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My Daughter-in-Law Demanded I Sign Away My Grandkids' Trust - So I Called My Lawyer and Froze Eve... — Transcript

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0:00I was standing at my kitchen sink
0:02rinsing a casserole dish when my
0:04daughter-in-law walked in without
0:06knocking, set her purse on my counter
0:08like she lived there, and said, "I need
0:10you to sign something." I turned off the
0:12tap. The look on her face told me it
0:15wasn't a request. She laid a document on
0:17the table, four pages stapled at the
0:19corner with the letterhead of a real
0:21estate brokerage in Burlington. It was a
0:23consent and release of funds. My name
0:26was typed at the top, Joyce Robinson,
0:28and under it was a line waiting for my
0:30signature. I dried my hands on the dish
0:33towel. I read the first paragraph
0:34standing up. Then I told her I'd look it
0:37over and let her know. Kimberly said it
0:39was just a formality and that the offer
0:41closed Friday. I said Friday was fine,
0:43and I asked if she wanted tea. She said
0:46no. She was in a hurry. When her car
0:48left the driveway, I took my phone out
0:50to the back porch and called the one man
0:52who had helped me set up my
0:53grandchildren's trusts. 3 months
0:55earlier. Gregory, I said quietly, I need
0:59you to do something this afternoon. 3
1:02days later, my daughter-in-law walked
1:03into our family's bank branch on Gordon
1:05Street and asked to access money held in
1:07trust for my grandchildren. The teller
1:10looked at her screen, looked at
1:11Kimberly, and said the accounts could
1:13not be accessed. Kimberly asked for a
1:16manager. The manager said the same
1:18thing, more slowly. I wasn't there. I
1:20didn't need to be. Before I go any
1:23further, tell me the town you're
1:24listening from. It means a lot to me. My
1:27name is Joyce Robinson. I'm 68 years old
1:30and I live in GE, Ontario, in the same
1:33brick house where I raised two children.
1:35I grew up in Sudbury, the daughter of a
1:37nurse and a man who drove a bus for the
1:39city for 31 years and never missed a
1:41shift. I became a nurse myself and then
1:44a nurse manager at the General Hospital
1:46and I stayed there for 34 years. I
1:49married Roy when I was 25. He was an
1:52engineer with Ontario Hydro and later
1:54with the successor companies, and he was
1:56the sort of man who labeled the jars in
1:58his workshop. Between his pension and
2:00mine and the RSPS we filled year after
2:03year without fanfare and the TFSAs and
2:05the house that was paid off long before
2:07we retired, we built something solid.
2:10When Roy died, I had a little over $2
2:12million. All of it left to me with no
2:14conditions. He trusted me to know what
2:16to do with it. The first year after he
2:19died, I only survived. I kept his
2:21reading glasses on the kitchen table for
2:238 months. I think I couldn't stand the
2:26way the table looked without them. My
2:28son David was 30. He drove in from
2:30Burlington every second Saturday that
2:32first year. He helped me clear out
2:34Royy's workshop and sat beside me at the
2:36lawyer's office when the paperwork felt
2:38like drowning. I thought I knew my son.
2:41I thought I knew exactly who he was. His
2:44wife, Kimberly, was polite at the
2:45funeral. She wore a plain navy dress and
2:48kept topping up people's coffee in the
2:50church hall. She told me twice that
2:52David was lucky to have had a father
2:54like Roy. I thanked her both times and
2:56meant it both times. My daughter Shannon
2:59lives in Calgary. She flew in for the
3:01funeral and stayed 2 weeks. On her last
3:04night, she sat across from me at the
3:06kitchen table and said something I
3:07didn't fully hear at the time. Mom, I'm
3:10a little worried about Kimberly. I
3:12looked up. She's been asking David a lot
3:14of questions about the estate. I told
3:16her she was imagining things. David was
3:18my son. I would have known. What I
3:21didn't know then was that Kimberly had
3:23already looked up what Royy's accounts
3:24were worth. David told me that himself
3:27much later at a different kitchen table.
3:306 months after the funeral, David and
3:32Kimberly came for supper. I made a
3:34roast. I bought the red wine David
3:37liked. Halfway through the meal, David
3:39said Kimberly had been offered a
3:41position at a marketing firm in
3:43Hamilton, but they wanted to buy in a
3:45better school catchment before they
3:47started a family. His voice had a
3:48careful sound like someone reading from
3:50a card. I asked what they were looking
3:52at. He said around 700,000
3:56in Burlington. That wasn't a surprise.
