Happiness Despite Everything

I’m 42. I’m a favorite mom and a loving mother-in-law. That’s just how it is. True, they’re not planning to make me a grandmother yet. In my life, everything is fine: work, children, the visits from the city on weekends. My son-in-law’s friend—Mikhail—comes with them every Saturday. Yes, he’s older than my son-in-law, but he’s significantly younger than me. And for me, he’s only the friend of my children. But why does it feel like he has more than just friendly feelings for me? Everything falls apart suddenly. How do you live on when you no longer have any meaning in life? When the memory of them—when even thinking about them—I can’t breathe? And how does Mikhail live now, having become disabled? How does he live, a young, once-healthy man who used to be full of life? How do we both live now? To live, to be happy? What happiness are we talking about? Only happiness in spite of everything.

Cover design uses a photo of the author Viewer. Rights to use the cover image were provided by Depositphotos EU Limited