Managed to Make My Son DivorceEnded Up Regretting It
My daughter-in-law dropped my granddaughter off for the weekend again yesterday Sandra, my neighbour, grumbled as we bumped into each other in the stairwell. I simply can’t get the child to eat a decent meal! “Mummy says princesses don’t eat too much!” she says, takes two spoonfuls, and that’s it! She’s as pale as a sheet, you know, practically glowing with hunger!
Sandra had taken a strong dislike to her son Williams wife, Emily, from the very moment she first met her. Her main grievance? Emily was older than her son by a full seven years and William, at the time, was hardly more than a boy, having only just finished school.
He hadn’t even known any women before her! Sandra would fume to me. No wonder he fell head over heels! She lured him in with all her worldly experience!
To be fair, Emily was an attractive, lively woman. She looked after herself, dressed elegantly, and was keen on her career. I never found it the least bit surprising that Sandras son was utterly taken with her. Theres no secret to it, is there? Men are led by their eyes, they say and she was definitely easy on the eye.
Emily was conscientious about her diet and health, and in turn, she raised her daughter with similar habits: eat moderately, dont overindulge, think about health and keeping fit.
Just a few months into their relationship, Emily became pregnant. Whether she did it to spite her would-be mother-in-law, who was doing her best to break them up, or because she was eager to get married or, perhaps, it was simply an accident, no one could really say. But William was adamant: he was going to marry Emily, despite only just turning 18, while she was already 25.
After finishing his exams, William started at the local college, juggling his studies with work so that the young couple could live independently. At first they rented a flat, later managing to buy a tiny bedsit in a shared house.
They were happy, but Sandra was relentless shed find any excuse to criticise her daughter-in-law. The cooking was wrong, the shirts un-ironed, the child wasnt dressed properly Sandra seemed to think her daughter-in-law was all faults, no merits. Shed keep picking at her endlessly, and poor William didnt hear the end of it either.
Eventually, Emily limited their contact to the bare minimum. She took full charge dropping her daughter at playgroup, then on to gymnastics and chess club. She was forever rushing from work to nursery to after-school activities If that wasnt enough, she still managed to squeeze in visits to the gym, the nail salon, the hairdresser The upshot was, she was at home less and less.
William would get home to an empty flat: his daughter was out at activities, his wife either with her or off on some errand.
One such evening, the neighbour from the end flat Julia, a thirty-eight-year-old widow with two teenagers knocked on their door. The tap in their shared kitchen had burst, spraying water everywhere, and she asked if William could come and fix it before they flooded the entire floor below.
William was good with his hands and sorted it out quickly, rummaging for tools and parts. Meanwhile, Julia cooked mince and mash for her family. As a thank you, she offered William a plate and he gratefully accepted. Emily hadnt fried up mince in ages, too busy with everything else homecooked meals had become a rarity lately.
From that day, Julia often invited William to dinner while his wife and daughter were out. Theyd spend their evenings together in the communal kitchen, sharing conversation and homemade shepherds pie and crumbles. One night, something shifted between them suddenly, they found themselves closer than either expected, unable to resist that cosy, easy companionship.
Life in shared housing is hardly private. Too many nosy neighbours, too many shared spaces eventually, news got back to Emily that her husband was spending far too much time with Julia for it to be merely neighbourly.
There was a row the whole floor must have heard it. Proud as she was, Emily threw William out, packing his things and dumping them in the corridor.
It was too late to go to his parents, and he had nowhere else to turn so he went to Julia, who welcomed him with open arms.
At the time, William and Emilys daughter was six, William was 25, Emily 32, and Julia 39.
When Sandra heard her son had left his wife, she was delighted victory at last! But upon learning hed moved in with an older woman with two children, who was fourteen years his senior, she suddenly fell silent…
I found this change in Sandra remarkable and a bit odd. Shed hounded Emily for years simply because she was older than William, and now nothing. Not a word of reproach. Had reality finally dawned on her?
That was all fifteen years ago now; Emily and Williams marriage ended long since. Ever since, William has been with his second wife, Julia. They never had any children together, but they get on like a house on fire, even with the age gap. Now, William is forty and Julias fifty-four, and Sandra welcomes them into her home warmly, without so much as a grumble a picture of peace and acceptance. And you can see, William really is happy.
Looking back, Ive learnt perhaps the hardest way that trying to force happiness, especially for someone you love, usually ends in regret. Sometimes, we meddle too much and forget that love doesnt care a jot for numbers or age. For now, I try to remind myself: happiness is where you find it, even when its not where youd planned.
