I asked everyone several times if they could come to my New Year’s Eve celebration. It used to be a family tradition to celebrate as a family, but the kids are grown, they’re thinking about their grandchildren or their soulmates. At first everyone promised they would come, but two weeks before the holiday, they started to drop out. The older daughter said that her husband made a gift for her and her kids and they are going to a ski resort, so they can’t come; the middle daughter is on her honeymoon; and the youngest is leaving urgently for work. And that was it, I was all alone.
I did not want to sit alone over the holiday weekend, and through a neighbor on the second floor, I found out where I could buy myself a trip somewhere. It was a long trip, but I took a sightseeing bus for a week. A lot of people from different countries were traveling with me, and that’s how I met Alice. She was sixty-two and, like me, was single and decided to travel because she didn’t want to be alone during the holidays.
I noticed that many tourists either initially traveled in groups or found acquaintances, and Alice and I formed a group too, visiting museums together and choosing food for dinner. Together we went out without a guide to walk around the hotel and talked a lot. We discussed the children and our life and our lack of joy and caring in it.
– Why don’t we give up this loneliness? Will you marry me? – I asked, going to call it a joke, if Alice is not supportive.
– Well, yes, I will,” the woman replied.
I was afraid that when she returned home she would change her mind, but nothing of the sort happened. We lived in different cities, and I expressed a desire to move in with her after the wedding. I would sell my apartment, and we could live out our days comfortably. We’d go on a trip again, as a married couple. I did not tell the kids until the last, decided to stagger after the holidays, when part of the things were sent in the mail to Alice, and I found a good realtor.
– You can not! – My son declared.
– What marriage, what move? – The eldest daughter was against it, too. – Daddy, you’re too old to fall in love. And you want to sell the apartment for yourself? We have two children, we could use some money.
Suddenly I was immediately reminded of me and my apartment.
– You have money for trips to the mountains, so you have money for your children,” I reasoned. – You don’t divide my property as long as I’m alive and well. The other children would be happy for their father…
– We are glad,” the middle daughter mumbled uncertainly, and her new-found husband nodded in agreement, “but it’s so strange and sudden.
– What’s so strange about it? You’re all there, I want to take care of someone too and get care in return. And I don’t want to be all alone over the holidays. You’re all gone, and I have to sit around and be bored? I don’t think so.
It took the kids a long time to convince me. It wasn’t so much that they didn’t want to let me go as it was my apartment. They hoped to sell it and share it, but I decided to spend the money myself and not give it to them. That’s how the kids grow up and think about how to divide the inheritance.
