A man suddenly decides to call it quits with his wife after 16 years. Their son chooses to blame his mother for ruining their family and refuses to live with her.
After 16 long years of marriage, Ted decided to call it quits. "I'm so sick of your whining!" he cried out to his wife, Joanna, as he carried a bag of his things down the stairs. "Ted, take out the trash. Ted, don't watch TV for so long. Ted, don't drink too much. I've had enough!" he yelled.
"It's not whining, Ted. It's called caring," Joanna, cried. She didn't want to separate and wanted to make peace with her husband, but Ted refused to listen.
"I can't deal with you anymore. I've dealt with your complaints for 16 years, and I can't take any more of them!" he said, walking out the front door.
Their son, Adam, overheard their conversation and burst out of his room. "Dad! No!" he said, running down the stairs.
"Please, don't leave! Stay with us!" he begged, hugging his father's waist as he walked towards the sidewalk.
"Son, no. I can't live here any longer. I'm renting a place in the apartment complex next door. You can move in with me," Ted told Adam.
When Ted was out of sight, Adam turned to his mother. "Are you happy now? This is all your fault!" he said, walking back inside the house.
Joanna was extremely hurt to hear that from her son and couldn't help but cry on their front porch. She stayed on the ground for a couple of minutes, slowly trying to accept the sad reality that she and her husband were separated, and their son blamed her for it.
Joanna was devastated that Ted chose to separate. | Source: Pexels
Joanna tried her best to be there for her son in the next couple of days. She wanted to make it seem as if nothing changed by cooking him delicious home-cooked meals and ensuring his school things were in order.
"I don't want to eat another home-cooked meal. I want a burger and fries," he'd reply.
"You eat too much fast food, son. It's unhealthy. We can get fast food on the weekend," Joanna would tell him. "Come out of your room and take out the trash. We can eat afterward," she added.
Adam rolled his eyes. "I'm tired of your whining! I understand why dad left. All you want is for us to follow your orders. I don't want any of them. I'm going to live with him!" Adam said, grabbing his backpack from under his bed and walking out of the house.
Joanna was heartbroken. Her whole world had fallen apart, and the same way Ted and Adam blamed her for it, she started to blame herself.
She cried the whole night, realizing the empty house was cold and quiet without Ted and Adam there with her. Meanwhile, Adam knocked on Ted's door to find something he didn't expect.
Joanna cried for days after Ted and Adam left her. | Source: Pexels
Ted's apartment smelled like rubbish that hadn't been thrown out in a long time. His clothes were all over the floor, and he didn't have a separate room for Ted to stay in.
"You can sleep on the couch or the floor," Ted said, plopping on the couch in front of the TV as soon as he let Adam in. "Go ahead and do whatever you want," he added.
Ted allowed Adam to do whatever he pleased. Using his own allowance, Adam ordered fast food every day, resulting in his having stomach problems after a week.
"Dad, do you have normal food? My stomach's starting to act up from all the fast food I've been eating," Adam asked. He opened the refrigerator for the nth time and saw only beer inside.
"Mom always cooked delicious food," Adam whispered to himself as he shut the refrigerator door. "Can you cook something for me, dad? Maybe some soup? My stomach hurts," he told his father.
Adam ate fast food for an entire week, which made his stomach hurt. | Source: Pexels
"I can't cook, and I don't have any stomach medicine. Go to sleep and stop whining like your mom," Ted replied.
Adam couldn't believe his father couldn't care less about what he felt. He slowly realized that he had been wrong about his mom. She wasn't nagging them through the years. She was showing how much she cared.
"You know what, dad?" Adam started to say. "Mom was never whining about the things we'd do. She was only showing us she cared. She wanted us to be healthy, and she wanted our family to be happy."
This angered Ted, thinking Adam was siding with Joanna. "Then go back to your mother!" he shouted at his son.
Adam went back home to his mom, realizing he was wrong all along. | Source: Pexels
Disappointed with his father, Adam packed the few things he had in his father's apartment and walked back home. He entered the house and found it quiet and empty.
He decided to take out the garbage and clean up the house before heading upstairs. He saw his mother lying in bed as soon as he opened her room door.
"Mom," he said, rushing to her. "I'm so sorry for being rude to you and hurting you with what I said," Adam cried. "I now realize that what you were doing wasn't whining but caring. Thank you for caring for me, mom."
Joanna was so happy to have her son back with her. She gave him the tightest and longest hug and soon after offered for them to eat fast food for dinner. But Adam shook his head, revealing he had already prepared a homemade dinner for them downstairs.
What can we learn from this story?
- Appreciate what your mother or wife does for you. They only mean well. Sometimes, men believe their mothers or wives are out to make their lives more difficult when all they want is what's best for them.
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