Reader’s Story: Seeing grandchildren is expensive

MHis son and ex-wife Ingela separated, and when Rickard met a new woman named Maja, the relationship between him and the children did not go well. Klara was 8 years old at the time and Vilgot was 4 years old. It wasn’t Maja’s fault, she was the weirdest in the world, she had two girls, and she was very fond of children.

But Ingela made sure to sabotage everything she could. Ricard often had to stand with a long nose. Although they decided that he would take the children, Angela made sure that no one was home.

Clara, who had always been a daddy’s girl, distanced herself from Rickard. I hated Maja, and there was no reason to at all. This must have been something her mother had planted in her mind.

On the other hand, as grandmother and grandfather, we were welcomed when we visited the big city. This didn’t happen often, but we saw each other once a year and then we were invited to dinner at Ingela’s house and we got a chance to meet the grandchildren.

We wanted expensive gifts – we couldn’t afford them

Last summer we went to visit during summer vacation. Before we went down, we asked Angela – and also Maja – if there was anything specific the kids wanted.

Maja suggested that we could buy coloring books or craft books for her seven- and nine-year-old girls. When we contacted Angela, she was very happy and invited us to dinner as usual and we agreed on Friday evening. Clara was 11 years old and Vilgot was 7 years old.

-Is there anything specific the kids want? did you ask.

– Yes, the kids want PlayStation, Angela answered.

I asked them what game they wanted and if there was anything specific I should think about, so it wasn’t a mistake.

– No, no, it’s not a game. I mean a gaming console, PlayStation 4, Angela answered.

I gasped for breath. I have no idea exactly how much the gaming console cost, but I understand it was several thousand Swedish krona.

– I’m sorry Angela, but we are retired and unfortunately we do not have the opportunity to buy such expensive gifts.

– I can’t afford that either, so Angela shouted angrily and hung up.

We rang the doorbell but no one answered

So it’s time to visit with Rickard and Maja next week. We had the promised craft books for the MAGA children and they were thrilled and threw themselves into them.

On Friday, Rickard drove us to Ingela and the children’s apartment. We called the intercom, but no one answered. A neighbor was about to enter and we took the opportunity to sneak into the stairwell.

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We thought maybe something was wrong with the intercom, so my husband and I walked up three flights of stairs and rang the bell. We could hear they were home, and the radio was on. But no one opened the door and suddenly the radio went silent.

We tried again, to no avail. We called five times, then gave up and called Rickard, who had to come pick us up again.

– Are we punished by Gospel because we can’t afford a computer game? I asked my son.

He shrugged and replied that he had a hard time understanding what Angela was up to at all, because she was not only punishing us, but also punishing the children through her behavior.

Grona Lund has become an expensive story

The next day Angela called and claimed she had not heard us. Now I thought instead that we should meet at Grona Lund.

We agreed and had to pay the children’s entrance fee and our own entrance fee as well as the rides, ice cream and sweets for the children. We were happy to do so, even though it was surprisingly expensive. The whole day cost 1500 SEK, which was a lot of money for us.

Unfortunately, I can’t get over the feeling that Ingela just wants to squeeze as much out of our wallets as possible, and that if we don’t pay dearly, we won’t get to see Klara and Filgot anymore.