As Jo returns from a business trip, she walks into a messy and chaotic house. Her husband, Brandon, greets her with a comment that gives her no choice but to run to her parents\u2019 house for refuge. When she returns, things seem to be better. But will Brandon learn his lesson and play his part in their marriage? I walked through the door, the clack of my suitcase wheels echoing off the hallway walls, and I was absolutely stunned. It looked like a tornado had swept through our living room. Toys were strewn across the floor, dishes piled up in the sink, and what? A blackened banana on the couch?\n
My heart sank. This was the last thing I needed after a grueling week of meetings across the state. I just wanted to come back home to my husband, children, and my own bed. To come back to a clean home. When I left for my trip, I had left explicit instructions for my husband, Brandon. I had even prepped meals to last the week, sorting out lunches and dinners. I wanted to make everything as easy as possible for my husband.All Brandon had to do was sort out the kids\u2019 cereal in the morning and get them dressed, which would be easy enough because I had sorted the kids\u2019 outfits by day. The laundry had been done before I left, too. Everything was set for my husband to take over seamlessly. And yet, as I walked into my home, craving the comfort of the house I had left for a week, I was only met by disappointment. Walking into the kitchen was even worse.\n
The sink was piled with used mugs, and the fridge was nearly empty, save for bottles of sauce and a pack of beer. How had everything unraveled so quickly? I heard the back door open and close; Brandon had been outside with the kids when I walked into the mess. \u201cHoney!\u201d he said, rushing toward me to hug me. \u201cI\u2019m so glad you\u2019re back! I\u2019m starving!\u201d I met his greeting with silence; his words felt like a slap in the face. \u201cYou didn\u2019t make enough food for the week, Jo,\u201d he added nonchalantly. \u201cI\u2019ve had to give the kids pizza for the past two nights. We\u2019re also out of milk. And I\u2019ve had to focus on work, not worry about the house.\u201d That was the final straw.The frustration and fatigue of months, no, years, of feeling undervalued and overburdened, boiled over. \u201cNot enough food?\u201d I asked, my voice eerily calm, despite how I felt on the inside. I wanted to scream. I didn\u2019t wait for a response. I didn\u2019t even go outside to see my kids, Ava and Max. Grabbing my still-packed suitcase, I turned around to leave.\n
\u201cI\u2019m leaving, Brandon, and I won\u2019t be back until this house is the way I left it. Clean, organized, with a stocked fridge and sorted laundry. Okay?\u201d Brandon looked at me, puzzled and then concerned, as I headed out the front door, but he didn\u2019t say anything. He didn\u2019t try to stop me at all. He didn\u2019t call me back and make promises that he would sort the house out while I took a bubble bath. He let me leave. I drove straight to my parents\u2019 house, the one place that still felt like a sanctuary despite my having outgrown it. When I arrived, my mother opened the door before I could even knock, her expression shifting from surprise to concern at the sight of my tear-streaked face and the suitcase trailing behind me.\u201cJo, what in the world happened?\u201d she asked, pulling me into a tight embrace. I stepped inside my childhood home, the smell of pot roast filling the air. This was a home. This is what I wanted to walk into. Not the chaos that my husband had let the house escape into. My dad entered the hallway, and I walked into the living room I knew well. \u201cYou look like you\u2019ve been through a storm,\u201d he said, taking my suitcase and hugging me. I sighed, sinking into the couch. The comfort of being home, in a space where everything was as it should be, made the disparity even more painful. \u201cI might as well have been,\u201d I replied, trying to muster a smile. \u201cTell us,\u201d my mother urged.\n
\u201cI left everything organized for Brandon,\u201d I began, my voice shaking as I recounted the preparations I had made before my trip. \u201cMeals, kids\u2019 schedules, clean clothes\u2014everything he needed to just step in and take over for the week.\u201dMy mom sat beside me, her hand reaching out to cover mine. Dad\u2019s chair creaked as he leaned forward, his typical joviality replaced by a growing frown.\u201cAnd when I got back today,\u201d I continued, tears of frustration streaming down my face. \u201cIt was like I\u2019d never spent all those hours planning. The house was a mess, nothing was where it should be, and Brandon? He actually complained there wasn\u2019t enough food prepared.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s ridiculous!\u201d my father\u2019s voice was unusually sharp. \u201cAfter everything you do?\u201d That night, at my old desk, I laid out the financial equivalent of all the tasks I\u2019d been juggling silently. I knew that maybe I was being too much, but I felt forced into it. My entire soul felt heavy. And more than that, I felt guilty that my feelings had forced me out of the house before even looking for my children. The next day, I knew that I had to return home. \u201cYou do need to go home, honey,\u201d my mother said, as she made breakfast.\n