3:58Then he said, "We were hoping you might
4:00help with the down payment. 85,000."
4:03I looked at him. Kimberly smiled and
4:06said, "We'd pay you back, Joyce. just a
4:08loan between family. I said yes. I told
4:11myself it was an investment in their
4:12future. I told myself Roy would have
4:15done the same. I sent the money by bank
4:17transfer within the week. They never
4:19paid back a dollar and I never asked.
4:22That was my first mistake. 2 years
4:24later, my grandson Asher was born. I
4:27drove to the hospital in the middle of
4:28the night on the 403 with the wipers
4:31going. When the nurse put him in my
4:33arms, I couldn't speak for almost a
4:35minute. He had David's dark eyes and a
4:37tiny crease between his brows. That was
4:39Royy's. Exactly. I thought you are why
4:41all of it matters. Every long shift,
4:44every sacrifice, every check to the RSP.
4:46You are the point. The requests came in
4:49waves after that. When Kimberly decided
4:51not to go back to work full-time after
4:53Asher, she said, "It'll be tight,
4:55though. You understand?" Those words had
4:58a weight I didn't recognize until much
5:00later. I paid the nanny share for 2
5:02years. I paid for a minivan when their
5:04car got too small. I replaced a furnace
5:06in January. I covered the dental bill
5:09that their plan only half covered and a
5:11flooded basement. And a week at a
5:13lakeside resort in Muscoa when
5:15Kimberly's mother turned 70. When their
5:17daughter Violet came along, 18 months
5:20after Asher, the requests came faster. I
5:23gave every time I gave, I told myself
5:25that's what family does. But something
5:27shifted in how Kimberly asked. In the
5:30early days, she looked uncomfortable,
5:31even apologetic. Over time, the
5:34discomfort wore off, like a coat she no
5:36longer needed. By the time Asher was
5:38six, she didn't ask at all. She
5:40described a problem, paused, and looked
5:42at me with an expectation I had somehow
5:45taught her to have. One Sunday, she sat
5:47at my kitchen table, scrolling on her
5:49tablet. She turned the screen toward me.
5:52A brick house with a wide front porch, a
5:54big yard on a street in Oakville I knew
5:56was expensive. This is the one, she
5:58said. Four bedrooms, great schools. The
6:01listing price was $1,100,000.
6:04We're preapproved, but we'd need a
6:06significant gift toward closing. I asked
6:09what she meant by significant. She said
6:11$250,000 would cover it comfortably. She
6:15said it the way you'd ask somebody to
6:17pass the salt. I didn't answer right
6:19away. That evening, I sat in Royy's
6:21armchair for a long time and thought
6:23about what he said to me the week before
6:25he died when his head was clear and the
6:27room was quiet. The money's a tool,
6:29Joyce. Don't let anyone turn it into an
6:32entitlement. At the time, I thought he
6:34meant strangers. I understand now he was
6:37telling me something specific. The next
6:39week, I called Gregory Walker, the
6:41lawyer who had helped me settle Royy's
6:43affairs. I told him I wanted irrevocable
6:45trusts for Asher and Violet, one each,
6:48for education, medical needs, and a
6:50first home when they came of age. A
6:52trust company would act as co-rustee
6:54alongside Sside Me. Gregory said it was
6:56a sound plan. When both were funded,
6:58they held just over $900,000
7:01between them, beyond the reach of
7:03creditors, of divorce, and most
7:05importantly, of their parents. The terms
7:08were plain. Nobody could touch that
7:10money without my signature and the trust
7:12companies and a documented purpose.
7:14David called on a Tuesday evening, his
7:16voice flat. Mom, why didn't you tell us?
7:19I said I'd done it for the children, he
7:21said. But we're their parents. I said,
7:23yes, and I'm their grandmother and the
7:24money is for them. He was quiet.
7:27Kimberly is upset. I said I understood.
7:29He hung up. For 3 months, things were
7:32cold. Visits got shorter. David texted
7:35instead of calling. Kimberly was polite
7:38in that hollow, deliberate way people
7:39are when they're furious and trying not
7:42to show it. The children knew nothing.
