For three months, Mia\u2019s mom insisted she stay away while her house was being renovated. But something didn\u2019t sit right. When Mia arrives unannounced, she finds the door unlocked, the house eerily pristine, and a strange smell in the air. Mia is about to stumble upon a devastating secret.The city was just waking up as I drove through its empty streets. Early morning light painted everything in soft hues, but I couldn\u2019t shake this gnawing feeling in my gut. Something was wrong.I gripped the steering wheel tighter, my knuckles turning white. Mom\u2019s voice echoed in my head as my memory replayed all those hurried phone calls and weird excuses. \u201cOh, honey, I can\u2019t have you over. The house is a mess with all these renovations.\u201d\n
But three months without seeing her? That wasn\u2019t like us. We used to be thick as thieves, her and me. I worried about what had changed as I waited at an intersection. Mom had always been house-proud, constantly tweaking and updating our home. But this felt different.Her voice on the phone lately\u2026 she always sounded so tired. Sad, even. And every time I\u2019d try to press her on it, she\u2019d brush me off. \u201cDon\u2019t worry about me, Mia. How\u2019s that big project at work going? Have you gotten that promotion yet?\u201d I knew she was keeping something from me, and I\u2019d let it slide for far too long.So here I was, way too early on a Saturday morning, driving across town because I couldn\u2019t shake this feeling that something was terribly wrong. As I pulled up to Mom\u2019s house, my heart sank. The garden, usually Mom\u2019s pride and joy, was overgrown and neglected. Weeds poked through the flower beds, and the rosebushes looked like they hadn\u2019t seen pruning shears in months. \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d I muttered. I killed the engine and rushed to the gate.I walked up to the front door, my footsteps echoing in the quiet morning. When I tried the handle, it turned easily.\n
Unlocked. That wasn\u2019t like Mom at all. Fear prickled across my skin as I stepped inside. There was no dust, or building materials in sight. No sign of a drop cloth or any paint cans either. And what was that smell? Sharp and citrusy. The place was too clean, too sterile. Like a hospital.\u201dMom?\u201d I called out. No answer.My eyes swept the entryway, landing on a familiar photo on the side table. It was us at the beach when I was maybe seven or eight. I was grinning at the camera, gap-toothed and sunburned, while Mom hugged me from behind, laughing. The glass was smudged with fingerprints, mostly over my face. That was weird. Mom was always wiping things down, keeping everything spotless. But this\u2026 it looked like someone had been touching the photo a lot, almost frantically. A chill ran down my spine.\u201dMom?\u201d I called again, louder this time. \u201cYou here?\u201d That\u2019s when I heard it. A faint creaking came from upstairs. My heart raced as I climbed the stairs. The quiet felt heavy, pressing in on me from all sides. I tried to steady my breathing as I walked down the hallway toward Mom\u2019s room. \u201cMom?\u201d My voice came out as a whisper now. \u201cIt\u2019s me. It\u2019s Mia.\u201d I pushed open her bedroom door, and the world seemed to tilt on its axis.There she was, struggling to sit up in bed. But this\u2026 this couldn\u2019t be my mother. The woman before me was frail and gaunt, her skin sallow against the white sheets. And her hair\u2026 oh God, her beautiful hair was gone, replaced by a scarf wrapped around her head.\u201dMia?\u201d Her voice was weak, barely above a whisper. \u201cYou aren\u2019t supposed to be here.\u201d I stood frozen in the doorway, my mind refusing to process what I was seeing.\u201dMom? What\u2026 what happened to you?\u201d She looked at me with those familiar brown eyes, now sunken in her pale face. \u201cOh, honey,\u201d she sighed. \u201cI didn\u2019t want you to find out like this.\u201d I stumbled to her bedside, dropping to my knees. \u201cFind out what? Mom, please, tell me what\u2019s going on.\u201d She reached out a thin hand, and I clasped it in both of mine.\n
It felt so fragile, like a bird\u2019s bones.\u201dI have cancer, Mia,\u201d she said softly.Time stopped and my world narrowed down to how dry her lips looked as she spoke and the hollow feeling in my chest. I couldn\u2019t breathe. \u201c\u2026 undergoing chemotherapy for the past few months,\u201d she finished. \u201cCancer? But\u2026 but why didn\u2019t you tell me? Why did you keep this from me?\u201d Tears welled up in her eyes. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to burden you, sweetheart. You\u2019ve been working so hard for that promotion. I thought\u2026 I thought I could handle this on my own.\u201dAnger flared up inside me, hot and sudden. \u201cHandle it on your own? Mom, I\u2019m your daughter! I should have been here! I should have known!