alert.
\nDECLINED TRANSACTION: $2,840.
\nI stared at it.
\nFive minutes later:
\nDECLINED TRANSACTION: $1,160.
\nThen:
\nDECLINED TRANSACTION: $743.
\nThat was when I understood.
\nThey had landed.
\nAnd the card I had removed from Preston\u2019s access was finally being tested.
\nMy phone rang.
\nPreston.
\nI answered.
\n\u201cWhat did you do to the card?\u201d
\nThere was no greeting this time.
\n\u201cI removed you as an authorized user.\u201d
\n\u201cYou what?\u201d
\n\u201cYou heard me.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019re standing at the rental counter.\u201d
\n\u201cThen I suggest using your own card.\u201d
\n\u201cYou cannot be serious.\u201d
\n\u201cI am.\u201d
\n\u201cDad, they\u2019re trying to charge the deposit for the vehicles.\u201d
\n\u201cThen pay the deposit.\u201d
\n\u201cWith what?\u201d
\nThe question hung between us.
\nI almost asked him the same thing I had asked myself when I saw the original resort charge.
\nWith what?
\nHad eleven adults truly traveled across the country assuming a sixty-nine-year-old widower would quietly finance every meal, vehicle, lift ticket, bottle of wine, and hotel fee?
\nApparently they had.
\n\u201cPreston,\u201d I said, \u201cyou booked the vacation. You pay for the vacation.\u201d
\n\u201cThis is unbelievable.\u201d
\n\u201cNo. What\u2019s unbelievable is charging thirty thousand dollars to someone else\u2019s account without permission.\u201d
\n\u201cYou said Christmas was important.\u201d
\n\u201cIt is.\u201d
\n\u201cMom would be ashamed of you.\u201d
\nThere it was again.
\nEleanor.
\nHe reached for her memory whenever he needed a weapon.
\nBut something had changed in me.
\n\u201cYour mother,\u201d I said slowly, \u201cwould never have stolen from me.\u201d
\nHe went silent.
\n\u201cDo not use her name again to excuse what you\u2019ve done.\u201d
\nThen I ended the call.
\nAt 1:40, another number appeared.
\nMarissa.
\nI almost ignored it.
\nThen I decided I wanted to hear what she had to say.
\n\u201cRaymond,\u201d she began, with the strained patience people use when they think they are speaking to someone unreasonable, \u201cwe need to fix this.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat needs fixing?\u201d
\n\u201cThe cards.\u201d
\n\u201cThey\u2019re fixed.\u201d
\n\u201cNo, they\u2019re declining.\u201d
\n\u201cThat is the fix.\u201d
\nHer voice sharpened.
\n\u201cWe have three vehicles, grocery deliveries, equipment rentals, restaurant reservations, and the resort deposit. Everyone planned around this.\u201d
\n\u201cAround what?\u201d
\n\u201cYou helping.\u201d
\n\u201cHelping usually involves asking.\u201d
\n\u201cYou\u2019ve always paid for family Christmas.\u201d
\n\u201cNo. I\u2019ve contributed.\u201d
\n\u201cSame thing.\u201d
\n\u201cNo, Marissa. It isn\u2019t.\u201d
\nSomeone in the background asked her what was happening.
\nShe covered the phone, but I still heard her say, \u201cHe canceled everything.\u201d
\nI hadn\u2019t canceled everything.
\nI had simply stopped paying.
\nIt was fascinating how identical those two things looked to people who believed my money belonged to them.
\nThen Marissa returned.
\n\u201cRaymond, can you please put the card back on until after Christmas? We can discuss all this when we get home.\u201d
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\n\u201cWe are stranded.\u201d
\n\u201cYou\u2019re at a luxury resort in Telluride.\u201d
\n\u201cYou know what I mean.\u201d
\n\u201cYes,\u201d I said. \u201cI do.\u201d
\nShe exhaled hard.
\n\u201cFine. If this is about the motel, you can stay at the lodge.\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m staying home.\u201d
\n\u201cYou\u2019re ruining Christmas.\u201d
\nThere it was.
\nThe accusation I had heard for years.
\nI ruined Christmas when I questioned why a dinner for twelve cost almost four thousand dollars.
\nI ruined Christmas when I refused to buy Preston a new truck because his old one was only three years old.
\nI ruined Christmas when I asked Marissa not to throw away Eleanor\u2019s ornaments because they looked \u201cdated.\u201d
\nI ruined Christmas whenever I reminded anyone that generosity was not the same as unlimited access.
\nFor years, the phrase had worked.
\nIt made me apologize.
\nIt made me reach for my wallet.
\nIt made me believe peace was something I could purchase.