7:44They still ran to me with drawings and
7:46questions about dinosaurs and asked for
7:48the same picture book seven times in a
7:51row. That part stayed the same. Then
7:53came Violet's fifth birthday party. It
7:56was a Saturday in June in their backyard
7:58with paper streamers, a sprinkler going
8:01in the corner, and a homemade cake
8:02leaning slightly to one side. Violet
8:05wore a purple dress and refused to eat
8:07anything that wasn't icing. I'd brought
8:09her a butterfly garden kit because she
8:11had told me three times that she wanted
8:13to watch a caterpillar turn into
8:15something. She hugged me around the
8:17knees and said, "Grandma, you brought me
8:20the exact right thing." I knelt and held
8:23her small face in my hands. "Of course I
8:25did," I said. "I always pay attention."
8:2820 minutes later, Kimberly found me by
8:30the drinks table. Her voice was soft and
8:32very controlled. Joyce, I need to say
8:35something. She said I'd been inserting
8:37myself into their family for years. She
8:40said the trusts and the way I went
8:42around David to make decisions about the
8:43children had to stop. I told her those
8:46decisions were mine to make. She said
8:48the trusts were just a way of
8:49controlling them. I said they were a way
8:52of protecting Asher and Violet. Her eyes
8:54narrowed. You need to understand that
8:56David and I are their parents, not you.
8:59I understand that completely. Then act
9:02like it. She stepped closer, and if you
9:05can't respect our boundaries, we need
9:07some distance. Behind her, Asher was
9:09chasing a balloon that had slipped its
9:11ribbon. Violet was laughing at something
9:13her cousin said. "Neither child was
9:16watching. I said I wasn't going to
9:18discuss this here," she said. "Then
9:20we're done discussing it and walked
9:22away." I stayed another 30 minutes
9:24because I was not going to let her drive
9:26me out of my granddaughter's birthday.
9:28Then I said quiet goodbyes, kissed the
9:31top of Violet's head while she was bent
9:33over her butterfly kit and walked to my
9:35car. My hands were shaking. I sat at the
9:38end of their street for several minutes
9:40before I could drive. Then I called
9:42Gregory and told him everything. He
9:44listened without a word. When I
9:46finished, he said, "Joyce, I'd like to
9:49review the trust documents with you this
9:51week. There are some protections we
9:52might layer in." I asked why. he said
9:55carefully. I've had two calls from David
9:58in the past month. He asked
10:00hypothetically whether parents can apply
10:02for access to funds held in trust for
10:04their minor children. I closed my eyes.
10:08Joyce, Gregory said, that wasn't a
10:10hypothetical question, which brings me
10:12back to the kitchen sink and the
10:14document with my name typed on it. I had
10:17read it properly after Kimberly left. It
10:19was a consent releasing funds from the
10:21children's accounts toward the purchase
10:23of a property on a street in Oakville
10:26with a deposit due Friday. She had
10:28already written an offer on the house.
10:30She had told the agent a gift was
10:32coming. There was even a gift letter in
10:34the package on what looked like my own
10:36stationary with a signature that was a
10:38good attempt at mine. I know my own
10:40hand. The loop of the J was wrong. I did
10:43not sign. I called Gregory from the
10:46porch and he did what a good lawyer
10:48does, which is act first and talk
10:49afterward. By that evening, both
10:52accounts were frozen to everyone but the
10:53trustees. He wrote to the bank and to
10:55the trust company, and he put a note on
10:57the file that no one but me in person
11:00with identification could so much as a
11:02question. 3 days later, Kimberly walked
11:05into the branch with her letter and her
11:07purse and her certainty. Gregory phoned
11:10me that afternoon, his voice more
11:11measured than usual. She came in to
11:14withdraw from Asher's account. She said
11:16she was his mother and had parental
11:18authority over his assets. She presented
11:20a letter purporting to be from you. I
11:23gripped the phone. She has no power of
11:25attorney, no court order, no trustee
11:28authority. The manager declined and she
11:30became very loud. She said the bank was
11:32protecting a stubborn old woman over the
11:34children's own parents. What does she
11:37think those accounts are? I asked. I
11:40think, Gregory said. She has always
11:42thought of them as hers. That night, I
11:44didn't sleep. I lay in the dark and
11:46thought about all the money I had given
11:48without a single piece of paper. The
11:5085,000 I'd called alone. The nanny
11:53share, the minivan, the furnace, the
11:55dentist, the resort in Mskoka. I had
11:58given because I loved them and because
12:00it felt like generosity. But in the
12:02dark, I could see what I'd really been
12:04doing. I'd been funding a version of my
12:06family that stood on my yes. Every yes
12:08made the next request easier. Every yes
12:11moved the line a little further. In the
12:14morning, I told Gregory to add every
12:15layer of protection he could think of
12:17and to move quickly. Then I asked him
12:19something else. Those transfers, I said.
