“My older brother was visiting recently. He’s been living with his wife in the States for over a decade. He comes to visit his parents very rarely. This is his third visit in all that time. Maxim came with gifts: he brought fashionable clothes and all sorts of foreign stuff for my parents.” – David says. When Maxim went to look for happiness in a foreign country, David helped his parents. Now he understands that he should have done things differently and regrets that he did not realize this sooner.
His older brother came to visit. His mother’s mood improved. She immediately forgot about all her illnesses and rushed to prepare treats for her son. The parents were overjoyed that their son and daughter-in-law were coming. While Maxim and his wife were staying with them, his parents were running around and didn’t know how to please and feed him the best way. Daddy liked to play with his American grandchildren, and mother baked pies and roasted meat for her daughter-in-law.
So for two whole weeks there was a festive atmosphere. My daughter-in-law was stuck in the kitchen or in front of the TV from morning till night, sipping tea. Not once did she offer to do anything to help or just clean up after herself. And when they were leaving, his father gave Maxim an envelope of money. His brother laughed: “What am I supposed to do in the States with rubles?” But he didn’t refuse the money.
By the evening after the departure of the guests, my mother’s blood pressure rose again. Ira had to make her tea and spend the evening nursing her back to health. My father asked me to chop some wood, he was in no condition to do it himself, though yesterday he demonstrated in front of the guests how good he was at it and how well he handled the axe. I saw how my wife had to be torn between the kitchen, her mother’s pressure, and cleaning. It got frustrating.
What a life with parents is like. Ira and I have been married for almost nine years. All that time we’ve been living at my parents’ house. They no longer do the house, and we take full charge of repairs, cleaning, and other household chores. Dad and mom retired and decided to take good care of their health: they don’t overwork, they don’t go to the store or outdoors unnecessarily. All the household chores were passed on to me and Irina. She and I made repairs in all the rooms, replaced the windows, the roof, the fence. We paid for everything ourselves.
Maxim very rarely visits his parents. They turn into other people when they meet him. They become alert, active and cheerful again, nothing hurts them.
We decided to live with my parents, so it would be easier to help them when needed. I realize now that what I did was wrong. But we invested so much money and energy in their house that now it’s a shame to give it all up. My parents don’t appreciate what we do on a daily basis. They praise Maxim to relatives and acquaintances, and they call us losers who still live with our parents. I don’t know what I should do in this situation.
