Friday, October 30, 2009
- A true story on WHAT GRUDGES CAN DO
- A story worth reading and taken as example in life.... don't lose the
- moments in life just becoz of a quarrel...
- This is long but worth reading and is a true story ... you may have received it...but it is worth to be reminded of it again.
-
- WHAT GRUDGES CAN DO....
- ====================
-
- Just two years after our marriage, hubby brought up the
- idea of asking Mother to move from the rural hometown and
- spend her remaining years with us. Hubby's father passed
- away while he was still very young.
- Mother endured much hardship
- and struggled all on her own to provide for him, see him
- through to a university degree. You could say that she
- suffered a great deal and did everything you could expect of
- a woman to bring hubby to where he is today.
- I immediately agreed and
- started packing the spare room, which has a balcony facing
- the South to let her enjoy the sunshine and plant greenery.
- Hubby stood in the bright room, and suddenly just picked me
- up and started spinning round and round. As I begged him to
- put me down, he said: "Lets go fetch mother."
- Hubby is tall and big sized and I love to test on his chest
- and enjoy the feeling that he could pick me up at any moment
- put the tiny me into his pockets.
- Whenever we have an argument
- and both refuses to back down, he would pick me up and spin
- me over his head continuously until I surrender and beg for
- mercy. I became addicted to this kind of panic-joy feeling.
- Mother brought along her countryside habits and lifestyle
- with her.
- For example; I am so used to
- buying flowers to decorate the living room, she could not
- stand it and would comment: "I do not know how you
- young people spend your money, why do you buy flowers for?
- You also can't eat flowers!" I smiled and said:
- "Mum, with flowers in the house, our mood will also
- become better." Mother continues to grumble away, and
- hubby smiled: "Mum, this is a city-people's habit;
- slowly you will get use to it."
- Mother stopped saying anything. But every time thereafter,
- whenever came home with flowers, she would ask me how much
- it costs. I told her and she would shake her head and
- express displeasure.
- Sometimes, when I come home
- with lots of shopping bags, she would ask each and every
- item how much they cost, I would tell her honestly and she
- would get even more upset about it. Hubby playfully pinched
- my nose and said: "You little fool, just don't tell
- her the full price of everything would solve it."
- There begins the friction to our otherwise happy lifestyle.
- Mother hates it most when hubby wakes up early to prepare
- the breakfast. In your view, how could the man of the house
- cook for the wife? At the breakfast table, mother facial
- expression is always like the dark clouds before a
- thunderstorm and I would pretend not to notice. She would
- use her chopsticks and make a lot of noise with it as her
- silent protest.
- As I am a dance teacher in the Children's Palace and am
- exhausted from along day of dancing around, I do not wish to
- give up the luxury of that additional few minutes in the
- comfort of my bed and hence I turned a deaf ear to all the
- protest mother makes.
- From time to time, mother
- would help out with some housework, but soon her help
- created additional work for me. For example: she would keep
- all kinds of plastic bags accumulating them so that she sell
- them later on, and resulted in our house being filled with
- all the trash bags; she would scrimp on dish washing
- detergent when helping to wash the dishes and so as not to
- hurt her feelings, I would quietly wash them again.
- One day, late at night, mother saw me quietly washing the
- dishes, and "Bam" she slams her bedroom door and
- cried very loudly in her room. Hubby was placed in a
- difficult position, and after that, he did not speak to me
- for that entire night.
- I pretended to be a spoilt
- child, tried acting cute, but he totally ignored me.... I
- got mad and asked him:
- "What did I do wrong?" Hubby stared at me and
- said: "Can't you just give in to her once? We
- couldn't possibly die eating from a bowl however unclean
- it is, right?" After that incident, for a long period
- of time, mother did not speak to me and you can feel that
- there is a very awkward feeling hanging in the house. During
- that period of cold war, hubby was caught in dilemma as to
- who to please.
- In order to stop her son from having to prepare breakfast,
- mother took on the "all important" task of
- preparing breakfast without any prompting. At the breakfast
- table, mother would look at hubby happily eating his
- breakfast and cast that reprimanding stare at me for having
- failed to perform my duty as a wife. To avoid the
- embarrassing breakfast situation, I resorted to buying my
- own breakfast on my way to work.
