Our grandchildren are truly lovely, but we simply havent the strength to keep working for their sake.
People always say that children are a blessing, and the same goes for grandchildren. Of course I agree with that sentimentat least, when you havent got too many and youre able to support them. My husband and I have one daughter. It just so happened that, at nineteen, she told us she was expecting, and that she was keeping the baby. Then she gave birth to twins. A short while afterwards, she married. I kept hoping things would work themselves out.
Its really no surprise that everything quickly landed on our shoulders. She was a young mother with two babies to care for. Her husband was young, too, barely earning a living wage. We were the ones keeping their little family afloat. My husband and I both had to take on extra work just to make ends meet and support both our daughters family and ourselves. We worked from dawn until dusk.
For a period, the young couple lived with us. I’d wake at the crack of dawn to head to work, scarcely rested, after spending most of my nights tending to the twins so my daughter could sleep. Soon enough, my health began to suffer.
Three whole years went by like this. Eventually, they managed to find their feet, and the children grew a bit older. Thats when my daughter told me she was expecting again. Without thinking, I told her it would probably be best to have an abortion. Its no easy feat raising two as it is. She refused, insisting she wanted this baby. So she had her third child, and it all started over againmoney problems, another mouth to feed. My husband and I threw ourselves back into hard work, even though our son-in-law was starting to earn a bit more. Supporting five people was hardly manageable for him.
My husband had a stroke, and I started having heart pains. The truth was plain: our bodies simply couldnt withstand the burden anymore. I told my daughter that, from now on, she and her husband would need to sort things out themselves. And then, she uttered something that broke me completelyshe was pregnant with her fourth.
I was speechless. What were they thinking? It felt as though they simply assumed my husband and I would keep supporting them forever. But we are just not able to do that anymore. I have no idea what to do now, and I dread people judging us for not helping our only daughter. But we truly have helped as much as we possibly could.