\u201cThe kids need to see you.\u201d When I returned home, the atmosphere was hopeful. Brandon stood in the doorway, his posture hesitant. Beyond him, I could see the glimmers of an attempt to restore order to our home, with the vacuum left out in the open. But it was the sound of laughter from the backyard that drew me, tugging at the corners of my heart.I walked around to the back of the house, and there they were. My children, playing around with a soccer ball. The sight of them, so carefree and happy, momentarily washed away the turmoil of the past 24 hours. Max spotted me first, his little legs carrying him as fast as they could across the grass. \u201cMommy!\u201d he shouted, launching himself into my arms, Ava hot on his heels. \u201cMom! You\u2019re back!\u201d she screamed. I hugged them both, soaking in the comfort of their closeness. \u201cI missed you guys so much,\u201d I said, my voice thick with emotion, the guilt heavy in my heart. We spent the next 30 minutes playing in the backyard, with Brandon watching from the sidelines. I could see him in the kitchen, doing dishes at the sink. I knew that I should have gone to him and helped out. Or even begin having our conversation. But I wanted to soak up the time with my children. \u201cMom, can we get ice cream?\u201d Ava asked after a little while.My children deserved an outing, so I promised them we would get ice cream before we went out to do a grocery run.\n
\u201cGo wash up,\u201d I told the kids, while I went to Brandon. I took the envelope that held all the financial statements I had worked on while I was at my parents\u2019 the night before. And I slid it across the counter for him.\u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d he asked, eyebrows knitting together as he pulled out the papers.\u201cRead it,\u201d I said, my voice firm. \u201cIt\u2019s a bill. For everything I do here that goes unnoticed by you.\u201d He scanned the document, his eyes widening with each line. \u201cJo, this is a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cYes, it is,\u201d I said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s time that we rethink how we manage our home and respect each other, Brandon.\u201d He nodded. \u201cI\u2019m taking the kids to the grocery store because we need food,\u201d I said, looking into the fridge to make sure that my husband hadn\u2019t done any shopping. \u201cDo you want me to come?\u201d he asked. \u201cNo,\u201d I replied. \u201cYou can finish up here. I\u2019m sure that there\u2019s laundry to be done, too.\u201d When the kids were ready, I got them strapped into the car and set off. I felt better, knowing that everything was out in the open. I knew that Brandon felt dejected, but I couldn\u2019t be responsible for his feelings.It was about more than my husband\u2019s feelings.\n
The kids enjoyed their ice cream cones as I dragged them around the grocery store, almost happy to be back to my routine. When we walked through the door later, my arms laden with shopping bags, the smell of dinner wafted through to us. \u201cYou cooked,\u201d I said to Brandon, who was mixing through a pot of pasta. \u201cI want to do more, Jo,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to be part of the kids\u2019 lives like you are, not just someone to fill in their basic needs when you\u2019re gone. When you took them out now, they didn\u2019t even ask me to come with.\u201d I knew my husband had finally learned his lesson. \u201cI just want to make life easier for you, too,\u201d he said, plating the pasta. \u201cI\u2019ll do better.\u201d We all sat down for dinner together in a clean house, which was exactly what I had wanted the day before. I think everything will be better now.What would you do?\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I Came Home from a Trip to Find Our House Being Destroyed by My Husband and Kids \u2014 It Was the Last Straw As Jo returns from a business trip, she walks into a messy and chaotic house. Her husband, Brandon, greets her with a comment that gives her no choice but to run to\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":84376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[855],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-84373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-story"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/156.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}