24/09/2025
Life Happens: My Story of Regret and Pain
Life happens. We say this every day, but for me, it isn’t just a phrase — it is my reality.
I was once a happily married woman, blessed with five beautiful children. My husband was a good man, a responsible man, who carried our home on his shoulders. I was a working-class woman, earning well, yet for reasons I cannot forgive myself for, I never thought of supporting my husband.
Every time he asked for help, I would tell him I didn’t have. Not because I was broke, but because I had shifted my priority away from my own home. My mother’s voice always rang in my ears: *“Help your siblings, nobody else will. You’re the one doing well.”* And I listened.
Year after year, my salary went into projects that were not mine. I built a house for my brother. I built one for my mother in the village. I carried the weight of my extended family’s survival, forgetting the man who was standing with me under the same roof, paying every bill, buying even my sanitary pads, making sure our children lacked nothing.
Then life turned.
In 2021, my husband was diagnosed with kidney failure. My world collapsed. For the first time, I desperately needed help. I ran to the very brother I had emptied my strength and sweat for. I begged him to help me save the man who had given his all for me and our children. He looked me straight in the eye and said, *“I don’t have money.”*
That moment broke me.
I tried everything humanly possible, but I couldn’t save him. My husband died. And with him, a part of me died too.
Now, I am here — left with my children, playing the role of both father and mother. Every night, the weight of regret presses on my chest. I built houses for others, but not for my husband, not for my own home. I neglected the man who truly loved me, the only man who truly had my back.
If there is one thing I want anyone reading this to learn, it is this: *Do not make the mistake I made.* Family is important, yes. But your husband, your wife, your immediate family — they are your first responsibility. Do not neglect them for others, because when life happens, when the storm comes, it is not those outsiders that will stand by you. It is the ones under your roof.
I live with this regret every day. My story is not just pain — it is a warning. Treasure your home. Don’t take your partner for granted. Because when life happens, love and loyalty are worth more than all the money in the world.