YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → My DIL Cancelled My Flight To Maui And Texted, “Walk Home” I Smiled And Replied, “You Sure?”

My DIL Cancelled My Flight To Maui And Texted, “Walk Home” I Smiled And Replied, “You Sure?” — Transcript

by Granite Revenge · 3,716 words · 577 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00The text arrived while I was standing at
0:02the departures curb at Calgary
0:04International with one suitcase and a
0:07boarding pass that no longer existed. It
0:09said, "Walk home. Maybe the long walk
0:13will give you time to think about how
0:15you treat this family."
0:16I read it twice. Then I laughed right
0:19there between a man wrestling a hockey
0:21bag and a teenager hugging her
0:23grandmother goodbye. And I typed two
0:25words back, "You sure?"
0:28My name is Marilyn Weaver.
0:30I am 65 years old, a retired school
0:33secretary, and until that Thursday
0:35morning I had spent 4 years believing
0:37that being needed was the same thing as
0:40being loved.
0:41Let me back up to about 20 minutes
0:43earlier. My daughter-in-law, Haley, had
0:46pulled her SUV up to the departures
0:48doors with my son, Derek, in the
0:50passenger seat. We were flying to Maui
0:53for 2 weeks. I had booked the
0:55five-bedroom villa in Wailea, paid the
0:57deposit, and prepaid the seven-seater
1:00rental waiting for us at the airport on
1:03the island. I had also made the dinner
1:05reservations, the sunset sail, and the
1:08luau Haley had hinted about since
1:10February. The one thing I had not booked
1:13was the flights because Haley had
1:15offered. She had a travel rewards card
1:18and wanted all three of us in the same
1:20row.
1:21I transferred her $1,812
1:24for my fare the same afternoon. And she
1:27sent back a little heart.
1:29"Go print your bag tags, Marilyn," she
1:32said at the curb smiling in that bright
1:34voice she saves for when she's about to
1:36do something.
1:38"We'll park and meet you inside."
1:40Haley has called me Mom for 6 years, but
1:43only when she wants something. When she
1:45doesn't, I'm Marilyn.
1:47At the kiosk, I typed in my confirmation
1:50code and the screen went red.
1:52Reservation not found.
1:54A WestJet agent with a lanyard and kind
1:57eyes checked her terminal,
1:59then looked up at me with that small
2:01wince people get when they're about to
2:03deliver bad news.
2:05"Ma'am, this booking was canceled online
2:07by the person who made it about 20
2:10minutes ago."
2:11My phone buzzed in my coat pocket. That
2:14was the text.
2:15Here is what Haley expected.
2:18She expected me to cry in the middle of
2:19the terminal, to call Derek, to buy a
2:22last-minute fare at three times the
2:24price on my own credit card, and to
2:26chase them to the gate apologizing for
2:28something I hadn't done. She had it all
2:31planned.
2:32I think she had even rehearsed the part
2:35where she would generously forgive me.
2:38Instead, something in my chest went
2:40still and clear like a pond after the
2:42wind drops.
2:44I wasn't angry yet. I was something
2:46steadier than angry.
2:48I sent my two words, then I walked out
2:50through the sliding doors, opened my
2:52ride app, and booked a car home.
2:55Five minutes later, I was in the back
2:57seat of a Corolla merging onto Barlow
2:59Trail when I saw Derek's SUV swing
3:02around the departures loop for the
3:04second time.
3:05Haley was leaning forward scanning the
3:08crowd at the curb. Her face was white.
3:10Derek had both hands on the wheel at
3:1310:00 and 2:00 the way he drove when he
3:15was 10 years old and learning on his
3:17father's lap in a church parking lot.
3:20They had canceled my ticket thinking
3:22they'd watch me beg. They had not
3:25expected me to leave.
3:27My driver, a quiet man named Imran,
3:30asked if I was all right.
3:32I told him I'd never been better, and
3:34I'm fairly sure it was the truest thing
3:36I'd said in months.
3:37Here is the part Haley left out of
3:39whatever story she tells.
3:42Two weeks earlier,
3:43she had sat at my kitchen table in the
3:45house Terry and I bought in 1991,
3:49a house with the mortgage paid off a
3:50decade ago, and asked me for $38,000.
3:54She wanted a four-season sunroom on the
3:57back of their place in Cranston they
3:58owned. That house with a mortgage of
4:01their own. And she had a Pinterest board
4:04and a contractor's quote.
4:06She said that since my house was paid
4:08off,
4:09and since Terry's life insurance was
4:11just sitting there, I surely had room.
