Real Life. “I Don't Understand Modern Customs”: We Came to Visit Our Son, and He Sent Us to a Hotel for the Night

My husband and I have our own private home on the outskirts of town. We have always lived and still live by the principle that my home is your home.

We are always happy to have guests. We have a separate guest room in our house, and if there is suddenly not enough room for our friends or relatives, my husband and I move to the sofa in the living room and put our guests to bed in our bedroom.

Now, of course, guests do not come so often, but it has been like that all my life. That is how I was raised, as was my husband. We are hospitable people, we love it when someone visits us.

We are always happy when friends or relatives visit us. We are always ready to feed, water and put to bed, always trying to do everything we can. We have three adult children: two daughters and a son. Our oldest daughter lives near us. She and her husband have their own apartment and a car. We have a great relationship with my son-in-law and his parents.

Sometimes we like to meet at our house, and my son-in-law often helps us. My other daughter is the youngest in the family. She is currently studying in another city, lives in a dormitory and has not yet started a family of her own. She is a careerist. She said she wouldn't get married until she had a career.

My son is 34 years old. He has lived nearby for a long time. After graduation, he went to conquer the capital. He opened a business with a friend and now has his own two-room apartment there. My son is married, and their child, our grandson, recently turned 7. My relationship with Paulina, my son's wife, was not good. Maybe because we live far apart and had very little contact, or maybe because we have completely different views on life, upbringing and worldview.

They were only with us for a week, but Paulina never came back. My son came several times, but either with his grandson or alone. A few months ago, my husband took a vacation and offered to go to our son and stay with him for a week. I'm retired, I don't work, so I can go wherever I want.

We told him in advance that we wanted to stay for a week. We arrived in the evening, it was already around six. I was glad that my son picked us up from the station in his car, and my daughter-in-law set the table at home.

We sat and talked. My husband and I were tired from the journey, so we wanted to go to bed very early. But the owners of the apartment were in no hurry to put us to bed. “We've rented you a room in the hotel for a week, we'll call you a taxi and pay for everything,” my daughter-in-law said.

My son looked at me silently, and I was a little shocked by this statement. We came to visit our son, why do we need a hotel? My husband and I are not very demanding, you can put us on the floor in the nursery and we will be happy.

My grandson also asked his mother to leave us in his room, and his grandfather promised him bedtime stories, but Paulina had already called a taxi and pointed to the door. It's only a ten-minute ride, she said. My son got into the taxi with us and walked us to the hotel.

We drove the whole way in silence. The hotel room turned out to be very ordinary: a bed, two bedside tables, a shower, a toilet, an old TV. In the morning we woke up hungry, we couldn't cook breakfast because there was no kitchen, and going to a cafe was expensive. We had to spend money on a taxi to go to our son's. And so every day.

I never even thought about sending guests to a hotel, maybe I'm wrong about something? Maybe it's become the norm now, but for me it's just a lack of respect. I don't feel like establishing contact with my son and daughter-in-law. When I think about it, I immediately feel bad.