Dear Abby, So, we’ve got this 19-year-old college daughter, Lulu, right? We asked her to dog-sit and housesit a while back. She knew the deal – no visitors allowed while we were out of town. We trusted her to keep our home safe, so we didn’t bother hiding away our mail and documents before we left for a short trip. Well, guess what? Lulu decides to have her new boyfriend stay over for the weekend without our permission. And get this – she kept it a secret from us for months! Can you believe the nerve?
Now, I get it. Lulu’s an adult, and she can make her own decisions about her love life. But seriously, letting a stranger into our home with our personal stuff lying around? Not cool. We’re disappointed, to say the least. I don’t know when – or if – we’ll be able to trust her again. We tried to give her a chance to earn back our trust after the whole boyfriend fiasco, but she didn’t take it seriously enough. She lost some privileges during her school break, and she started counseling sessions last semester. But where do we go from here? How do we move past this betrayal of trust?
Alright, now let’s switch gears a bit. I lost my daughter to cancer five years ago. She was only 36, leaving behind a husband and three young kids. I stepped in as the “nanny granny” while my daughter and her husband worked. I practically raised those kids, spending more time with them than their own parents. When my daughter passed, my son-in-law asked me to move in and help out. Things were fine for a year, but then we had a falling out over something stupid (not really about money, but money was the trigger). I said some not-so-nice things about him on Facebook, and he cut me off from seeing my grandkids. It’s been two years, and I’ve been begging for forgiveness, but he’s not having it. What’s a grandma to do when she’s missing her grandbabies like crazy?
Look, I wish I could give you a step-by-step guide on how to fix things with your son-in-law, but I’m not really sure what that fight was all about. If you had spilled the tea, maybe I could help more. For now, keep saying sorry, keep sending gifts to the grandkids, and show them that you’re still around and care about them. It might not work, but hey, it’s worth a shot, right? Life’s funny like that – you never know what might make a difference. Just hang in there.