12:22The 85,000. Do I still have the records?
12:25He said the bank would have everyone. I
12:28said, "Then pull them. All of them."
12:30David came alone 10 days later. He
12:32knocked this time. He had aged in a way
12:35I hadn't noticed until I saw him on my
12:37porch in the plain light of a Tuesday
12:39evening. He sat at the kitchen table
12:41with a mug of coffee he never drank and
12:43stared at the wood for a long time. Mom,
12:46things at home are bad. I waited.
12:49Kimberly's furious about the bank. She
12:52keeps saying you turned everyone against
12:53her. I haven't spoken to anyone about
12:56this. I know. He looked up. That's what
12:59I told her. His voice caught on the last
13:01word. She didn't believe me. He looked
13:04so tired that it hurt to see. He told me
13:06about the gift letter. He had known
13:08about the offer, he said. He hadn't
13:10known about the signature until the bank
13:12called. I asked him quietly, "David, why
13:15do you keep telling her yes?" He pressed
13:18his lips together. "Because it's
13:19easier." "What does your life look like
13:22in 10 years if you keep taking the
13:24easiest path?" "I don't know," he said.
13:27"I think that's the problem." We talked
13:29for almost 3 hours and hardly about
13:31money. We talked about his father and
13:34what Roy had built and why and what
13:36David was afraid of. Somewhere in the
13:39second hour, he laid his head down on
13:40his folded arms on my table the way he
13:42used to when he was eight and
13:44overwhelmed. I put my hand on his back.
13:46You're a good man, I said. You've been
13:49making bad choices because someone in
13:51your house is very good at making them
13:52feel necessary. He sat up, his eyes
13:55read. She's my wife, Mom. I know. You
13:58promised to take care of her. Yes. You
14:01also promised to take care of your
14:03children. Those are not the same
14:04promise. He sat with that for a long
14:07time. Two weeks later, Kimberly phoned
14:09me. It was not the soft voice I'd grown
14:12used to. It was cold and exact. She told
14:15me they were going ahead without my
14:17involvement. She said they'd found other
14:19financing and that the children did not
14:21need to see me every week. I thought you
14:23should know your stubbornness has
14:25consequences.
14:27I understand, I said. She hung up. I sat
14:31in my living room for a long while
14:32afterward, and the house was very quiet.
14:35I thought about Asher asking me last
14:37month whether butterflies remember being
14:39caterpillars. I thought about Violet
14:42insisting we read the same chapter four
14:44nights running because she loved the
14:46part where the dog came home. What it
14:48would mean to not see them, even for a
14:50while, hurt in a way I hadn't expected.
14:52Not sharp, steady, like a bruise you
14:55keep pressing without meaning to. But I
14:57thought about Roy, too. He used to say,
14:59"The hardest decisions feel wrong the
15:01day you make them and right every year
15:03after." I thought he meant business. He
15:06meant life. Here is what happened with
15:08the house, because people always ask.
15:11Kimberly had signed an offer on the
15:12strength of money she had no right to
15:14promise. Her agent had told the sellers
15:16a gift was on the way. When it didn't
15:19arrive, she couldn't close, and the
15:21deposit she'd put down from a line of
15:23credit in her own name, $42,000,
15:26was forfeited. The lender who had
15:28preapproved them took a second look at
15:30the gift letter and the file went to
15:32their fraud department. They never told
15:34us what came of it. They didn't need to.
15:36The preapproval was withdrawn. In
15:39September, David called on a Sunday
15:40evening. Something in his voice had
15:42changed, like a rope that had been
15:44pulled tight for years and was finally
15:46beginning to slacken. Mom, Kimberly and
15:49I are separating. I said nothing for a
15:52moment. I'm sorry, David. Are you? He
15:54wasn't angry, just honest. I took the
15:57question seriously. I'm sorry you're in
15:59pain. I'm not sorry you're making a
16:01clear decision. He was quiet. She told
16:04her lawyer you manipulated me, that you
16:07used the trust as leverage. What do you
16:09believe? A long silence. I believe I
16:12spent 9 years keeping the peace, he said
16:15finally. And forgot peace isn't the same
16:17thing as quiet. I pressed my hand over
16:19my eyes. Your father said something like
16:22that once. I know. I found it in one of
16:25his old notebooks.