4:14"It's not sitting there." I told her.
4:16"It's my retirement. It's what pays for
4:19me to be old without being a burden."
4:22"You wouldn't be a burden." She said.
4:24"You'd be using the sunroom, too."
4:27I said no. Then I said it a second time
4:29more slowly in case the first one hadn't
4:32registered. Derek stared at his coffee
4:34like it was a book he had to finish.
4:36Haley stood up, pushed in her chair a
4:39little too hard, and said, "Fine. We'll
4:41remember this."
4:43I understand now that the trip was the
4:45test. If I was still willing to pay for
4:48a villa, a rental, and every dinner,
4:50then my no on the sunroom was only a
4:52mood, and moods could be waited out. She
4:55wanted to see how far she'd have to push
4:58before I paid for something. Canceling
5:00my flight was the shove.
5:02In the back of that Corolla, I did what
5:05I should have done years earlier. I
5:07opened the booking app.
5:09The villa was reserved under my name on
5:11my Visa with free cancellation right up
5:14to the day of check-in.
5:15I tapped the screen. Cancel reservation.
5:18Are you sure? Yes. I opened the rental
5:21car site. Cancel. I opened the
5:23restaurant app and cleared the luau, the
5:25sale, and the seafood dinners one at a
5:28time, steadily, like folding laundry.
5:31I did not touch their flights. They were
5:34Haley's, on Haley's card, and I had
5:37never wanted to stop them from going
5:39anywhere. I only wanted to stop being
5:41the floor under their feet.
5:43My phone began to shake against my knee.
5:46Haley, Derek, Haley again. Then a
5:49voicemail icon, then another. I turned
5:52the volume off and watched the foothills
5:54slide by through the window.
5:56Let me tell you about the ledger.
5:59It wasn't a book. It was a tally I'd
6:01carried in my head for 4 years, ever
6:03since Terry died.
6:05He went quickly, a Tuesday in March, a
6:08heart that simply stopped in the garage
6:10while he was changing a light bulb.
6:13After the funeral, the house was so
6:14quiet I could hear the furnace thinking.
6:17Derek and Haley were around a great deal
6:19back then, and I mistook that for
6:21devotion.
6:23Then Haley mentioned that the lease on
6:25their old car was up, and that Derek was
6:27stressed. And somehow I was co-signing
6:30on a new pickup and agreeing to cover
6:32the payment just for now. That was $689
6:37a month. Then it was the family cell
6:39phone plan, because the Telus bill was
6:42such a strain on them.
6:43Then it was a $400 grocery e-transfer on
6:47the 1st of every month, which Haley
6:49called a little help with Costco.
6:52I didn't stop it because stopping it
6:54meant admitting what it was.
6:56I wasn't helping my son.
6:59I was renting a place in his life month
7:01by month
7:02because I was afraid that if I stopped
7:04paying, there'd be nothing left to sit
7:06down to dinner with.
7:07I got home around noon, put the kettle
7:10on, and made a strong cup of black tea.
7:13Then I sat at the kitchen island with my
7:15laptop and went into my banking portal.
7:17It took 11 minutes.
7:20I canceled the pre-authorized debit for
7:22the truck loan and phoned the finance
7:24company who confirmed what I already
7:27suspected. I was a co-signer, not the
7:30borrower, and they would take the next
7:32missed payment up with Derek. I logged
7:35into the Telus account, which was in my
7:37name, and suspended both of their lines.
7:40I turned off the grocery transfer. I did
7:42not feel vindictive.
7:44I felt like someone opening every window
7:47in a house that had been shut up for
7:48years.
7:50Hayley's texts kept arriving, then
7:52stopped. Derek left a voicemail that
7:54began, "Mom, please. This isn't funny."
7:57I did not listen to the rest. I carried
7:59my suitcase upstairs, unpacked it, and
8:02slept 11 hours.
8:04The next morning at 8:00, a locksmith
8:06named Ralph pulled into my driveway. He
8:09was a big man with a gray ponytail and a
8:12van that smelled like machine oil, and
8:14he drilled out my old locks and put in
8:16new deadbolts on the front, side, and
8:19garage doors while I stood on the step
8:21with my coffee.
8:23Derek and Hayley had both had keys to my
8:25house for 6 years. I hadn't minded at
8:27first, but keys, I've learned, are an
8:30invitation that doesn't expire.
8:32Hayley's seasonal decorations had
8:34migrated to my garage, box by box. When
8:37her online candle business folded, 52
8:40cartons of unsold wax and jars found
8:43their way into my basement. Derek parked
8:45his hockey gear in my front closet.
