My father retired not too long ago, and my mother has been living off those pennies for five years now. Dad’s salary used to balance their lives, but now the cost of medicine and doctor visits is so high that my parents sometimes don’t have enough. I have to find this out the hard way, because they are partisans and don’t want me to know that they are short on money. As their son, I am always ready to help and give them money. In my time, they provided me with everything I needed, and they certainly didn’t skimp on my health, so I’m happy to give them money myself.
The same cannot be said for my father-in-law. He is my mother-in-law’s second husband, nine years younger than her. He’s never ashamed to ask his illegitimate daughter or me for money. He also does it on the sly – he asks me not to give it to him, but to lend it to him, but in time he pretends to forget about the debt, and my wife does not allow me to remind her, because he is her stepfather after all.
Her desire to help her parents I understand perfectly, and I shouldn’t feel sorry for my father-in-law, but he spends on nonsense. He’s always fixing something in the car, painting it, buying things at our expense. This is not critical, given that he does not go anywhere in particular, and we will never entrust his car. So it turns out that this is a stupid investment. But I can’t refuse to give money – my father-in-law does not always tell me right away what he needs it for, and I don’t want to ask in advance so as not to offend him. We give money to my parents, so we owe it to my wife’s parents, too. But it still pisses me off the difference in the importance of spending. I think that my parents need it more, as it is health, and without new mats in the car can do without.
