In my final year of high school, my parents separated, and my mum started seeing a 23-year-old woman.
I won’t go into too much detail on the circumstances surrounding it, as really, it shouldn't matter.
But my parents were in an unhappy marriage for years. Their separation was no shock. My dad’s intense response was no shock. My mum going for a woman —that was a bit of a shock.
Funnily enough though, it wasn’t the complete change of my mother’s identity that was most confronting to me. It was the response of the people closest to me.
Side note: Here are the things mums never hear. Post continues below.
Arriving at friends' houses, I mentally prepared myself for what was to come. Suddenly my friends' parents would want to come down to have a chat and 'see how I’d been'.
After about 60 seconds of small talk, the concerned mother would tilt her head ever so slightly and change tone: "So how are things at home?"
It was often paired with a sad smile as if I was in some kind of dangerous situation (God forbid, I might be living with someone who isn’t attracted to her husband anymore).
Yeah, I know, it’s really weird.
Self-deprecation, or I guess, deprecating my mother, was the easiest response. I’d always add in an "at least she’s happy," to which the mums would push back, "no, but what about you? She hasn’t thought of you at all."
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