- That night, while in bed,
- hubby was a little upset and asked me: "LD, is it
- because you think that mum's cooking is not clean
- that's why you chose not to eat at home?" He then
- turned his back on me and left me alone in tears as feeling
- of unfairness overwhelmed me. After some time, hubby sighed:
- "LD, just for me, can you have breakfast at home?"
- I am left with no choice but to return to the breakfast
- table.
- The next morning, I was having porridge prepared by mother
- and I felt a sudden churn in my stomach and everything
- inside seem to be rushing up my throat. I tried to suppress
- the urge to throw up but I could not. I threw down the bowl,
- rushed into the washroom, and vomited everything out.
- Just as I was catching my
- breath, I saw mother crying and grumbling very loudly in her
- dialect, hubby was standing at the washroom doorway staring
- at me with fire burning in his eyes.. I opened my mouth but
- no words came out of it, I really did not mean it.
- We had our very first big
- fight that day; mother took a look at us, then stood up and
- slowly made her way out of the house. Hubby gave me a final
- stare in the eye and followed mother down the stairs. For
- three days, hubby did not return home, not even a phone
- call.
- I was so furious, since
- mother arrived; I had been trying my best and putting up
- with her, what else do you want me to do? For no reason, I
- keep having the feeling to throw up and I simply have not
- appetite for food, coupled with all the events happening at
- home, I was at then low point in my life.
- Finally, a colleague said:
- "LD, you look terrible; you should go and see a
- doctor." The doctor confirmed that I am pregnant.
- Now it became clear to me
- why I threw up that fateful morning, a sense of sadness
- floated through that otherwise happy news. Why didn't
- hubby, and mother who had been through this before, thought
- of the possibility of this being the reason that day?
- At the hospital entrance, I
- saw my hubby standing there. It had only been three days,
- but he looked haggard. I had wanted to turn and leave, but
- one look at him and my heart soften, I couldn't resist
- and called out to him. He followed my voice and finally
- found me but he pretended that he doesn't know me; he
- has that disgusted look in his eyes that cut right through
- my heart. I told myself not to look at him anymore, and hail
- a cab.
- At that moment, I have such
- a strong urge inside me to shout to my hubby: "Darling,
- I am having your baby!" and have him lift me up and
- spin me around in circles of joy. What I wanted didn't
- happen and as I sat in the cab, my tears started rolling
- down. Why? Why our love couldn't even withstand the test
- of one fight?
- Back home, I lay on the bed
- thinking about my hubby, and the disgusted look in his eyes.
- I cried and wet the corner of the blanket. That night, sound
- of the drawers opening woke me up. I switched on the lights
- and I saw hubby with tears rolling down his face. He was
- removing the money. I stared at him in silence; he ignored
- me, took the bank deposit book and some money and left the
- house.
- Maybe he really intends to
- leave me for good.. What a rational man, so clear-cut in
- love and money matters. I gave a few dried laugh and tears
- starting streaming down again. The next day, I did not go to
- work. I wanted to clear this out and have a good talk with
- hubby. I reached his office and his secretary gave me a
- weird look and said: "Mr. Tan's mother had a
- traffic accident and is now in the hospital."
- I stood there in shock. I rushed to the hospital and by the
- time I found hubby, mother had already passed away. Hubby
- did not look at me, his face was expressionless. I looked at
- mother's pale white and thin face and I couldn't
- control the tears in my eyes. My god, how could this happen?
- Throughout the funeral,
- hubby did not say a single word to me, with only the
- occasional disgusted stare at me. I only managed to find out
- brief facts about the accident from other people. That day,
- after mother left the house, she walked in dazed toward the
- bus stop, apparently intending to go back to her old house
- back in the countryside.
- As hubby ran after her, she
- tried to walk faster and as she tried to cross the street, a
- public bus came and hit her... I finally understood how much
- hubby must hate me, if I had not thrown up that morning, if
- we had not quarreled, if....In his heart, I am indirectly
- the killer of his mother..
- Hubby moved into mother's room and came home every
- night with a strong liquor smell on him. And me, I am buried
- under the guilt and self-pity and could hardly breathe. I
- wanted to explain to him, tell him that we are going to have
- our baby soon, but each time, I saw the dead look in his
- eyes, all the words I have at the brink of my mouth just
- fell back in.