8:47Nobody ever asked. The house had slowly
8:50become an annex of theirs, and I had
8:52slowly become a tenant in my own life.
8:55"All done, Mrs. Weaver," Ralph said,
8:57handing me three bright brass keys. "You
9:00want me to bill you or take a check?"
9:03"A check," I said. "I still write them."
9:06While I wrote it, I did not know that
9:08Derek and Hayley were waking up in a
9:10motel in Kahului. They had made their
9:12flight, barely, after circling the loop
9:15twice and then sprinting to security.
9:18Hayley's plan was apparently to land in
9:20Maui, call me, and let me stew while she
9:23enjoyed my villa. They had landed the
9:25afternoon before, local time, to a text
9:28from the property manager saying their
9:30reservation was canceled, no booking on
9:33file. The rental car desk had no record.
9:36Every hotel on the south side was full
9:39for the long weekend or priced like a
9:41second mortgage.
9:43I know all this because Derek told me
9:45later in a voice I barely recognized.
9:48They spent that night in a cramped motel
9:51in Kahului sharing a bed with a
9:53comforter and the next day
9:56they spent $4,100
9:58they didn't have on two one-way tickets
10:00home. They flew back through Vancouver.
10:03Their phones were dead by the next
10:05morning because I had cut the lines and
10:07Haley had left her charger in the SUV
10:10which was in long-term parking at YCC.
10:14They reached my house on Sunday
10:15afternoon tired and rumpled in an Uber
10:18that smelled like pine air freshener.
10:21I was in the front hall when I heard
10:23Derek's key scrape and fail in the new
10:25lock. He tried it again harder.
10:28Then he jiggled the handle and called
10:30Mom?
10:32I opened the wooden door but left the
10:34security screen shut and locked.
10:37Through the mesh my son looked about 9
10:39years old.
10:40What did you do?
10:42Haley said behind him. She was not even
10:44pretending to be gentle. You canceled
10:46the villa. You canceled the car.
10:49We slept in a motel next to a laundromat
10:51Marilyn.
10:52You told me to walk home I said so I did
10:55and then I went home.
10:57It was a joke she said a lesson. You
11:00were being so stubborn about the sunroom
11:03and we just wanted you to see that you
11:05need your family.
11:06Canceling a woman's ticket to scare her
11:09into paying you $38,000
11:12isn't a joke Haley. It's a shakedown.
11:15Derek put his palms flat against the
11:17screen.
11:18Mom our phones are off. The truck
11:21payment didn't go through. You can't
11:23just cut us off like this.
11:25I'm not cutting you off Derek. I'm
11:27cutting out of the middle.
11:29You are 34 years old. You have a steady
11:32job, and Haley has hers.
11:34You'll sort it out the way every other
11:36adult in this country does.
11:38Let us in, Haley said, rattling the
11:41handle. I need to use the bathroom.
11:44There's a Tim Hortons at the end of
11:45Maple, I said. I hear their washrooms
11:48are clean.
11:49I closed the inner door, turned the
11:51deadbolt, and went back to my armchair
11:54and my library book.
11:56I read the same paragraph four times
11:58because my hands were shaking, but I did
12:01not open that door.
12:02On Monday morning, I hired two grade 12
12:05kids from down the street, Leo and
12:07Beckett, at $20 an hour.
12:10The three of us spent the afternoon
12:12clearing out my garage, basement, and
12:14front closet. We lined everything up on
12:17the left side of the driveway in neat
12:19rows. Haley's holiday bins, the candle
12:22cartons, Derek's hockey bag, a futon
12:25that had been in my basement for three
12:26winters,
12:27a broken treadmill.
12:29At noon, I sent Derek a message from my
12:32own phone because I do have a cell
12:34phone, whatever he might tell people.
12:36Your belongings are at the end of my
12:38driveway. Please collect them by 5:00
12:41p.m. tomorrow.
12:42After that, I will donate what remains
12:45to the Mustard Seed.
12:46They came at 4:00 the next day in a
12:49rented van because the truck had been
12:51parked since Friday
12:53with an overdue notice taped to its
12:55window.
12:56Haley jumped out first, holding her
12:58phone up like a weapon.
13:00This is illegal, she said. You can't
13:03just throw our property on the street.
13:06It's on my driveway, Haley, and I'm not
13:08throwing it anywhere. I'm giving it
13:10back.
13:11I held up my clipboard with the donation
13:13receipt already filled in. You have
13:16until 5:00.
