My mom prohibited me from seeing my dad, but his phone call changed everything

My mother did everything in her power to prevent me from seeing my father after they divorced. But once my dad tricked me on the phone, and everything changed.

“I don’t want to see you ever again!” my mom yelled as my father got into the car and left our home forever. That was my earliest memory. Dad left when I was two years old after a huge fight with my mother.

They got divorced, and I didn’t see him for many years. As I got older, I realized that my mother was preventing me from seeing my father. “I want to visit Dad. Please!” I begged when I was ten years old.

“No! You can’t go see him. He’s busy with his new family and doesn’t want to see you,” she replied.

“I know that’s not true! You’re lying to me! I talk to him on the phone, and he wants to see me!” I cried, pleading with her to see my father.

“Don’t talk back to me, Alexandra! Your father left us and doesn’t deserve to have a relationship with you now,” Mom said. I thought that was unfair, but I was still just a child.

My dad and I kept in constant contact over the phone, but I really wanted to spend time with him, and I knew he wanted the same. However, Mom was an expert at getting her way.

As a teenager, I decided to go on my own to see him, and she called the cops on me. They picked me up before I could reach his house and drove me back home.

“The next time you try to disobey me, I will say that your father kidnapped you, and he will go to jail where he belongs!” she screamed at me when the cops left.

Back then, I thought she was doing the right thing for me, but as I grew up, I realized that it was pure selfishness on her part. I didn’t want to hang out with her or do anything. I also started rebelling at school. She drove a huge wedge between us, and I didn’t care anymore.

“Alexandra, do you want to go shopping with me?” she asked me one day. I was 17 years old and had grown to almost hate her.

“Nope,” I answered.

“How about the movies?”

“Nope.”

“Why don’t you want to do anything with me?” she whined.

“Really? You’re asking me that question? You know exactly why I treat you this way,” I said in a bored tone.

“I have done nothing to you! All the sacrifices I have made for you, and you’re so ungrateful!” Mom yelled once more.

“Yeah, ok. Close the door, please,” I added.

By then, I was immune to her tantrums and how she victimized herself to get away with things. I moved out as soon as I turned 18 and never looked back.

But seeing my dad wasn’t any easier. I had to work two jobs and go to school. He was also busy with work, and his second wife had just delivered twins by then. Neither of us had time, so we put it off.

I met with him on a Saturday afternoon at his house and met his wife. They showed me the twins, and we talked for a while. But it felt so awkward that I didn’t want to do it again. Maybe my mother had ruined any chance I had at a relationship with him.

We talked on the phone for a long time once a week. I asked about the twins and told him about my life. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked for us. Years went by this way. I didn’t hear of my mother until I was 29 years old.

“Hey, Alexandra,” she spoke on the phone tentatively.

“Oh, hey, Mom,” I answered, confused with her call.

“We haven’t talked in a long time. How are you?” she asked.

“I’m fine. How about you?” I replied. We chitchatted awkwardly for a few minutes, and then she got to the point.

“Listen, honey. I was hoping that we could work on mending our relationship. How does that sound?” Mom wondered.

“I don’t know. Are you going to apologize for everything?” I retorted.

“I…I still don’t think I did anything wrong. I was trying to protect you from being hurt like I was when you were little. But I understand that you felt differently,” she explained.

“So, you’re not apologizing?” I continued, tired of this conversation. She was never going to acknowledge her wrongs, and I had no time for that.

“Alexandra! I’m your mother. You haven’t talked to me in years! You’re so selfish!” she wailed, raising her voice.

“Ok, goodbye,” I said and hung up the phone. She tried calling me back, but I ignored her. I would not let her back into my life until she apologized.

Another year went by, and I received a strange call from my dad. He never called during working hours. “Alexandra! This is an emergency! Can you come to see me?” Dad said urgently through the phone.

“What? Dad? What’s going on?” I asked, worried.

“I sent you an address. Come quickly! This is a matter of life or death!” he told me and hung up.

I went to my boss, took a day off work, and ran to my car. But the address Dad gave me took me right to an amusement park close to his house.

“Hey, honey!” he smiled when I met him at the front gate.

“Dad! Why are we here? What’s the emergency?” I asked, confused.

“The emergency is that you and I never got to do all the fun things father and daughters do over the years. We have put off building a real relationship, and I don’t want to waste any more time. Let’s go have fun!” Dad explained.

