My husband left me unexpectedly. He explained it like this, “It’s not that I don’t love you, Gail. It’s just that I’m in love with someone else, someone younger, and she makes me feel alive!”

I was shocked. “Alive! So what do I make you feel? DEAD?”

He was in love, and through the pain, I accepted his decision. But the most painful part for me was that our children easily accepted their father’s decision and even built a great relationship with his new love.

After a while, I came to my senses and decided to start a new life. I started a writing course, and there I met a professor. He was incredibly smart and handsome, and pretty quickly, we fell in love.

There was one thing, though—he was almost two decades younger than me. I didn’t see that as a problem, but my kids boycotted me. They didn’t think I was entitled to love beyond age like their father.

Well, I found a way to put them in their place, and I don’t regret it.

As I updated my will, I made sure to exclude my children. They had made it clear that they didn’t support my happiness, so why should they benefit from it?

When they found out, they were outraged. They accused me of being selfish and petty, but I stood my ground. I had spent years putting their needs before my own, and now it was time for me to prioritize my own happiness.

It wasn’t easy cutting ties with my own flesh and blood, but I knew it was the right decision for me. I deserved to live my life on my own terms, without judgment or interference from anyone else, especially not my own children.

And as I looked at my younger lover, his eyes filled with love and admiration, I knew that I had made the right choice. I may have lost my children, but I had gained something far more precious—freedom, happiness, and love without boundaries.