At the age of eighteen, I made a life-changing decision when I married the endearing and humorous Daniel, a man my affluent father disapproved of.
My father had yelled, “You marry that low-life, and you’ll get nothing from me, Margaret!” “You’ll see what love really is when you have to live in a one-bedroom rathole with roaches crawling up the walls!”
But I ignored them. I knew I would never regret falling in love with Daniel. At all.
Returning to that tiny flat at first seemed romantic (there were no insects or rats, only a lack of space). Daniel started working for the post office, and I was able to secure a position as a receptionist in a large hotel.
Daniel had told me, “Job security, love,” when I had pushed him to look for a better paid job. “I have to know there’s going to be a pension to keep us when we are old!”
I could see Daniel’s fixation on safety. Had he not seen his father die in a building site accident, leaving his mother to survive on the meager social aid handed to her? His widow and five children had no pension, no insurance, and he had been an illegal.
Daniel was determined that neither he nor I would experience the same thing. Daniel thought that working for the post office would provide us with that guarantee.
But with two kids to support, two meager wages didn’t go very far. Daniel and I were frugal, but we spent every penny we made. Seldom was there much left over for savings.
After our two kids grew up, moved out of the house, and began their own lives, Daniel and I found ourselves back where we had begun: in Alaska for our son and Brazil for our daughter.
Around this time, my father departed from this life. It would seem that neither time nor my happiness had softened his heart, because he bequeathed his entire, substantial wealth to his youngest son, who was free from any guilt.
Daniel was inconsolable. With bitterness, he exclaimed, “This is what loving me cost you, Margaret!” “The life you deserved!”
“No!” I firmly informed him. “I wouldn’t trade what we have for all the money in the world!”
