Even Though Lucia Was a Wonderful Daughter-in-Law and Wife, She Ruined Both Her Marriage and Herself

Lucy was orphaned as a child and grew up in a children’s home in Manchester. She married at just eighteen, having absolutely no idea what it meant to be a wife or live within a family. She didnt even have any friends who were married. When she arrived at her husbands flat, she absorbed every bit of information eagerly about how an ideal wife was supposed to behave. Her main source of guidance was her husbands mother.

Although Lucy had often heard cautionary tales about difficult mothers-in-law, she believed that since shed never had a mother herself, her mother-in-law would be the one to fill that role and wish her well. In fairness, Lucy wasn’t entirely wrong, because her mother-in-law didnt directly want anything bad for her sons wife, but it just didnt turn out so simply. The woman began to energetically teach Lucy the rules of proper family life, and among her pearls of wisdom she said, If a husband cheats, its really the wifes fault.

Why? Lucy had always thought the person who chose to be unfaithful was to blame. But apparently, things worked differently. The wife was supposedly at fault for her husbands infidelity simply because she probably neglected herself and ceased to appeal to him as a woman. Lucys mother-in-law advised her to keep her waist slim, even well into old age, so Lucy jotted in her notebook don’t get fat and signed up for a local fitness club.

Lucy was already slim and toned, but afraid of becoming overweight, she started losing more weight. As soon as Lucy succeeded with one piece of advice, her mother-in-law offered another: In a proper family, both spouses must work.

Lucy didnt argue, since she herself was quite keen to do this. She was ready for any job. When she asked her mother-in-law how she should balance things while on maternity leave, her mother-in-law replied, Maternity leave is your problem and you must figure it out yourself!

Lucy didn’t bother noting down this advice, but when she went on maternity leave a few years into her marriage, she took up part-time work as a nanny. Lucy was happy, but her husband and mother-in-law started complaining that Lucy earned very little.

She thought it wouldnt hurt to spend some of her earnings at the hairdresser, but then came another piece of wisdom: During maternity leave, theres no point in dressing up! When you return to work, then you can do your hair and makeup, but for now, you must save your money!

Lucy used to hand over all her earnings to her husband. One piece of wisdom, imparted from her mother-in-law, lingered over all the years of their marriage: A good wife does all the housework by herself!

So Lucy did everything herself. Shed fall asleep from exhaustion but managed all the chores alone. Fainting became a daily occurrence. Often, after finally getting the youngest to bed around nine pm, shed start cleaning and preparing meals for the next day. By then, her husband would already be enjoying his tenth nap, claiming he was tired from earning money.

It was hardly surprising when Lucy ended up in hospital. She never had time to pay attention to random pains and missed the beginnings of a serious illness. She stayed in hospital for over two weeks, and neither her husband nor her mother-in-law visited once. Lucy was lucky to have her mobile with her when she arrived. She rang her friend, who brought her everything she needed. When she was discharged, the first thing Lucy did was file for a divorce.