The Beginning of Tension
My wife, Anita, was from another city. We met back in college in Davao.
When we first talked about marriage, my mother was furious.
“Her family lives too far away,” she said. “It’ll be a burden to visit all the time.”
Anita cried that day but stayed firm.
“Don’t worry,” she told me softly. “I’ll be a good daughter-in-law. I’ll take care of your family, even if I can only visit mine once a year.”
Eventually, after endless pleading, my mother agreed — but she never forgot that Anita wasn’t from our town.
Every time I tried to take my wife and our son to visit her parents, my mother would invent an excuse to stop us.
