When I was thirty-two years old, my husband and I split up. I was left alone with my five-year-old daughter Anna. There was no help from the outside. For more than a year, we could barely make ends meet. I had the impression that it would never go away. Then I decided to go abroad to work. A lot of my friends were working there, so I went to join them.
Fourteen years of my earnings passed, and I returned home. My daughter, who has grown up since then, now despises me and calls me a bad mother. She started making claims against me.
I don’t understand why Anna is doing this to me, because I didn’t leave her to fend for herself, I took her to my mother. My mother is a responsible person, so I had no doubt that she was looking after her daughter. Anna had the care and attention she needed. Although she loved her grandmother, my daughter believes that she could not replace me.
My mother passed away nine months ago, and I decided to return home. I had to take care of my daughter and the house in the village. During this time, my daughter graduated from high school and entered university. I managed to save some money, which I later used to buy my daughter an apartment in the city center.
However, Anna does not accept me at all. She accuses me of abandoning her, of not giving her maternal love and care, and because of this, I have no right to be called a mother. All my attempts to melt the ice in Anna’s soul were in vain. I explained to my daughter so many times that I did not abandon her, I needed to do so to be able to live a better life.
– I did not abandon you. We could barely make ends meet. I was constantly in touch with you. We talked almost every day. Didn’t we? Have you forgotten, dear? I sent you the money I earned and saved some for your housing. Do you think it was easy for me among strangers? I worked hard so that you would not need anything.
My daughter doesn’t remember the time when we were left alone after the divorce from her father. In the end, I had to leave for work not because of a good life.
I sent money to my mother and daughter. It was not easy to earn it. I worked as a nanny for a family and lived in that house. So I had to save money for housing. I provided my daughter with an apartment in the city. I used my own money to renovate it and buy all the necessary furniture. Now my daughter has her own place, but she is not going to share it with me. That’s why I made repairs in my mother’s old house, and now I will live there. For as long as I need.
But I have another problem: how to find a common language with my daughter. She hardly ever speaks to me. Anna keeps saying the same thing all the time: “You’re not my mom, money can’t buy me, you left me and ran away.” From my daughter’s words, I get the impression that there really is no one worse than me.
I want to see what kind of mother she will be. And whether she will want to hear from her own child what I have to hear. Anna said that she was not going to have children, and she did not want to get married. She plans to live for herself. Without unnecessary worries and problems. I am already thinking – maybe the modern generation is really so ungrateful and thinks only about themselves? Everyone owes them something, they don’t like everything.
I would have remained alone and unwanted in my old age, if not for my neighbor, who started visiting me every day. He is also single and has two grown children. Recently he suggested that we move in together. I don’t mind it, but my daughter doesn’t want to. She has put me in front of the fact that if I get together with my neighbor, she doesn’t want to know me.