“Can you go on the rides? I know you have had some health problems lately,” I said hesitantly.

“I’m fit as a fiddle. Come on!” he urged.

We spent the entire day at the park and talked about everything. I felt like a child for the first time in my life, and it was wonderful.

I also told him about my problems with Mom and how hard it was when she didn’t let me see him. “Your mother is complicated and full of pride. But she’s not evil. We didn’t work out, and she couldn’t take it,” he started.

“Yeah, I wished I could’ve lived with you,” I told him.

“Well, I was pretty lost for many years trying to figure things out. We might have hated each other. But here we are, and I think you should patch things up with her. Life is too short to hold grudges,” he said.

After that marvelous day at the park, we went to dinner. When I got home, I called Mom and told her everything I felt regarding my dad. How she hurt me back then by not letting me spend time with him and how fun our day had been. She cried and apologized to me for the first time. I felt like she understood, and we started talking more often.

Meanwhile, I grew closer to my dad and loved babysitting my twin half-siblings. We even took them to the amusement park for a fun day too.

I finally had the childhood I always wanted.

What can we learn from this story?

Divorce happens between couples, not with children. Alexandra’s mother didn’t understand that her father divorced her but wanted a relationship with their daughter.
Life is too short for grudges. Alexandra’s father is right. Sometimes, it’s better to forgive for your own sake. Let go of things that make you angry, and your mental health will improve.

Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.

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I Asked My Grandmother to Walk Down the Aisle at My Wedding — My Family Demands That I Apologize for It

Just days before her wedding, Leah discovers that her grandmother didn’t have a wedding. Unable to sleep due to her grandmother having missed her opportunity, Leah wants her grandparents to have their moment and walk down the aisle. Instead of it playing out as Leah plans, she has to deal with a grandmother in a wedding dress, an embarrassed grandfather, and livid family members. Did she ruin her own wedding just to give her grandmother a memory?

“Tell me about your wedding, Gran,” I asked, rocking back and forth on the porch swing. The night was quiet, and we were a week away from my wedding.

A person sitting on a porch swing | Source: Midjourney

All I wanted to do was soak up the time I had left with my grandmother because once we were married, Nate and I would be moving away.

“Oh, honey, there wasn’t really a wedding. Your grandfather always promised, but it never happened,” she smiled, her eyes distant.

A smiling old woman | Source: Pexels

“Never?” I asked, frowning.

My grandmother shook her head.

“No. He didn’t even propose, Leah,” she said. “He always said that we’d get around to it eventually, but life just kept getting in the way. We raised our kids, took care of the house, and before I knew it, decades had passed.”

A woman washing dishes | Source: Unsplash

“But you are married, right?” I asked, trying to understand why my grandmother’s words felt like such a blow to me.

“Married, yes. Your grandfather took me down to the courthouse, and we signed away our single lives. He didn’t ask me; he just said that it was going to happen. And it did.”

The exterior of a court house | Source: Unsplash

My heart ached for her.

“But you wanted one, right? A wedding, I mean,” I pressed.

Her smile was wistful.

“I did, but I let go of that dream a long time ago. Now, come on, I’ll make you some hot chocolate before you leave.”

Two mugs of hot chocolate | Source: Midjourney

Later that night, when I went back home to my fiancé, I couldn’t sleep at all. My grandmother’s words replayed in my mind, and I felt a deep sadness for her unfulfilled dream.

By morning, I had an idea. It seemed perfect. To me, everything was good. Everything made sense.

A woman lying in bed | Source: Unsplash

“Nate, can I run something by you?” I asked my fiancé over breakfast.

He nodded, looking up at me and smiling.

“What if Grandma walked down the aisle at our wedding?” I asked.

Eggs and bacon in a frying pan | Source: Midjourney

“Leah, what on earth do you mean?” he asked, sipping his coffee.

I sat across from him, nibbling on some toast, and I told him everything that my grandmother told me the previous night.

A man holding a mug | Source: Unsplash

“So, you’re saying that you want your grandmother to walk down the aisle in a wedding dress?”

“Yes,” I said, getting more excited by the idea. “We could get her a simple dress and some flowers. And she could walk down the aisle. It would be like giving her a piece of the wedding she never had.”

Nate smiled at me, the smile reaching his eyes.

