My Mother-in-law didn't realize I was covering all expenses for my in-laws. Now, 15 years later... — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Mom, what's that over there? When my
2. 0:02daughter Tracy and I came home from my
3. 0:04parents house, piles of trash bags sat
4. 0:06in front of the entrance. Inside were
5. 0:09our belongings packed carelessly like
6. 0:11actual garbage. Tracy pulled her
7. 0:14favorite stuffed animal out of one bag
8. 0:15and hugged it, crying. The locks had
9. 0:18been changed. I rang the bell and
10. 0:20knocked. No answer. One bag carried a
11. 0:23note. Parasites disappear. Never come
12. 0:26back. The real parasites are you. I
13. 0:29muttered. I'm Sarah, 43. I work from
14. 0:33home as a personal consultant. I started
15. 0:35as a fortune teller. Then my blog took
16. 0:37off. For over 10 years, my mother-in-law
17. 0:40and sister-in-law, Diane, ignored me,
18. 0:42spreading rumors to neighbors that I
19. 0:45stay home and say I'm working. My
20. 0:47husband, Kent, managed our finances from
21. 0:50the start. When my income grew, I
22. 0:52transferred money to him monthly. first
23. 0:54$100, then $1,000, then $2,000,
24. 0:59eventually $4,000 a month because he
25. 1:02said his salary had dropped and his side
26. 1:04business was failing. I never wanted to
27. 1:06hurt his pride. Then one night, Diane
28. 1:08sat at the dinner table. Tutoring is
29. 1:11expensive. Tracy can study by herself.
30. 1:14Sarah doesn't earn anything. Kent says
31. 1:16he supports you. You're a leech. What do
32. 1:18you mean? I contribute money, too. What
33. 1:22you contribute barely covers your own
34. 1:24food. Kent had told his family he paid
35. 1:27for everything. That night, drunk, he
36. 1:29laughed it off. It's a matter of pride,
37. 1:32Sarah. Let me be the eldest son a
38. 1:34little. Days later, he left for a
39. 1:36seminar with a large suitcase, and
40. 1:38that's when his family threw us out. At
41. 1:41my parents house, I called a friend
42. 1:43connected to Kent's side business. Kent
43. 1:45didn't go to the seminar. I heard he
44. 1:47quit his job and runs a business with
45. 1:48his wife. I called his company. He had
46. 1:51quit two years ago. For two years, I'd
47. 1:54been funding his entire family. I hired
48. 1:56a detective. Kent dressed in a suit each
49. 1:59morning, gambled all afternoon, and
50. 2:01spent evenings at a woman's house. 3
51. 2:04weeks later, Kent called, panicking
52. 2:06before payday. Let's leave that house
53. 2:08and live as the three of us. I'll cut
54. 2:10ties with my mother and Diane. He was
55. 2:12ready to discard the people he had made
56. 2:14dependent on him. I'm coming back, I
57. 2:17said. Leave the door unlocked.
58. 2:20A few days later, I walked in with Tracy
59. 2:22in a divorce form. Does the $4,000 I
60. 2:25transfer monthly cover your salary? I
61. 2:27called your company. You quit 2 years
62. 2:29ago. Kent went silent and began to
63. 2:31sweat. Mother, I said. Kent quit his
64. 2:34job. His side business isn't working.
65. 2:37I'm leaving. Please keep relying on him.
66. 2:40Their faces turned ashen. Kent blurted
67. 2:42it out. Sarah has been paying for
68. 2:44everything for years. I'm unemployed.
69. 2:47The three of them erupted at each other.
70. 2:49While they screamed, Tracy and I
71. 2:51collected what I'd paid for. The
72. 2:52cleaning robot, the expensive microwave,
73. 2:55Dian's beauty device. That's mine. I
74. 2:58bought it. Pay me back. Then my final
75. 3:00bombshell. I'll claim compensation from
76. 3:02your mistress, Mary, too. I have all the
77. 3:05evidence. I'll also claim child support
78. 3:08and the compensation I secretly paid for
79. 3:10Diane. My mother-in-law and Diane
80. 3:13begged. We're sorry. We can't live
81. 3:15without you. I ignored them all. The
82. 3:18divorce finalized. Through my lawyer, I
83. 3:21recovered compensation. They had to sell
84. 3:23the house to pay. Kent's mistress
85. 3:25learned he was unemployed and they broke
86. 3:27up. Tracy and I moved into an apartment,
87. 3:30and she finally got the room she'd
88. 3:32longed for. Sometimes the real parasites
89. 3:34are the ones calling you