Pre-holiday preparations are every time hectic and troublesome. More often than not, it is a pleasant hassle: long-awaited guests arrive, relatives gather. The whole company celebrates the holiday in a fun and carefree way. We share with you the story of one woman who really wanted to spend her anniversary with her relatives.
“I had been preparing for my anniversary celebration for over a week. I turned 60 a couple of days ago. I was so looking forward to all my relatives coming that I devoted a lot of time and energy to the preparations. Because of the quarantine, I had to give up the idea of a restaurant and prepare for a home feast.
I live with my daughter, Melissa is now 31 years old, but she is not married yet. My son is married and is raising a daughter. Recently he turned forty. I wanted to celebrate the anniversary with my children and granddaughter. I went shopping for groceries and thought of the menu. I cooked a lot of things: different appetizers, three salads, stuffed cabbage rolls, meat, and cake. I invited everybody for Saturday, that it would be convenient for everybody and nobody planned anything beforehand.
But… I never waited for anyone that Saturday. My son did not answer my phone calls. What happened was beyond my comprehension. I felt very upset. The day was ruined, and instead of joy there were tears in my eyes. I stared sadly at the prepared food that I had to clean up from the holiday table, which no one ever sat down to eat. How could my children do this to their own mother? Melissa tried to comfort me. I couldn’t calm down and on Sunday I went to my son’s house to find out why they hadn’t come.”
“I raised two children alone because my husband went abroad to work and disappeared. Thanks to my parents’ help, I bought a two-bedroom apartment, where we lived. When my son turned 30 he got married. With my permission they moved into one room, Melissa lived in the other and I took the other room. It wasn’t very comfortable, but I wanted to help the young family somehow.
We lived that way for eight years. My son had a daughter, whom I literally nursed in my arms. Then my mother-in-law died. She did not communicate with me and took no part in her grandchildren’s life. However, she left her one room to me. It was necessary to make serious repairs in the apartment. When I finished, I decided to give the apartment to my son and his family. So we began to meet less and less often, but continued to celebrate the holidays together.
And then, on my anniversary my son didn’t come. That happened for the first time! At ten in the morning I was already at their place. All the way there, I was worried that something might have happened. I took a lot of the delicious food prepared for yesterday’s dinner. On the doorstep I was met by my sister-in-law, who was clearly unhappy that she had been awakened. She asked at the door what I had come for.”
“It turned out that my son was still peacefully asleep. When he woke up, he offered me tea. And I began to find out why they hadn’t come to my anniversary party, to which I had invited them a week in advance. I also asked him what was keeping him from returning my many phone calls. He said nothing, but his sister-in-law spoke for two people at once. It turned out that all this time she was mad at me for the fact that they got a one-bedroom apartment, and I lived in a three. They were so cramped that they couldn’t have a second child. So that’s gratitude. All your life you try for your children, you give them an apartment, but it turns out that they don’t have enough.
Unfortunately, people should think about themselves first, and then about their relatives. Then you won’t get any elementary gratitude.