\nThis time, I smiled.
\n\u201cThen I suppose you should have a Christmas without me.\u201d
\nI hung up.
\nAt two in the afternoon, I made myself a sandwich and began wrapping a present I had purchased for Emma weeks earlier.
\nShe was sixteen.
\nSmart.
\nQuiet.
\nMuch more observant than her parents realized.
\nInside the box was Eleanor\u2019s old recipe book\u2014not the jewelry, because I still did not know where that had gone.
\nThe recipe book had handwritten notes in the margins.
\nToo much salt.
\nPreston hates peas.
\nRay likes extra cinnamon.
\nEmma loves these!
\nI had planned to give it to her in Colorado.
\nInstead, I placed it beneath my tree.
\nAt 2:37, Emma texted me.
\nGrandpa, are you okay?
\nOf all the messages I had received that day, hers was the first that asked about me instead of the card.
\nI answered immediately.
\nI\u2019m fine, sweetheart. Are you?
\nA minute later:
\nKind of.
\nThen:
\nMom and Dad are fighting.
\nI hesitated before typing.
\nThat isn\u2019t your responsibility.
\nShe replied:
\nDad said you canceled the trip because you\u2019re mad at everyone.
\nI looked at those words for a long time.
\nI could have defended myself.
\nI could have sent her the emails.
\nI could have told a sixteen-year-old girl that her parents had planned to put her grandfather in a roadside motel while spending his money.
\nBut she was still their daughter.
\nShe deserved the chance to love them without being turned into a messenger in an adult war.
\nSo I wrote:
\nYour father and I disagree about some financial things. None of it is your fault, and I love you.
\nHer response came several minutes later.
\nI love you too.
\nThen another message appeared.
\nGrandpa?
\nYes?
\nDid Grandma really want her necklace sold?
\nMy hands froze above the phone.
\nI read the sentence twice.
\nWhat necklace?
\nEmma started typing.
\nStopped.
\nStarted again.
\nThen:
\nMom said you gave them Grandma\u2019s anniversary necklace because you wanted to help pay for Christmas.
\nI stood up so quickly my chair scraped across the kitchen floor.
\nThe missing velvet box.
\nThe safe.
\nThe jewelry I had promised myself would someday belong to Emma.
\nI called her.
\nShe answered quietly.
\n\u201cGrandpa?\u201d
\n\u201cEmma, I need you to tell me exactly what you know.\u201d
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know much.\u201d
\n\u201cWhere is the necklace?\u201d
\n\u201cI thought you gave it to Mom.\u201d
\n\u201cWhen?\u201d
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know. Maybe last month?\u201d
\n\u201cWhy did you ask whether I wanted it sold?\u201d
\nThere was a long silence.
\nThen she whispered, \u201cBecause I heard Mom talking to Aunt Jenna.\u201d
\nMy chest tightened.
\n\u201cWhat did she say?\u201d
\n\u201cShe said the jeweler offered less than she expected, but it was enough to cover part of something.\u201d
\n\u201cPart of what?\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m not sure.\u201d
\n\u201cEmma.\u201d
\n\u201cI think she said credit cards.\u201d
\nI closed my eyes.
\nMarissa had taken Eleanor\u2019s jewelry.
\nOr Preston had.
\nMaybe both.
\nAnd they had sold it.
\n\u201cGrandpa, are you mad?\u201d
\n\u201cNot at you.\u201d
\n\u201cDid you give it to them?\u201d
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\nSilence.
\n\u201cOh.\u201d
\nThat one word contained more understanding than I wanted my granddaughter to have.
\n\u201cEmma, listen to me carefully. Do not confront your parents. Do you understand?\u201d
\n\u201cYes.\u201d
\n\u201cDo not mention this call.\u201d
\n\u201cOkay.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd if anybody asks, you know nothing about any problem between us.\u201d
\n\u201cGrandpa, what\u2019s happening?\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m figuring that out.\u201d
\nAfter we ended the call, I immediately called Julian.
\nHe answered on the second ring.
\n\u201cMerry Christmas, Raymond.\u201d
\n\u201cI found out what happened to Eleanor\u2019s jewelry.\u201d
\nHis tone changed.
\n\u201cTell me.\u201d
\nI explained Emma\u2019s message.
\nHe asked three questions.
\nDid I have photographs of the jewelry?
\nYes.
\nDid I have receipts or appraisals?
\nYes.
\nCould I prove it had been inside the safe recently?
\nThat was harder.
\nI had opened the safe in October to retrieve an insurance document. I remembered seeing the velvet box then, but there was no photograph from that day.
\nJulian was quiet for a moment.
