I rushed home after receiving a tense message from my parents, but what happened next kept me laughing for days.
Since my sister and I were born, my dad has always been teased by everyone around as the “handsomest in the house.” Living in a family full of women, my dad would occasionally sigh, wishing he had a son. But my mom was determined not to have more children, and our family stayed at four members.
Everyone thought my sister and I were spoiled like princesses, but the truth is my mom was the most powerful “princess” in the house.
My dad indulged my mom unconditionally. Whatever she liked, my dad would fulfill right away. For bigger things, like buying gold or a car, he would remember and get them for her when he could afford it.
Throughout the year, my dad never forgot any holidays, anniversaries, or birthdays related to my mom. He always bought her gifts, making my sister and me extremely envious. In fact, every year on my birthday, my dad would keep asking to confirm the date because he could only remember the month, not the day!
My parents always call each other “babe” sweetly. When my dad sees an elderly couple addressing each other formally or just simply calling each other’s name in public, he “criticizes” them for lacking affection. He believes that the longer couples are together, the more they should love and bond with each other to set an example for their children and grandchildren.
My sister and I often tease that out of 100 couples married for 40 years, only one couple is like our parents. The rest might “split up” after less than four years, so there’s no love left to call each other “anh” and “em.” Then my dad takes the opportunity to lecture us, saying that we should love and cherish our husbands, and learn from how our parents live together.
I admit I am envious of their happiness. Although my husband and I rarely argue, there are times we dislike each other like cats and dogs. My sister, after quarreling with her husband, doesn’t dare to confide in our parents, fearing they’d scold her and “open a class” on marital conduct.
However, no matter how harmonious a couple is, there are still moments of discord. My dad has a gentle personality, and my mom is sweet. When they are upset with each other, they “sulk” silently and text their children to act as intermediaries.
Every time my sister and I help reconcile them, we wonder how they have shared a bed for all these years without ever sleeping separately or moving to another place. My dad winks and says it’s their secret to maintaining their marriage.
But then, no one knows what will happen. Suddenly, this afternoon, my sister and I both received a message from our mother, announcing that she would file for divorce in court tomorrow. Just yesterday, our whole family had gathered for a joyful meal, and overnight, things had turned tense.
Previously, my mother had only joked about divorce, but suddenly speaking seriously today frightened my sister and me. I quickly dropped everything to rush home and see what was going on. When I arrived, I saw my sister and her husband already sitting in the living room, laughing uncontrollably, making me wonder what was happening.
My sister laughed until her face turned red, taking several minutes to calm down. My brother-in-law then explained the cause of my mother’s shocking divorce announcement—it was all because of the toilet!
My parents’ house was built a long time ago, and over the decades, the toilets on both floors had become old. The toilet in my parents’ bathroom had been clogged for the past two months. They didn’t consider it serious enough to replace or repair, only reminding each other to check for leaks after using it.
Due to this issue, my parents’ water bill increased a bit in last month. It was only a few money, but for the elderly, that amount seemed significant. My mother, feeling it was a waste of money, printed a notice and stuck it on the bathroom door to remind my father to check for leaks after using the toilet.
The problem is, my father is 60 years old, has poor eyesight, and is very forgetful. So, last night, he got up to use the bathroom and forgot to look at the reminder, resulting in water continuously flowing into the toilet bowl. When my mother discovered it in the morning, she was furious, seeing that they had wasted 2 cubic meters of water, and scolded him from morning until noon.
Having a headache from being scolded so much, my father reacted. They exchanged a few heated words, and then my mother, saying nothing more, texted my sister and me to tell us to take her to file for divorce the next day.
After hearing the whole story, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Such a tiny incident, yet my mother was so angry with my father that she wanted a divorce at 60. I tried to advise her, but she just shook her head vigorously. She said she had put up with my father’s minor bad habits for decades, which kept bothering her.
If she nagged, he complained that she talked too much, but if she didn’t, she got upset. She added that this was the second time in a week he had caused a water leak, criticizing him for being too careless, not listening to her, and wasting money and “environmental resources.”
My mother is still diligently handwriting the divorce petition, having my sister download the form from the internet for her to copy! Knowing my parents’ temperaments well, I didn’t interfere further and told my siblings to let our parents do what they wanted. Most likely, halfway through filing the petition, my mother will return to my father anyway!