It was my dream and my husband’s dream to live by the sea. We went to her long ten years, denying ourselves in everything and collecting money to buy housing in the resort area, and we did not set a goal for some elite apartments, we wanted an ordinary two or three bedroom apartment, and the options for the layout of us generally did not bother.
And now – the dream has come true. True, my husband and I still had “credits”, but the goal was achieved. The sea, their own apartment a stone’s throw from the coast – just what we wanted.
Sigh of relief and relax we were able to only the first couple of months. Then my mother came to visit. Showing off our cozy apartment, she asked for a set of keys, so to speak, friendly be able to arrive without any problems without prior arrangement. My husband and I had no idea that this set would multiply exponentially.
One morning while we were in bed, we heard the sound of the lock being opened and the knocking of the door. My husband, though without enthusiasm, thinking that “mama dear” had arrived, quickly got dressed and went to meet the early guest. To his great amazement, he saw a family with two children in the hallway. When I joined in the “welcoming ceremony,” I saw that it was my cousin’s family.
Then we thought of nothing better to do than to portray the joy of the unexpected meeting. My sister, without any offence, said that she had made a duplicate of the keys from my mother’s copy, and my mother told them that we would be only too happy to be surprised.
These “tourists” stayed with us for a week. Naturally, they had brought groceries from the village, and the food issue was secondary. But the presence of another family in the apartment, and, moreover, with a resort mood, my husband and I absolutely did not add optimism.
After seeing my cousin’s family in peace, I called my mother and asked her not to arrange such unexpected meetings with relatives in the future. Mom wondered what strains me in this situation and said that nothing terrible happened, and the sister was very pleased with how we received them and they expect to continue to have free accommodation by the sea in the summer season.
Then came a flood of other relatives, inspired by my mother. Uncles, aunts, nephews and other “close” people showed up at the apartment like hell out of a snuffbox. Often there would be a mix-up, and several visitors would arrive. They would cheerfully greet each other and sound the classic:
– Wow, where else would we meet but at Samantha’s house!
Samantha (me), however, was not taken into account at all, much less my husband, well, the owners walk there, what are they, sorry, because the fellow villagers came!
After two seasons of such “visits”, I asked my mother to return our keys, to which she was very offended and accused me of arrogance and distancing myself from the relatives. When I told my husband about our conversation with my mom, he hugged me and said:
– You realize that there are already so many keys that Mom’s set absolutely does not solve the problem. If you don’t mind, tomorrow we’ll have a new door with new locks.
I did not mind, and a week later, we, trying not to make any noise, about an hour listening to our new door trying to open with the old keys some other “aliens”. Then there were calls on his cell phone, but we steadfastly did not answer.
In the evening there was a scandalous conversation with my mother. She shouted indignantly that my third cousin had to spend the night at the train station waiting for his train. When I asked my mother what the name of this uninvited guest was, I heard short beeps…
After that there were two more unsuccessful attempts to “possess” our apartment. Our new door successfully passed the test of strength, and my husband and I have gained enough confidence that this – our apartment, and not a thoroughfare.
My mother does not visit us now, out of solidarity with her relatives, I try to maintain a normal relationship with her, but I am not going to let anyone else into my apartment. This is my and my husband’s territory, which we achieved only with our own labor.
For some reason none of my relatives had any thoughts of following our path and buying a place to live by the sea. But to come to the ready-made, all were, in contrast to us, very happy!
