I met my first love just after finishing secondary school. I was so overwhelmed with feelings that I immediately started imagining our future together. We married quickly, as those first intense emotions often drown out all sense.
We had a beautiful, grand wedding at a country manor house. The celebration lasted two days, just as tradition calls for. My mother was over the moon that I had found my one true man. Her wedding gift to us was a flat shed inherited from my grandmother. It needed quite a bit of work, but that didnt matter then. What was important was that my husband and I had a roof over our heads.
Mum gave us all her savings, so we managed to renovate the place. There was even enough left to fully furnish our new home.
It felt as if my life had become a fairy taleuntil my father met a younger woman at our wedding and fell for her. I felt terribly sorry for my mum. Despite everything, she tried to be happy for me, even as her own world fell apart. My father didnt waste any timehe left my mum for the other woman. He even managed to force her out of their home and sold it. Ill never forgive my dad for doing something so shameful to my mother.
After my parents divorce was final, Mums health took a turn for the worse. Thats when my father really let loose, leaving my mum with nowhere to go. While my mum was being treated in hospital, I tried to come up with a solution. She had suffered a stroke, so she needed daily care.
I decided to bring Mum home with me so I could look after her and help with everything she needed. My husband and I had a two-bedroom flat of about 70 square metres. I thought it would be perfectly comfortable for three people. After her stroke, Mum became very quiet, barely spoke, and found it hard to get about.
This situation changed everything for my husband. He demanded that I find somewhere else for my motherhe said he couldnt live with his mother-in-law and shed get in his way. But as Ive already said, Mum gave us the flat and shed paid for the renovations.
I didnt argue; I simply asked my husband to leave. And you know, I wasnt unhappy about it. If a man, at the very start of your life together, can treat the woman he says he loves like that, then sooner or later, hell leave you for someone else anyway.
After my mum was discharged, I brought her into my home just as Id planned. It weighed heavily on me at first, but I had no desire to see either my father or my ex-husband. Mum is gradually getting better, though shell never be as lively and cheerful as she once was. But shes my mum, and its my dutyas her daughterto care for her right to the end. After that, well, well see what life brings. Sometimes I think its a blessing I didnt get pregnant.
