For over ten years we spent every spring and summer with my husband on his mother's plot. < img src = "https://zycie.news/crrops/a70a71/620x0/1/0/2025/03/27/7ocbvjklibjhkvrz5DRG3GBHQ8MF0KSPXKNTAH.JPG" alt = "old lady @pexels" styles = "background-color: rgba (177,162,158,1)" > < p > Earth was neglected, the gazebo leaked, trees not cut for years.

< p > We got it with all our heart. With our own hands, we changed the ruin into paradise & ndash; piece by piece.

< p > every weekend & ndash; regardless of the weather & ndash; We spent there.

< p > we kicked, planted, built, renovated.

< p > in winter we went to feed the birds, in the summer we pulled the weeds to dark.

< p > mother -in -law liked to sit on a bench under the apple tree and m & oacute; whale: < br /> & amp. & AMP; BDQUO; But you did it beautifully. I never thought that this piece of land could look like this. “& Amp;

< p > I thought he appreciated.

< p > I thought he knew how much it means to us.

< p > I thought & hellip;

< p > but I was wrong.

< p > Last week, during a family dinner, she said it with coffee:

< P >& Amp; MDASH; & AMP; BDQUO; Anyway, I will save the plot Staszek. He was always closest to the heart. & Amp;

< p > I froze.

< p > staszek & ndash; My husband's younger brother & ndash; He was on the plot maybe three times in a decade.

< p > once he was overwhelmed by the flower, he complained for the second time that the mosquitoes, the third time suggested to plow it all and sell it all. ~ 60 > < p > and now & hellip; He is to get everything.

< p > — & like it ? but we have been dealing with it for years! ” & Amp; MDASH; I broke free.

< p > mother -in -law shrugged: < br /> & ~ mdash; & because you have a husband, home, children. He will be more useful. < p > as if our whole commitment was nothing.

< p > as if years of work were only a seasonal favor.

< p > my husband lowered his eyes.

< p > said nothing.

< p > and it hurt the most.

< p > that even he couldn't stand on our side.

< P > Wr & oacute; I looked home and looked at the photos from the plot:

< p > children playing among < p > grill with friends & oacute; łmi under the gazebo, which we rebuilt ourselves.

< p > first tomatoes, which I was able to grow.

< p > all this & hellip; It was mine.

< p > but formally & ndash; nothing.

< p > emotionally & ndash; broken.

< p > I don't go there today.

< p > I do not water, do not cut, do not care.

< p > not because I stopped loving this land.

< p > but because I do not want to cultivate something that someone else writes without a word of gratitude.

< p > You can't build life for someone else's property for years — Especially when this property does not know the word & ampquo; justice &.

Natasha Kumar

By Natasha Kumar

Natasha Kumar has been a reporter on the news desk since 2018. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times Hub, Natasha Kumar worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my natasha@thetimeshub.in 1-800-268-7116