An old woman in a wedding dress | Source: Midjourney

“Leah, what on earth do you mean?” he asked, sipping his coffee.

I sat across from him, nibbling on some toast, and I told him everything that my grandmother told me the previous night.

A man holding a mug | Source: Unsplash

“So, you’re saying that you want your grandmother to walk down the aisle in a wedding dress?”

Nate smiled at me, the smile reaching his eyes.

An old woman in a wedding dress | Source: Midjourney

A hanging garment bag | Source: Midjourney

She gasped quietly, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Oh, sweetheart, I couldn’t…”

“Yes, you can,” I said firmly, handing her a bouquet of flowers. “I know that you’re married to Grandpa already, but this is part of your dream. Let’s make it happen.”

A bouquet of flowers | Source: Unsplash

She hugged me tightly, nodding against my ear. I asked another one of my bridesmaids to take my grandmother to one of the other dressing rooms so that she could take in the moment for herself.

Next, I asked for my grandfather to come to my dressing room.

A bride in a dressing room | Source: Pexels

“Grandpa, we’re going to have Grandma walk down the aisle today. Like a bride, okay? You guys can have your moment. And it will be beautiful because we get to share the day.”

He snorted, immediately dismissive.

An upset old man | Source: Pexels

“Leah, that’s ridiculous,” he said. “At our age? It’s more a mockery than anything else.”

I was taken aback by his reaction.

“But it’s something that Gran has always wanted.”

Instead, he waved me off.

“I’m not interested, Leah. We are here for your wedding. That’s it.”

An old man holding a cane | Source: Pexels

Despite his refusal, the ceremony proceeded. I knew that I should have tried to convince him harder, but there wasn’t any time.

As the music started, my grandmother stepped onto the aisle, with me watching her from behind.

“It’s okay,” I told her before. “You just do it alone if you have to. Walk to Nate, and then you can take a seat at the front. And then it will be my turn to walk to my future husband.”

A groom | Source: Unsplash

There was confusion when Gran started walking down the aisle, especially because she wasn’t walking toward my grandfather, but to Nate instead.

As she walked, guests gasped, unable to comprehend what was going on.

My grandfather’s face turned red, and he stood up abruptly. He looked me straight in the eye as he stormed out of the venue.

An old man with his mouth open | Source: Pexels

I felt a pang of guilt but quickly refocused my attention on my grandmother, who had hugged Nate and was beaming with joy.

When she sat down, my entrance music began, and I walked down the aisle bursting with love for Nate. I hadn’t expected him to be okay with any of it, but the fact that he was just made everything more magical.

“Hey there,” he said as he took my hand when I reached the altar.

A couple at the altar | Source: Midjourney

The rest of the ceremony went off without any hiccups, and whenever I turned to look at my Gran, she had her little handkerchief in her hands ready to dab her eyes.

But then, everything changed after the ceremony.

It started with my nephew crashing into the table holding the champagne glasses, leaving glass everywhere.

Shattered glass | Source: Pexels

And then, instead of my family coming to me and throwing confetti on Nate and myself in celebration, they did the exact opposite.

My parents pulled me aside, my mother tugging harshly at my arm.

“What were you thinking, Leah?” she hissed. “You embarrassed your grandfather with that childish stunt. Why does it always have to be about you?”

An angry woman | Source: Pexels

“It wasn’t about me!” I protested. “It was about Grandma and her dream. She deserved this moment as much as I did. As much as you did when you got married, too.”

“And what about your grandfather?” my father chimed in, flagging down a waiter with canapes as he spoke. “You made a good old fool of him.”

But it didn’t stop there.

An angry man | Source: Pexels

My relatives kept coming up to me, agreeing with my parents. They didn’t even allow me to eat my first meal with Nate as his wife or have our first dance together.

It was all about them and how they thought that I had ruined my grandfather’s mood, and was it worth it?

“Of course, it’s worth it!” I told my mother’s sister when she slid into the chair next to me. “Anything for Gran!”

“It’s okay,” Nate said, as he pulled me into his arms, my tears threatening to escape.

A bridal couple standing together | Source: Pexels

“Did I ruin our wedding?” I asked him.

“You did no such thing,” he reassured me. “I’ll get the car, we can go to the hotel. We’ll take your grandmother, too. I’ve seen how everyone has been circling her.”

Later that night, I sat with my grandmother in her hotel room. Nate had booked her a room for the night.