13:17Derek looked at the mountain of boxes.
13:20Mom,
13:21we can't even afford the gas to move all
13:23this. Can we put it back in the garage
13:25for one more month?
13:27No.
13:28Hayley tried to push past me toward the
13:30front door. I stepped sideways and put
13:33my shoulder in the frame.
13:35I didn't shove her. I just didn't give
13:37way, and it turns out that's all it
13:39takes.
13:40"Get your boxes, Hayley." I said.
13:43They loaded the rented van in 53
13:45minutes, arguing in whispers.
13:48I sat on a lawn chair with iced tea and
13:51watched, and I discovered that watching
13:53someone carry the consequences of their
13:55own choices feels a great deal like
13:58sitting at the end of a long, exhausting
14:00hockey game.
14:02Two weeks of silence followed. I weeded
14:05the front beds, volunteered at the
14:06library, and went to my sister Connie's
14:09for tea.
14:10I slept with the windows open and a
14:12window fan humming. At night I noticed I
14:15wasn't tightening my jaw anymore.
14:17Then, in the third week of June, Derek
14:20phoned my cell. I let it ring twice and
14:22picked up.
14:24"Mom." His voice was flat, stripped of
14:26all the old whining. "The pickup's gone.
14:29The lender sent a notice and then a tow
14:31truck. I'd missed two payments."
14:34"I know. I got the same notice as
14:35co-signer. I'm sorry it's come to that."
14:39"Our mortgage renewal is in August, and
14:41the rate's going to jump. Hayley thinks
14:43we should sell. She's been crying for
14:46days. She's saying you did this to ruin
14:48her."
14:49"Derek, did I cancel your tickets or did
14:52she cancel mine?"
14:53Silence. I could hear traffic behind
14:56him.
14:57"Are you really going to let us lose the
14:59house over one stupid mistake?"
15:02"It wasn't a mistake." I said. "It was a
15:04plan. I'm not punishing you. I'm just no
15:07longer paying for the stage."
15:09"Mom, please."
15:11"Ask your manager about overtime and
15:14call a credit counselor. I'll send you a
15:16number for one that's free."
15:18"That's what I can give you, and I'll
15:20give it gladly."
15:22I hung up gently. Then I stood in my
15:24kitchen for a long moment with the phone
15:27warm in my hand and thought, "There.
15:29That's the sound of a door closing, and
15:31it doesn't slam."
15:33What happened next I did not plan, but I
15:35was not sorry.
15:37On the Sunday of the August long
15:39weekend, my sister Connie hosted a
15:41barbecue in Okotoks. The sort of
15:43backyard gathering my family has done
15:46since I was in pigtails. Folding tables,
15:49salmon on the grill, potato salad in a
15:51Tupperware someone is going to forget to
15:54take home. I arrived early with my own
15:56potato salad content.
15:59Derek and Haley turned up an hour later
16:01by bus and a long walk from the stop.
16:04Haley had clearly decided that if she
16:06couldn't pressure me in private, she'd
16:08go public. She worked the lawn chairs.
16:11She sat beside Connie and my niece, and
16:14my brother-in-law Dale, speaking in that
16:16low, wet, trembling voice she'd
16:19practiced. Talking about how hard things
16:21were, how his mother had suddenly turned
16:23cold, how they were barely hanging on.
16:27At dinner, the long patio table went
16:29quiet in that polite way families do
16:31when something's wrong, and nobody wants
16:34to say it first.
16:36"It's just been so hard," Haley said,
16:38pushing a piece of salmon around her
16:40plate. "Since Marilyn abandoned us
16:43without any warning."
16:45Connie put her fork down and looked
16:46across at me.
16:48"Marilyn, is this true? She says you cut
16:51off their phones and their truck."
16:53I did not raise my voice. I reached into
16:56my purse, took out a folded sheet of
16:58paper, and slid it down the table. It
17:01was a clear printout of Haley's text,
17:03the date and time stamped at the top.
17:06"Walk home. Maybe the long walk will
17:08give you time to think about how you
17:09treat this family."
17:11"I was standing at the departures curb
17:13at YYC," I said.
17:16Haley had canceled my ticket 20 minutes
17:18before. She did it because I wouldn't
17:21pay $38,000
17:22for her sunroom.
17:24Nobody breathed. Connie read it, then
17:27passed it to Dale, who read it with his
17:29jaw set, then up the table to my niece,
17:32who put her hand over her mouth.
17:34"That's not what happened." Hayley said.
17:37Her face went the color of a boiled
17:38beet. "It's out of context. She's
17:41twisting it. I was stressed. It was a
17:43joke."
