My son and his wife have just given me a flat now that Im retiring.
Today, my son and daughter-in-law arrived, handed me a set of keys, and then took me straight to the solicitor. Im so overwhelmed, I can barely get a word out, so I just whisper,
Why are you giving me such an expensive gift? I dont need this!
Its your retirement bonus, Mum. You can rent it out and have a bit extra coming in! my son tells me.
I hadnt even started looking into my pension yet! Id only just been made redundant and was about to begin my well-earned retirement. They had sorted out everything without even asking me. I tried to protest, but they wouldnt let me get a word in.
Things with my daughter-in-law havent always been smooth. At first, it was calm, but then storms would blow up out of nowheresometimes sparked by me, sometimes by her. It took us both quite a while to get used to each other. We had to learn not to argue, not to pick fights. But for the past few years, thank goodness, weve managed to find peace.
When my sister-in-law heard about the gift, she phoned me up right away, full of congratulations, and then started bragging about herself: I mustve raised a good daughter, since she didnt mind giving you such a present! She then told me she personally would never have accepted such a thing; shed have put it aside for her own grandson.
I lay awake half the night wondering whether I could get by on a single pension, since, truthfully, I dont need much. In the morning I called over my grandson and tried to gently ask if he might want me to set up the flat for him. Hes turning sixteen soon and will be heading off to university, probably get a girlfriendhe certainly cant take her back to his parents place.
Dont worry, Nan! I want to earn my own keep! was his reply.
No one would take the flatI offered it to my daughter-in-law, my grandson, even my own son.
It reminded me of what happened to my older sister: her sister-in-law gave her house away, only to end up having to move into council housing. She clung to that single room like it was her last lifeline.
And then there was our uncle Hes been gone for fifteen years now, and his heirs are still not on speaking terms, all because they couldnt split his things up without falling out.
Once, on the telly, I saw a programme where the parents left their house to their son, who then turned around and evicted them, sold the home from under them, and left them on the street.
I cried I dont even know why. Maybe out of gratitude, maybe out of pride for my children. After my trip to the pension office, I found out Ill be getting two thousand pounds a month, and then my son managed to rent out my flat for three thousand pounds monthly. Thats when I realised what a truly generous gift my children had given meit was fit for a queen!