\u201d \u201cMia, please,\u201d she pleaded. \u201cI was trying to protect you. I didn\u2019t want you to see me like this, so weak and\u2026\u201d \u201cProtect me?\u201d I cut her off, my voice rising as tears blurred my vision. \u201cBy lying to me? By keeping me away when you needed me most? How could you do that?\u201dMom\u2019s face crumpled, and she started to cry, too. \u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d she sobbed. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry, Mia. I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn\u2019t want to be a burden.\u201d I climbed onto the bed beside her, careful not to jostle her too much, and pulled her into my arms.\u201dOh, Mom,\u201d I whispered. \u201cYou could never be a burden to me. Never.\u201d We sat there for a long time, just holding each other and crying. All the fear and pain of the past few months came pouring out.When we finally calmed down, I helped Mom get more comfortable, propping her up with pillows. Then I went downstairs and made us both some tea, my mind reeling with everything I\u2019d learned. Back in her room, I perched on the edge of the bed, handing her a steaming mug. \u201cSo,\u201d I said, trying to keep my voice steady. \u201cTell me everything. From the beginning.\u201d And she did. She told me about the diagnosis, the shock, and the fear. How she\u2019d started treatment right away, hoping to beat it before I even knew something was wrong.\u201dBut it spread so fast,\u201d she said, her voice trembling.\n
\u201cBy the time I realized how bad it was, I was already so sick.\u201d I took her hand again, squeezing gently. \u201cMom, don\u2019t you get it? I love you. All of you. Even the sick parts, even the scared parts. Especially those parts. That\u2019s what family is for.\u201d She looked at me, her eyes filled with a mixture of love and regret. \u201cI just\u2026 I\u2019ve always been the strong one, you know? Your rock. I didn\u2019t know how to be anything else.\u201dI smiled through my tears. \u201cWell, now it\u2019s my turn to be the rock. I\u2019m not going anywhere, Mom. We\u2019re in this together, okay?\u201d She nodded, a small smile tugging at her lips. \u201cOkay.\u201d I moved back in with Mom later that week. I also took time off work and called in every favor I could to get Mom the best care possible, even if all we could do was keep her as comfortable as possible. We spent her final days together, sharing stories and memories, laughing and crying together. And when the end came, I was right there beside her.\u201dI\u2019m sorry, Mia,\u201d she whispered. \u201cI wanted\u2026 I never took you to Disneyland\u2026 I promised to take you camping in the mountains\u2026 so many promises I\u2019ve broken\u2026\u201d\u201dIt\u2019s not important.\u201d I moved closer to her on the bed. \u201cWhat matters is that you were always there for me when I needed you. You always knew how to make me smile when I was sad, or make everything better when I messed something up.\u201d I sniffed. \u201cI don\u2019t know what I\u2019m going to do without you, Mom.\u201d Her eyes cracked open, and she smiled faintly at me.\u201dYou\u2019re going to be okay, Mia. You\u2019re so strong\u2026 my amazing daughter. I love you so much.\u201d I put my arms around her and hugged her as tightly as I dared. I\u2019m not sure exactly when she slipped away, but when I eventually pulled back, Mom was gone. I stayed there for a long time, trying to hold onto the warmth of our last hug as sobs racked my body, replaying her last words in my mind. Trying to keep her with me, no matter how impossible that was.Saying goodbye to Mom was the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done. But I wouldn\u2019t trade those moments I spent with her for anything in the world. Because in the end, that\u2019s what love is. It\u2019s showing up, even when it\u2019s hard. It\u2019s being there, even in the darkest moments. It\u2019s holding on tight and never letting go.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My Mom Told Me Not to Visit for 3 Months Due to \u2018Renovations\u2019 \u2014 When I Decided to Surprise Her, I Discovered the Gory Truth She Was Hiding For three months, Mia\u2019s mom insisted she stay away while her house was being renovated. But something didn\u2019t sit right. When Mia arrives unannounced, she finds the\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":90092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[855],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-90089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-story"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/255.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90089"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90093,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90089\/revisions\/90093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}