\n\u201cDo not contact Preston about this tonight.\u201d
\n\u201cWhy?\u201d
\n\u201cBecause if the jewelry was sold through a legitimate dealer, there will be records.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat are you suggesting?\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m suggesting that people who think they\u2019re entitled to your money sometimes become careless about paperwork.\u201d
\nBefore hanging up, Julian told me to photograph every remaining item in the safe and make copies of all my financial records.
\nI spent the next hour doing exactly that.
\nAt 3:52, the calls started again.
\nThis time they came faster.
\nPreston.
\nMarissa.
\nMarissa\u2019s father.
\nMarissa\u2019s sister.
\nPreston again.
\nThen a text:
\nANSWER YOUR PHONE. THIS IS SERIOUS.
\nI stared at it.
\nAt exactly four o\u2019clock, Preston called for the sixth time.
\nI answered.
\nHe wasn\u2019t angry anymore.
\nHe sounded frightened.
\n\u201cDad.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat happened?\u201d
\n\u201cWe have a problem.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat kind of problem?\u201d
\nThere were voices behind him.
\nLoud ones.
\nSomeone was crying.
\nMarissa was saying, \u201cTell him!\u201d
\nPreston swallowed.
\n\u201cThe lodge manager says the original reservation payment was reversed.\u201d
\nI frowned.
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t reverse anything.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat?\u201d
\n\u201cI removed you from my cards. I didn\u2019t dispute the original resort charge.\u201d
\n\u201cThen why are they saying they haven\u2019t been paid?\u201d
\n\u201cI have no idea.\u201d
\n\u201cDad, they\u2019re telling us we have to leave.\u201d
\nFor a moment, neither of us spoke.
\nThen I heard another voice in the background.
\nA man.
\nCalm.
\nProfessional.
\n\u201cMr. Bennett, we need everyone\u2019s belongings brought downstairs immediately.\u201d
\nPreston lowered his voice.
\n\u201cDad, please.\u201d
\nThat word sounded strange coming from him.
\nPlease.
\n\u201cUse your own card,\u201d I said.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t.\u201d
\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d
\nAnother silence.
\nThen Preston said something I never expected.
\n\u201cBecause they\u2019re all maxed out.\u201d
\nI sat slowly at my desk.
\n\u201cAll of them?\u201d
\n\u201cYes.\u201d
\n\u201cHow much debt are you in?\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s not important right now.\u201d
\n\u201cIt seems very important.\u201d
\n\u201cDad, we have eleven people here. Emma is here. We can\u2019t get another lodge on Christmas Eve.\u201d
\nI glanced toward the snow falling outside my window.
\n\u201cThen find hotel rooms.\u201d
\n\u201cThey want almost eight thousand dollars for the available rooms.\u201d
\n\u201cThen perhaps this vacation was beyond your budget.\u201d
\nHe snapped.
\n\u201cWhy are you acting like this?\u201d
\n\u201cLike what?\u201d
\n\u201cLike you want us to suffer.\u201d
\nI felt something inside me settle.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t want you to suffer, Preston. I want you to experience the bill for the life you chose.\u201d
\nHe said nothing.
\nThen I heard Marissa grab the phone.
\n\u201cRaymond, enough!\u201d
\n\u201cHello, Marissa.\u201d
\n\u201cThey are throwing us out because of you.\u201d
\n\u201cI just told Preston I did not reverse the resort payment.\u201d
\n\u201cThen fix it.\u201d
\n\u201cI can\u2019t fix something I didn\u2019t do.\u201d
\n\u201cCall your bank.\u201d
\n\u201cI will.\u201d
\n\u201cRight now.\u201d
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\nShe practically shouted.
\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d
\n\u201cBecause before I do anything for either of you again, I need an answer.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat?\u201d
\n\u201cWhere is Eleanor\u2019s anniversary jewelry?\u201d
\nSilence.
\nAbsolute silence.
\nEven the voices behind her seemed to disappear.
\nThen Marissa said, very carefully, \u201cI don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about.\u201d
\nThat was the moment I knew.
\nPeople who are confused ask questions.
\nPeople who are guilty choose their words.
\n\u201cYou know exactly what I\u2019m talking about.\u201d
\n\u201cI have never touched Eleanor\u2019s jewelry.\u201d
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t say you touched it.\u201d
\nAnother silence.
\nThen Preston\u2019s voice appeared faintly behind her.
\n\u201cMarissa, give me the phone.\u201d
\nShe didn\u2019t.
\nInstead she said, \u201cEmma told you something, didn\u2019t she?\u201d
\nMy stomach turned.
