They sometimes say that patience is a virtue, and it is also something that is in short supply for many individuals. People seem to have a short fuse these days, especially when they are under stress.
Sometimes, being impatient is going to cost you more than you can ever imagine and that is what happened in the following story. It involved a girl who was upset because her grandparents purchased her the least expensive item on her registry.
Not only is this a story that sparked a debate, it also teaches us a valuable lesson. Keep reading to find out more about this intriguing tale.
I am in my 70s and am a grandmother to five wonderful grandkids – three girls and two boys. The last of my grandkids got married last October. My husband, also in his 70s, and I have a tradition when it comes to wedding gifts.
We usually buy a small gift, often the least expensive item on their registry, and send it ahead of the wedding. Then, the day before the wedding, we privately give them a check for $40,000, hoping they’ll use it to buy a house. We’ve always asked our grandkids to keep this gift private because we have a large extended family, and we don’t want others to expect the same.
All of our grandkids honored this request except for our youngest granddaughter. For her wedding, we bought her an air fryer, the cheapest item on her registry, and sent it in advance. She called us, furiously accusing us of being cheap and unloving, threatening to disinvite us unless we bought her a more expensive gift.
We were taken aback by her reaction but decided to buy her a China set. However, we chose not to give her the $40,000 we had set aside for her, as we felt her behavior did not warrant it.
Fast forward to last week. She met up with her brother and discovered he had received a cash gift from us. She then spoke to her cousins and learned they had all received the same gift. Furious, she confronted us about discriminating against her. We explained it was our money, and due to her behavior, we decided not to give it to her.
She started crying, saying she was extremely stressed at the time and asked us not to take her words to heart. We stood by our decision. Now, she is refusing to attend Christmas, and her mother, our daughter-in-law, is calling us unreasonable.
So, are we the ones in the wrong? It’s a tough situation, but we believe it was an important lesson in gratitude and respect.