- I had rather he hit me real
- hard or give me a big and thorough scolding though none of
- these events happening had been my fault at all. Many days
- of suffocating silence went by and as the days went by,
- hubby came home later and later. The deadlock between us
- continues, we were living together like strangers who
- don't know each other. I am like the dead knot in his
- heart.
- One day, I passed by a
- western restaurant, looking into the glass window, I saw
- hubby and a girl sitting facing each other and he very
- lightly brushed her hair for her, I understood what it
- meant. After recovering from that moment of shock, I entered
- the restaurant, stood in front of my hubby and stared hard
- at him, not a tear in my eyes. I have nothing to say to him,
- and there is no need to say anything. The girl looked at me,
- looks at hubby, stands up and wanted to go, hubby stretched
- out his hand and stopped her. He stared back at me,
- challenging me. I can only hear my slow heart beat, beating,
- one by one as if at the brink of death.
- I eventually backed down, if
- I had stood that any longer, I will collapse together with
- the baby inside me.. That night, he did not come home; he
- had chosen to use that as a way to indicate to me:
- Following mother's death so did our love for each
- other...
- He did not come home anymore after that. Sometimes, when I
- returned home from work, I can tell that the cupboard had
- been touched - he had returned to take some of his stuff. I
- no longer wish to call him; the initial desire to explain
- everything to him vanished.
- I lived alone; I go for my
- medical checkups alone, my heart breaks again and again
- every time I see a guy carefully helping his wife through
- the physical examination. My office colleagues hinted to me
- to consider aborting the baby, I told them No, I will not..
- I insisted on having to this baby, perhaps it is my way of
- repaying mother for causing her death.
- One day, I came home and I
- saw hubby sitting in the living room. The whole house was
- filled with cigarette smoke. On the coffee table, there was
- this piece of paper. I know what it is all about without
- even looking at it. In the two months plus of living alone,
- I have gradually learned to find peace within myself. I
- looked at him, removed my hat and said: "You wait a
- while, I will sign." He looked at me, mixed feelings in
- his eyes, just like mine.
- As I hang up my coat, I keep repeating to myself "You
- cannot cry, you cannot cry..." my eyes hurt terribly,
- but I refused to let tears come out from there.
- After I hung up my coat, hubby's eyes stared fixed at
- my bulging tummy. I smiled, walked over to the coffee table
- and pulled the paper towards me. Without even looking at
- what it says, I signed my name on it and pushed the paper to
- him. "LD, are you pregnant?" Since mother's
- accident, this is the first time he spoke to me. I could not
- control my tears any further and they fell like raindrops. I
- said: "Yes, but its ok, you can leave now." He did
- not go, in the dark, we sat, facing each other.
- Hubby slowly moved over me,
- his tears wet the blanket. In my heart, everything seems so
- far away, so far that even if I sprint, I could never reach
- them. I cannot remember how many times he repeated
- "sorry" to me. I had originally thought that I
- would forgive him, but now I can't. In the western
- restaurant, in front of that girl, that cold look in his
- eyes, I will never forget, ever.
- We have drawn such deep
- scars in each other's heart. For me, it's
- unintentional; for him, totally intentional. I had been
- waiting for this moment of reconciliation, but I realized
- now, what had gone past is gone forever and could not
- repeated.
- Other than the thought of the baby inside me that would
- bring some warmth to my heart, I am totally cold towards
- him, I no longer eat anything he buys for me, I don't
- take any presents from him and I stopped talking to him..
- From the moment I signed on
- that piece of paper, marriage and love had vanished from my
- heart. Sometimes, hubby will try to come into the bedroom,
- but when he walks in, I will walk out to the living room.
- He had no choice but to
- sleep in mother's room. At night, from his room, I can
- hear light sounds of groaning, I kept quiet. This used to be
- his trick; last time, whenever I ignore him, he would fake
- illness and I will surrender and find out what is wrong with
- him, he would then grab me and laugh.
- He has forgotten that last
- time I cared for him and am concerned because there was
- love, but now, what is there between us? Hubby's
- groaning came on and off continuing but I continuously
- ignored him.
