I started working, like many of my peers, at the age of eighteen.
Of course I studied, but I also managed to earn money. At first I washed floors in my own building, then I got a job at the post office. Nowadays, such work is considered unfashionable and unprestigious, but back then it was okay, people knew that any work is worthy of respect.
Then, as usual, I got married and had a daughter. That was also quite early, by today's standards. I returned from maternity leave when Alinka was a year and a half old. I worked for over thirty years without a break, because what else could I do? First I had to earn a decent living, then raise my daughter, educate her and give her a good start in adulthood.
I have been at home for half a year, legally, many people my age still work. I decided to take a break and rest a bit. I thought I would stay at home, regenerate a bit, do a few things that I had been putting off for many years. Maybe later I would find another job, but now I need to rest. That is what I told my family. My husband did not object, he just shrugged and said, “Do as you wish,” and my daughter, who recently gave birth to her third child, was happy at first. In fact, I told her not to get married so young. Yes, doctors recommend having your first child before you are thirty, but it is not enough just to give birth, you also have to find the means to somehow raise this child. Just like us, like our parents.
My daughter, however, decided to marry her fiancé in her final year of college. I thought it was nothing serious, but who hasn't dated in their twenties? It turned out that the young couple was not only planning a wedding, but also had a baby on the way. My daughter was on maternity leave.
At first, my grandson couldn’t go to kindergarten. We, grandparents, had to help the new community as much as we could. They needed one thing or another. Rest and living for ourselves were out of the question. I thought it would be a little easier when my grandson went to kindergarten and Alina went to work. It was clear that it wouldn’t be easy for her in a job without experience and with such a long break. But at least somewhere and as someone. But my daughter and son-in-law said that they would soon make us happy with a second grandchild. As if we didn’t have enough to worry about, they decided to add another child to our family.
When my daughter found out that I had decided to retire, she was overjoyed. She almost clapped her hands. “You know, Ala, I actually had my own plans,” I told my daughter when she outlined her “brilliant” plan. My daughter's face stretched. She said that I was a grandmother, so I had to devote at least a year and a half to my grandchildren. I shook my head, and my daughter looked offended. “I was waiting for your retirement, I counted on you, and you're behaving so badly,” she said.
I replied that I was happy to have a rest. Only those who have nothing to do get bored in retirement. Alina pressed, played on my emotions, and tried to ride on my grandmotherly ambition, but I was adamant. My daughter got offended and stopped contacting me. Why? She doesn't like the fact that if she wants my husband and I to take care of our grandchildren, it will only be on our terms. Alina started calling me and pouring out complaints, accusing me of heartlessness, so I had to block her number. My husband is safe from his daughter's reproaches, because he would never dare to behave like that towards his father…
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