When I Had A Health Update, I Didn’t Tell My Daughter Or Her Husband That I’d Quietly Sold My Company For 8 Million Dollars.

And now you offer me $50 and call me a distraction.”

He clenched his jaw. The bills were still extended between us like a physical barrier. “Mom, it’s not personal,” he said with that clinical voice he probably used to give bad news to his patients’ families.

“It’s just that right now I am not in a position to help you the way you need. I have my family to support, my own expenses. I can’t simply carry another person.”

Another person.

That was me to him. Another person. Not his mother.

Not the woman who sacrificed her own dreams to finance his. Just another person who needed something from him and inconvenienced him. I took the $50, not because I needed them, but because I wanted to see if even that pathetic gesture would cause him any kind of emotion.

Nothing. His face remained neutral. Professional.

Distant. As if he had just completed an unpleasant but necessary business transaction. “Now, I need you to leave,” he said, pointing to the door.

“Seriously, Mom, I have to wake up early. I can’t be dealing with this right now. When you stabilize, call me and we’ll see what we can do.

But you have to understand that I also have my limits.”

He put his hand on my shoulder, not with affection, but with firmness. He was guiding me toward the exit. He was literally pushing me out of his life.

When we reached the door, he opened it and signaled me to leave. The cold night air hit me again. “Take care,” he said.

“And honestly, Mom, you should have been more careful with your investments. At your age, you should already have everything secured. This shouldn’t be happening.”

He was blaming me.

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