I accidentally overheard my husband complaining to his friends, calling me a brainless, useless woman who had accomplished nothing in her entire life.
I accidentally overheard my husband complaining to his friends, calling me a brainless, useless woman who had never achieved anything in her life.
But he had no idea what a hurt and humiliated woman was capable of—or how deeply he would regret those words.
What I did afterward left my husband completely shocked and turned his entire life upside down.
At fifty-five, I really had only one major achievement I could point to—my family.
I met my husband when I was still very young. I married him at twenty-three and almost immediately gave up everything I had once planned for myself.
I had a good education, had done extremely well at university, knew English, and dreamed of building a career.
But my husband always said that more than anything in the world, he dreamed of having a big family.
A few months after our wedding, I became pregnant with our first child.
Then came our second, followed a few years later by our third, fourth, and fifth.
Gradually, my life turned into an endless cycle of pregnancies, childbirth, sleepless nights, sick children, school, cooking, and cleaning.
I gave birth to our youngest son at fifty-four.
Altogether, we had eleven children.
Of course, all those years took their toll on me.
After so many pregnancies, my health deteriorated significantly.
I was constantly exhausted, gained weight, and developed wrinkles.
The idea of going to the gym almost made me laugh because there were days when I barely had time to eat a proper meal or even take a shower in peace.
My husband’s life, however, was completely different.
While I took care of the children, he built his career, went on business trips, met people, and gradually began earning very good money.
He went to the gym regularly, took care of his appearance, bought expensive clothes, and traveled for work several times a year.
And despite all that, he increasingly started saying:
“Maybe we should have one more? What’s eleven? We could make it twelve.”