Entry: 10th Wedding Anniversary Reflections
I was raised by my grandmother. Of course, Im grateful to her, though her love always seemed to come with strings attached.
I was just five when my beloved dad decided he wasnt cut out for family life and left Mum and me for another woman, someone even younger than my mother. Since wed been living in his flat in Manchester, he wasted no time demanding that Mum and I leave once the divorce papers came through.
Thats how I ended up living with my gran, Mums mother. Dad was ever so brave a man; he discovered all sorts of clever ways to sidestep paying child support. So Mum and I had nothing to our names and found ourselves under Grans roof. Times were properly tough. Grans state pension was meagre, Mum was always working all hours, and Id come home from school only to do the housework too.
As I got older, I sometimes bunked off school and worked cash-in-hand on building sites. A proper education was the last thing on my mind. Seeing how hard Mum and Gran worked just to scrape by broke my heart. I resolved to leave school after my GCSEs and get a real full-time job.
Then, out of the blue, my grandmothers sister, Auntie Nora, stepped in. She offered to take me in, help me with schoolwork, and support me. Auntie Nora had never had children of her own and wanted me to live with her. Mum and Gran agreed it was the right thing to do.
So, off I moved to live with Auntie Nora. Mum and Gran would visit from time to time. Life with Auntie Nora was much easier she had a comfortable pension and I could focus on my studies without worrying about work. She taught me how to cook a proper roast and even how to sew a button back on a shirt. Thanks to her, I left school with honours and made it into university to study law.
Auntie Nora used to say, time and again, that as soon as I finished my studies, shed leave me her flat in her will. She said she loved me like the child she never had, and really wanted to help me get ahead in life. But life seldom goes according to plan, as I learned not long after.
In my third year at university, I met Emily. My word, she was brilliant and beautiful I completely lost my head. Thankfully, the feeling was mutual, and I soon found myself wanting to marry her.
When Auntie Nora got wind of it, she caused such a scene. She insisted Emily was just after my future inheritance, that it wasnt me she cared for. She even threatened to disinherit me if I didnt break things off with Emily.
I told Emily everything. She said we could split up if the flat meant that much, but also told me shed live with me in a run-down bedsit if she had to; her love for me wasnt about money. It was clear: I chose love I took the risk. Auntie Nora stopped speaking to me. I lost the promise of a flat, but I had Emily.
Today marks our tenth wedding anniversary. We have two wonderful children, and our love is stronger than ever. Every year, I become more certain that I made the best decision of my life.
