My sister-in-law Jessica organized a getaway weekend for the family at a lake house. I was fond of the idea of everyone getting together because I knew that my mother, who raised me and my brother Peter all by herself following our dad’s passing, deserved vacation. She hasn’t been on real vacation in years, always coming up with excuses. This time, however, she was happy to be spending time with the family.
Everyone was expected to pitch in $500. Well, everyone except for Jessica. She said she deserved to go for free because she was the one who took the time to organize everything.
Honestly, I was fine with it. But a day before the trip, my son got sick and I stayed behind. My mom, however, was still going.
The following day, I Facetimed her, eager to learn how was everything and is she was having a nice time. But that’s when I noticed tears in her eyes.
“Mom, is that a mattress I see behind you? Are you staying in the hallway?”
She was ashamed to even admit that Jessica made her sleep on a mattress on the floor, next to the mop closet. There wasn’t even a pillow there. I just couldn’t believe my eyes.
In the meantime, Jessica’s mom had a queen-sized bed, and her sister had a private suite.
I called my brother and asked him if he was aware that our mother was staying in the hallway while his wife’s mother was sleeping in a huge bed all by herself. Peter, however, didn’t seem to see it as an issue. He said Jessica made this rule, “first come, first served,” and her part of the family got the rooms only because they arrived there before my mother did.
He even had the audacity to say that mom didn’t mind it anyways.
Without hesitating, I left my son with a neighbor and headed towards the lake house. I was there after half and hour and went straight to Jessica’s room. When I knocked on the door, she saw me holding a mattress in my hands, and said, “You wouldn’t dare.”
But I already had. I went inside and threw all her stuff in the hallway, along with the mattress I got for her. “Jessica, you can sleep in the hallway yourself, or just go wherever you want. This room is now my mother’s.”
Jessica got livid. She started calling Peter’s name, but I didn’t care.
I took my mom inside the room and told her to have the rest and the fun she deserved.
That evening, my mother slept in a real bed while Jessica, her mom, and her sister left early — cutting the vacation short.
My mom? She swam, laughed, and made the most of the couple of days she had left at that beautiful lake house.
“Thank you for seeing me,” she whispered to my ear while giving me a hug. “Always, mom,” I said.
I haven’t spoken to neither Jessica nor Peter ever since the incident. They didn’t take the time to apologize to my mother for treating her the way they did, and I honestly believe she doesn’t deserve such people to even be part of her life. So I guess everything turned just fine at the end.
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