- Almost everyday, he would buy something for the baby,
- infant products, children products and books that kids like
- to read. Bags and bags of it stacked inside his room till it
- is full. I know he is trying to use this to reach out to me,
- but I am no longer moved by his actions. He has no choice
- but to lock himself in his room and I can hear his typing
- away on his computer keyboard, maybe he is now addicted to
- web surfing but none of that matters to me anymore.
- It was sometime towards the
- end of spring in the following year, one late night, I
- screamed because of a sudden stomach pain, hubby came
- rushing into the room, its like he did not change and sleep,
- and had been waiting for this moment. He carried me and ran
- down the stairs, stopped a car, holding my hand very tightly
- and kept wiping the sweat off my brow, throughout the
- journey to the hospital.
- Once we reached the
- hospital, he carried me and hurried into the delivery suite.
- Lying on the back of his skinny but warmth body, a thought
- crossed my mind: In my lifetime, who else would love me as
- much as he did?
- He held the delivery suite door opened and watch me go in;
- his warm eyes caused me to manage a smile at him despite my
- contraction pain. Coming out of the delivery room, hubby
- looked at our son and me, eyes tear with joy and he kept
- smiling. I reached out and touched his hand.
- Hubby looked at me, smiling
- and then he slowly collapsed onto the floor. I cried out for
- him in pain... He smiled, but without opening that tired
- eyes of his... I had thought that I would never shed any
- tear for him, but the truth is, I have never felt a deeper
- pain cutting through my body at that moment.
- Doctor said that by the time
- hubby discovered he had liver cancer, it was already in
- terminal stage and it was a miracle that he managed to last
- this long. I asked the doctor when he first discovered he
- had cancer. Doctor said about 5 months ago and consoled me
- saying: "Prepare for his funeral."
- I disregarded the nurse's objection and rushed home, I
- went into his room and checked his computer, and a
- suffocating pain hits me.
- Hubby's cancer was
- discovered 5 months ago, his groaning was real, and I had
- thought that... the computer showed over 200 thousand
- words he wrote for our son: "Son, just for you, I
- have persisted, to be able to take a look at you before I
- fall, is my biggest wish now... I know that in your life,
- you will have many happiness and maybe some setbacks, if
- only I can accompany you throughout that journey, how nice
- would it be. But daddy now no longer has that chance. Daddy
- has written inside here all the possible difficulties and
- problems you may encounter during your lifetime, when you
- meet with these problems, you can refer to daddy's
- suggestion....
- Son, after writing these 200 thousand words, I feel as if I
- have accompanied you through life journey. To be honest,
- daddy is very happy. Do love your mother, she has suffered,
- she is the one who loves you most and also the one who loves
- me most..."
- From play school to primary
- school, to secondary, university, to work and even in
- dealing with questions of love, everything big and small was
- written there.
- Hubby has also written a letter for me:
- "My dear, to marry you is my biggest happiness,
- forgive me for the pain I have caused you, forgive me for
- not telling you my illness, because I want to see you be in
- a joyful mood waiting for the arrival of our baby...My dear,
- if you cried, it means that you have forgiven me and I would
- smile, thank you for loving me...These presents, I'm
- afraid I cannot give them to our son personally, could you
- help me to give some of them to him every year, the dates on
- what to give when are all written on the packaging..."
- Going back to the hospital, hubby is still in coma. I
- brought our son over and place him beside him. I said:
- "Open your eyes and smile, I want our son to remember
- being in the warmth of your arms..." He struggled to
- open his eyes and managed a weak smile. Our son still in his
- arms was happily waving his tiny hands in the air. I press
- the button on the camera and the sound of the shutter rang
- through the air as tears slowly rolled down my face....
- A fatal misunderstanding and
- the person who loves me the most in this world is gone
- forever..."Cruel misunderstandings one after another
- disrupted the blissful footsteps to our family. Our
- originals intend of having Mother enjoy some quiet and
- peaceful moments in her remaining years with us went
- terribly wrong as destiny's secret is finally revealed
- at a price, every thing became too late.".........
- This is a true story...
- LEARNING POINT - DO NOT EVER HOLD ON TO OFFENCES!!!
- I am totally speechless, this story brought tears to my
- eyes as I read through each line eager to know what would
- happen next. It truly showed the devastating power of
- grudges and anger!
- Simple humility and
- communication would have resolved most of the problems in
- that story, as well as patience....
- Communication with your loved ones is THE key.