I first met James when we were both twenty-seven. Back then, James had already finished university with honours and was getting ready to defend his thesis. Hed always been high-achieving in his studies. By that time, hed managed to save up and buy himself a two-bedroom flat and even a garage. After finishing university, he planned to buy himself a car. A year later, we got married, and a year and a half after that, our daughter was born. When we both turned thirty, our little girl was two months old.
As his birthday was approaching, I suggested we celebrate at a restaurant with his parents. But James refused. He said he only wanted to spend his birthday with usjust his girls.
So thats exactly what we did. The next day, after work, he went to visit his parents. But he didnt stay long and soon came back. He sat down on the sofa and started to cry. I was frozen in shockhere was this grown man, so self-reliant and now a father, sobbing like a child. I tried my best to comfort and calm him. That was the moment everything changed.
He told me, for the first time, that hed been beaten as a child over the smallest thingskicking a football, getting his clothes dirty, making a blot in his school book. Both his mum and dad used to do it.
When I grew up, they stopped hitting me, but I never heard a kind word from them. Even when I finished college with distinction
And? Its just college. You should be going to university. So James did, even though he didnt really need to.
He bought his own flat.
Well, its only fifty square metres.
They criticised him even though they themselves lived in a thirty-metre house. When we marriedShes rather petite and thin. Can she even have children?
I did, though.
Well, you cant be sure whose child that is. Theres nothing of us in her!
And finally, when he didnt throw a big party for their wedding anniversary, his parents caused a scene.
Ungrateful son!
They passed their judgment, making their feelings brutally clear. James then turned to me and asked, Am I really such a terrible person that even my own parents dont love me?
I told him there are people in this world who simply dont know how to love. He just had the misfortune of being born to them. But now, he has me and our daughter, and we love him dearlybecause hes the best man in the world.
Dont you notice how your little girls face lights up when you walk through the door after work? And remembering the way our daughters eyes shine when she sees him, James finally began to calm down. Eventually, he even managed a smile himself.