16:26The separation was hard. Kimberly's
16:29lawyer tried twice to bring the trust
16:30accounts into the financial disclosure.
16:33Gregory shut both attempts down. The
16:35trusts weren't family property. They had
16:38never been family property. They
16:40belonged to Asher and Violet, and the
16:41documents said so clearly and without
16:44room for argument, because that was
16:46exactly what I'd meant. David was
16:48granted shared parenting time, which was
16:50fair. The children would spend equal
16:52weeks in both homes. Then came the part
16:55I had not expected to be involved in.
16:57Kimberly's lawyer, a sharp woman named
17:00Pierce, argued that the money I'd given
17:02over the years was a series of gifts to
17:04the family, and therefore part of what
17:06the two of them had built together.
17:08Gregory had the transfer history. He had
17:11the dates. He had the text messages,
17:13which I had never deleted, in which
17:15Kimberly wrote things like, "You'll be
17:17paid back, Joyce. I promise." And just
17:19until we're settled. The 85,000 had been
17:23described in writing as a loan by the
17:25very person now saying it was not. We
17:28sat in a mediation room with gray carpet
17:29and a box of tissues in the center of
17:31the table that nobody touched. Kimberly
17:34sat across from me with her arms folded.
17:36I realized I hadn't been this close to
17:38her since the afternoon in my kitchen.
17:41She looked smaller. She looked worn
17:43through. The mediator, a calm man in his
17:4660s, read through the records and then
17:48said plainly that the loan was
17:50documented and the repayment owing was
17:52hers and David's jointly with Kimberly's
17:55share to be paid from her portion of the
17:57sale of their home. The forfeited
17:59deposit was hers alone, and the gift
18:01letter, he said, was a matter on which
18:03he would advise her lawyer to counsel
18:05her very carefully, because I had the
18:08right to take it elsewhere. Gregory slid
18:10a single sheet across the table toward
18:12Kimberly, a repayment agreement.
18:15Principal schedule, interest at the rate
18:17the bank would have charged, a line at
18:19the bottom for her signature. She looked
18:21at it. I watched her read. I watched her
18:24understand that the same pen that had
18:26hovered above my name would now be asked
18:28to sign hers. She looked up at me, and
18:31for the first time in 9 years, there was
18:33nothing careful in her face at all. I
18:36don't have a job, she said. I know, I
18:38said. I think it's high time you did.
18:41She signed. Her hand was steady. I'll
18:43give her that. Before the mediator could
18:46close his folder, Gregory said there was
18:48one more matter and that Kimberly's
18:50lawyer should hear it from him directly.
18:53Two weeks earlier, I had given a
18:54statement to the police about the gift
18:56letter. The bank on Gordon Street had
18:58given theirs about the withdrawal. The
19:00lender's fraud department had sent over
19:02its file as well. Kimberly's head came
19:05up. You went to the police. You put my
19:08name on a letter. I said the loop of the
19:10Jay was wrong. It was paper, Joyce. It
19:13was going to be paid back. That's what
19:15you told me. About $85,000.
19:18PICE put a hand on her client's arm and
19:20said very quietly that they were
19:21finished for the day. Kimberly pulled
19:24her arm free and stared at me. And for
19:26the first time, there was fear in her
19:27face instead of calculation.
19:30She said nothing else. She picked up her
19:32purse, the same purse she had set on my
19:34counter like she lived there, and walked
19:36out ahead of her lawyer. The repayment
19:39took most of her half of the house sale,
19:41and the rest in monthly payments she
19:43began making. After she took a position
19:45as a front desk coordinator at a dental
19:47clinic in Hamilton, she moved into a
19:50two-bedroom rental in Stony Creek. The
19:52children called it Mom's Apartment and
19:55said it had a pool they weren't allowed
19:57in without a grown-up. The criminal
19:59matter took longer. In February, I sat
20:02on a hard wooden bench in the courthouse
20:04in Milton with David beside me. He had
20:06not known about the signature, and the
20:08police had satisfied themselves of that.
