**Diary Entry 13th November**
I cant take it anymore. If this goes on, Ill end up an old maid because of her. Listen, Emily, just take Mum to live with youplease. Let her fuss over your kids instead of suffocating me.
“Lily… You brought this on yourself. You made your bed, now lie in it.” Emily replied, calm but tired. “Shouldnt have thrown tantrums back then.”
“Fine, I was wrong, I admit it! I was young and stupid. Does that mean she gets to ruin my whole life now?”
“Her own lifes gone because of you. You wanted her to revolve around youwell, congratulations. Heres your prize.”
“Em, youre cleverthink of something! If she moved in with you, itd solve everything. Shed help with the kids, and Id finally get out of this prison…” Lily sighed wistfully. “Or at least talk to her. She listens to you.”
“Sort it out yourselves,” Emily frowned. “Best I can do is advise. You wrecked her personal lifenow fix it. Find her friends, hobbies, suitors. Get her a dog or something. Just shift her focus.”
Typical Lilyalways expecting others to clean up her mess. Emily *could* have played alongher relationship with Mum was differentbut why should she? Let the one who threw the boomerang catch it.
Dad left when Emily was eleven, Lily just three. With no one to help, Emily grew up fastpicking Lily up from nursery, cooking, cleaning, studying late when the house was quiet. Maybe thats why she turned out responsible. Lily? Not so much.
Emily fled the nest early, right after college. She wanted freedomtired of being a second mother. Plus, she reckoned Mum would cope better without her. Emily understood: Mum was still young. The fewer kids clinging to her, the better.
Mum took the chance, growing close to Colin, a colleague. Lily, then twelve, acted like it was the end of the world. She refused to share their spaceor do chores.
“Lily, wash up when youre done, love,” Mum would ask.
At first, she didgrudgingly. Then came the rebellion.
“No.”
“Why not? We all pitch in. I cooked, Colin brought groceries”
“Im not cleaning up after *your* Colin!” Lily snapped, even in front of him.
Colin triedteddy bears, asking about school, patience. But Lily saw him as an invader. Maybe she feared Mum would abandon her too. So she fought back: tantrums, failed classes, “hunger strikes” (with midnight fridge raids).
Mum hoped shed grow out of it. She didnt. The final straw? Mums engagement.
“Lily, howd you feel about Colin joining the family?” Mum ventured.
Cue meltdown. Lily accused Colin of manipulation, eyeing their flat. When arguments failed:
“If you marry him, Im leaving! You wont want me anyway.”
“Lily! Youll always be my daughter*ours*.”
“Oh surenot a daughter, just a servant! No thanks. Ill live with Emily.”
Mum panicked. What if Lily *did* leave? Emily scoffed.
“Shell come crawling back. Or Ill give her such a welcome, shell sprint home. Wants to live with me? Finebut shell pull her weight. Im not her maid.”
But Mum couldnt risk it. Fear won. She and Colin drifted apart.
Just as Lily wanted, Mum fixated on herbut worse. Helicopter parenting became dragon-guarding-the-princess: no solo outings, school pickups, constant calls.
“Its dangerous out there! Well see films *together* when Im free.”
Lily thought it was revenge. Truth? Mum had nothing else.
Lily tried escapinguni in another townbut Mum staged a full-blown crisis: tears, trembling, blood pressure monitor.
“Youd leave me alone? Youre all I have!”
“Mum, I need to grow up!”
“And live *how*? In some dodgy dorm? We can barely afford groceries…”
Lily stayed. Fear? Guilt? Who knows.
Then came the boyfriends. Mum became a purity enforcer: “Too arrogant… That ones a player… *Too* polite…” Relationships crumbled before they began.
Meanwhile, Mum was the perfect mother-in-law to Emilys husbandbaking, never interfering.
No wonder Lily cracked. But Emily wouldnt step in. Not her mess.
ThensurpriseLily fixed it herself.
Emily spotted Lilys Facebook status: *In a relationship*. She called immediately.
“So, congrats? Or just messing about?”
“Sort of… But its more about Mum.”
Lily had tracked down Colinstill singleand “apologised” over coffee. She sent Mum to the same café, “forgetting” to show up.
Mum was livid at first”You set me up *unprepared*?”but something rekindled. They started talking again. No grand romance, but Mum finally had her own life.
The dragon loosened its grip.
Emily listened, amused. Full circle: Lily broke Mums heart, now shes mending it. No fairy talejust life, with its losses and small wins.
**Lesson learned:** You cant outrun what youve sown. But sometimes, if youre lucky, you get a chance to replant it.