\n\u201cLeave Emma out of this.\u201d
\n\u201cI knew she was listening.\u201d
\n\u201cMarissa.\u201d
\n\u201cYou\u2019re taking the word of a teenager over your own son?\u201d
\n\u201cI haven\u2019t accused Preston of anything yet.\u201d
\n\u201cWell, you\u2019re accusing me.\u201d
\n\u201cNo,\u201d I said. \u201cI asked where the jewelry is.\u201d
\nShe hung up.
\nFor the first time that day, I felt no satisfaction.
\nOnly cold certainty.
\nSomething larger was happening.
\nI called the bank.
\nThe representative reviewed the account.
\nThen she said something strange.
\n\u201cMr. Bennett, the resort transaction was not reversed by you.\u201d
\n\u201cI know.\u201d
\n\u201cIt appears the merchant released the authorization after receiving a fraud inquiry.\u201d
\n\u201cFrom whom?\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m afraid I can\u2019t see that information.\u201d
\nI thanked her and ended the call.
\nTwo minutes later, Julian called me.
\nHis voice was sharper than before.
\n\u201cRaymond, I need you to check your email.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat am I looking for?\u201d
\n\u201cI just received something from the investigator at the firm we use for asset searches.\u201d
\nI opened my laptop.
\nThere was a forwarded report.
\nThree pages.
\nAt the top was Preston\u2019s name.
\nUnderneath were debts.
\nCredit cards.
\nPersonal loans.
\nA home equity line.
\nPast-due accounts.
\nNumbers I had never imagined.
\nThen I reached the total.
\n$418,000.
\nI stared at it.
\n\u201cThat can\u2019t be right.\u201d
\n\u201cIt appears to be.\u201d
\n\u201cHow?\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019re still figuring that out.\u201d
\nThen I saw another line.
\nA loan application had been submitted six weeks earlier.
\nCollateral listed:
\nResidential property.
\nMy address.
\nMy house.
\nFor several seconds I couldn\u2019t breathe.
\n\u201cThey tried to borrow against my home?\u201d
\n\u201cIt looks like someone began the process.\u201d
\n\u201cBut they can\u2019t.\u201d
\n\u201cNo. Not legally.\u201d
\n\u201cWhose signature is on it?\u201d
\nJulian went quiet.
\n\u201cRaymond.\u201d
\n\u201cWhose signature?\u201d
\n\u201cThe application contains yours.\u201d
\nMy fingers tightened around the phone.
\n\u201cI never signed anything.\u201d
\n\u201cI know.\u201d
\nThe Christmas tree lights blinked across the room.
\nRed.
\nGold.
\nGreen.
\nEleanor\u2019s village sat beneath them, peaceful and still.
\nThen Julian said the sentence that changed everything.
\n\u201cIf that signature is forged, Raymond, this stopped being a family argument a long time ago.\u201d
\nBefore I could answer, someone knocked at my front door.
\nThree hard knocks.
\nI looked toward the hallway.
\n\u201cJulian, someone\u2019s here.\u201d
\n\u201cAre you expecting anyone?\u201d
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\n\u201cDon\u2019t open the door until you know who it is.\u201d
\nI walked slowly toward the front window and moved the curtain aside.
\nA black SUV was parked in my driveway.
\nA man in a dark coat stood on my porch holding a large envelope.
\nHe knocked again.
\nThen he looked directly toward the window as though he knew I was standing there.
\n\u201cMr. Raymond Bennett?\u201d he called.
\n\u201cYes?\u201d
\n\u201cI have documents regarding the property.\u201d
\nMy blood went cold.
\n\u201cWhat documents?\u201d
\nHe raised the envelope.
\n\u201cNotice of a pending claim against this residence.\u201d
\nAnd suddenly, while my family was being thrown out of a luxury lodge two thousand miles away, I realized the thirty-thousand-dollar Christmas trip might never have been the real plan at all\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 3\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

CLICK HERE CONTINUE TO READ PART 3 \u2013 My family blamed me for Christmas. I stayed home\u2014and their celebration collapsed without me.<\/a><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PART 2: CHRISTMAS WITHOUT MY CREDIT CARD Preston\u2019s reply came immediately. Dad, what does that mean? I looked at the message for several seconds before setting my phone facedown on … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18],"class_list":["post-5800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story","tag-aita","tag-diamond-ring","tag-diamonds","tag-engagement","tag-engagement-ring","tag-fiance","tag-fiancee","tag-lab-grown-diamonds","tag-photo","tag-picture","tag-reddit","tag-relationships","tag-top","tag-wedding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/echostoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/echostoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/echostoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echostoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echostoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5800"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/echostoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5807,"href":"https:\/\/echostoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800\/revisions\/5807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echostoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/echostoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echostoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echostoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}