20:11Kimberly stood at the front in a gray
20:13suit that was a size too big. She had
20:15pleaded guilty to uttering a forged
20:17document and to attempted fraud. The
20:20judge was a woman with reading glasses
20:21on a chain. She said she had read the
20:24file twice. She said the accused had no
20:26prior record and had pleaded early, and
20:29she took both into account. Then she
20:31looked down at Kimberly over the
20:32glasses. Those trust accounts held money
20:35for two small children set aside by
20:37their grandparents so that no one could
20:39reach it. You treated it as a purse. She
20:42sentenced her to 18 months of probation
20:44and 150 hours of community service. She
20:48ordered restitution of the legal costs
20:50Gregory had incurred to protect the
20:52accounts and she said the conviction
20:54would stand as a criminal record.
20:56Kimberly shoulders folded just slightly.
20:58The way a coat slides off a hook in the
21:01hallway afterward she came toward me
21:03alone. David stepped aside without being
21:05asked. Her eyes were red. I'm sorry,
21:08Joyce. I mean it. Can you forgive me? I
21:11thought about it honestly. I forgive you
21:13enough not to carry it, I said. But you
21:15will not be in my house. You will not
21:17ask me for anything and I will not sign
21:20anything with your name beside mine. You
21:22and I are finished. I will be kind to
21:24you in front of Asher and Violet always.
21:26That is all I have left to give you."
21:29She nodded once and she did not argue.
21:31Then she walked down the long corridor
21:33to the stairs and I did not watch her
21:35go. I did not take pleasure in it. That
21:38surprises people. But she had paid for
21:41something she wanted in full for the
21:43first time in her life, and I think she
21:45stood a little straighter afterward.
21:47Asher asked me once, very quietly, while
21:50we were building a model of the solar
21:51system on my dining room table whether
21:54it was his fault that mom and dad didn't
21:55live together anymore. I put down the
21:58piece I was holding and turned to him
22:00completely. "No," I said. "Not even a
22:03little bit. Sometimes grown-ups have
22:05problems that are only about them. Both
22:07of them love you and neither of them is
22:09going anywhere. He nodded slowly. Will
22:12you still be my grandma? I pulled him
22:14close. I have never been so sure of
22:16anything in my life. By spring, David
22:19had rented a small apartment near the
22:21Burlington waterfront and was slowly
22:23building something new. He brought the
22:25children on Sunday afternoons, and we
22:27made lunch together, and Violet
22:29inevitably fell asleep in the armchair
22:32before the movie ended. One afternoon,
22:34David was washing dishes at my sink and
22:36said without turning around, "Mom, if
22:39you hadn't set up those trusts, I don't
22:41know what would have happened to that
22:42money." I handed him a dish towel. "Your
22:45father knew what he was building. He
22:48just needed someone to guard it." "Thank
22:50you," he said simply, without anything
22:52else attached. It was the most honest
22:55thing he had said to me in years. Before
22:57that, at Christmas, Shannon had flown in
22:59from Calgary. Asher ate three helpings
23:02of mashed potatoes and announced he
23:04wanted to be a geologist. Violet wrapped
23:06herself in the throw from the couch and
23:08wouldn't take it off all evening. David
23:10laughed at something, Shannon said, and
23:12for a second he sounded exactly like
23:14Roy. I had to look away. When David left
23:17that night, he hugged me the way he had
23:19as a teenager. The kind where you
23:21actually feel the other person. I
23:24watched his tail lights go down the
23:25street until they were gone. Then I went
23:28back inside and sat in Royy's armchair
23:30with the tree lights warm and the house
23:32still. I still believe in generosity,
23:35but I've learned that there is a
23:36difference between giving and being
23:37taken from and between love and
23:39compliance. There is a kind of care that
23:41looks like cruelty in the short run and
23:44reveals itself over time as the only
23:46real thing. Roy knew that. He tried to
23:49tell me Asher and Violet are growing up.
23:52They don't yet know what their
23:53grandfather set aside for them or what
23:56it took to guard it. Someday I'll sit
23:58with them and tell them about a man who
24:00labeled his jars and built a life from
24:03nothing because he believed the people
24:05he loved deserved a future no one could
24:07take from them. And I'll tell them their
24:09grandmother finally understood exactly
24:12what he meant. Most parents have given a
24:14lot to their grown children out of love.
24:16And it is rarely simple to see where
24:18generosity should stop. Where do you
24:21draw the line between helping a grown
24:22child and letting them take what is
24:25yours?

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