17:44"There's no context that makes it all
17:46right to strand a 65-year-old woman at
17:48an airport."
17:50Dale said quietly. He doesn't speak
17:52much, so when he does the whole table
17:54listens.
17:56Derek put his face in his hands.
17:59"I didn't abandon you, Hayley." I said.
18:01"I took you at your word. You didn't
18:03want me on that flight, so I went home.
18:06You said I should think about how I
18:07treat this family, and I did. For 4
18:10years, my role was a bank machine. I'm
18:13resigning."
18:14Hayley stood up fast, knocking her chair
18:16over. She snatched her purse and walked
18:19out the side gate without a word.
18:21Derek mumbled an apology to the table, a
18:24small scraped-out sound, and ran after
18:27her toward the bus stop.
18:29My sister took my hand. "Why didn't you
18:31ever tell us?"
18:32"Because I was ashamed." I said. "I
18:35thought I had bought something, and I
18:37thought admitting it was gone would be
18:39worse than paying."
18:41That was the closest thing to a verdict
18:43I ever needed. After that, the rest of
18:46the afternoon was ordinary. We ate
18:49strawberry shortcake. Connie complained
18:51about her tomatoes. Dale refilled my
18:54iced tea without asking.
18:56Now, I know what some of you are
18:58thinking, because my niece asked me the
19:01same question over coffee a month later.
19:03"Why did you start paying in the first
19:05place?
19:07Wasn't some of this your own doing?"
19:09Yes, it was. After Terry died, I was so
19:12lonely. I mistook being useful for being
19:14loved.
19:16I paid because every e-transfer bought
19:18me a phone call and a Sunday dinner. It
19:20took a canceled boarding pass to show me
19:22that I had never been a mother in that
19:24arrangement. I had been a subscription.
19:27Subscriptions can be canceled by either
19:30party.
19:31I'd like to say I told Haley that to her
19:33face.
19:34I didn't. I sent one final email in
19:38September, brief and unhurried, asking
19:40her to return the $1,812
19:43for the fare she had canceled. Since the
19:45refund had gone straight back onto her
19:47card, she paid in full by e-transfer
19:50within a week with no message. I
19:53recorded it in my notebook the way you
19:55record a payment from a stranger.
19:57By January, the rest had played out the
20:00way these things do. They had sold the
20:02house in Cranston before the mortgage
20:04renewal and moved into a one-bedroom
20:07rental on the far side of the city.
20:10Haley took a second job in a call center
20:12evenings and weekends. Derek, who had
20:15once never walked farther than the
20:17mailbox, was taking the C train to work
20:19in minus 25°.
20:22Connie passed along the news without
20:24commentary.
20:26And I never asked for more. The sunroom
20:28never got built and neither did the life
20:30it was meant to be a window onto.
20:33Last February, Derek turned up on my
20:35porch, alone, in a parka that had seen
20:38better years. I didn't open the screen
20:40door right away. I looked at him for a
20:42while through the mesh and he stood
20:45there and let me.
20:46"I'm not here for money," he said. "I
20:49wanted to say I'm sorry. I should have
20:51said it at the curb. I watched her do it
20:53and I didn't say a word. I let her."
20:56"Yes," I said, "you did."
20:59I know.
21:00I unlocked the screen. We had tea at the
21:03kitchen table and talked about his
21:05father and the light bulb in the garage,
21:08and a fishing trip he'd taken with Terry
21:10when he was 11 that I hadn't known he
21:12remembered. He did not ask for anything.
21:16When he left, I hugged him on the porch,
21:18and I did not give him a key.
21:20I haven't spoken to Haley since the
21:22barbecue, and I don't expect to.
21:24Maybe someday. I don't wish her
21:27suffering. I just don't want to be
21:28anyone's emergency fund ever again.
21:32This past March, I sat on a balcony in
21:34Kauai, a place I picked and paid for
21:37entirely on my own, with a coffee going
21:40cool at my elbow, and the ocean making
21:42its steady, unbothered noise below. A
21:45woman at the next balcony asked if I was
21:47traveling with family. I thought about
21:49it for a moment.
21:51"Just me," I said, "and I'm in excellent
21:53company."
21:54I was told once to walk home, so I did,
21:57and I locked the door behind me, and for
21:59the first time in 4 years, the house was
22:02entirely mine.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of My DIL Cancelled My Flight To Maui And Texted, “Walk Home” I Smiled And Replied, “You Sure?” by Granite Revenge, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 3,716 words across 577 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.