Chip Chick
Before he ended their engagement, this 26-year-old man and his ex-fiancée, 27, were in a relationship for four years. Then, he proposed, and she happily accepted his proposal. He’s an only child, and his mom is in her 60s.
When he was young, his mother filed for divorce from his abusive dad. After the divorce, his mom never found another partner and continued caring for him on her own. They had no other living family members, so he and his mother only had one other.
Throughout his relationship with his ex-fiancée, he clearly planned for his mom to live with them after marriage. Leading up to the breakup, they were discussing plans to purchase a house together, and he mentioned that he wanted to find a home with a spare bedroom for his mother.
“My ex-fiancée said that she did not want my mother living with us, and when I asked why she didn’t say anything when we were dating, she said that she thought I’d get over it and we could put her in a home,” he said.
He rejected her idea of having his mom live in a nursing home and was angry because, from his perspective, his mother welcomed his ex-fiancée like she was her daughter. His mom never behaved like the stereotypically impolite and mean mothers-in-law everyone fears.
During the conversation, he told his then-fiancée that if she wouldn’t allow his mom to move into their house with them, he wouldn’t marry her. She wouldn’t agree, so they ended their engagement.
Afterward, his ex-fiancée’s family members and friends told him he was a jerk, but he didn’t think their assessment made sense because he’d been up-front from the start of their relationship that he wanted his mom to live with them.
“Our family has a history of dementia, setting in around the early 60s, and my mother has started to show signs of forgetfulness. That’s why I want to keep her as close as possible. I will be the primary caregiver,” he explained.
Several years ago, his mom was in great health, but as time passed, she slowly started to take a turn, and he noticed signs of possible dementia. Luckily, his mom started and sold a company, so she has a lot of money in her savings account.
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