The emptiness of George’s departure permeates their residence, his presence enduring in the shirt Mariana grips nightly. However, it wasn’t his passing that devastated her… it was her stepdaughter Susan’s insistence on inheriting his wealth. When she reluctantly agreed, an unexpected twist left Susan enraged and Mariana strangely content.
Progressing past the death of a dear one is always challenging. At times, I still sense my husband George’s voice echoing in my mind. I awaken holding his cherished shirt, his fragrance still clinging to the material. Yet, as I mourned him, my stepdaughter’s actions… they utterly broke me…
I am Mariana, aged 57, wed to the kindest man, George, for 25 years. He had a daughter, Susan, aged 34, from an earlier marriage.
Our bond with Susan was once good. She addressed me as “Mom” and filled the gap in my heart from not bearing my own children. I never viewed her as “another’s” child. I cherished her as my own daughter, truly.
When Susan wed her chosen partner, George and I were thrilled. But then, everything deteriorated when George received a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Susan’s visits reduced from weekly to monthly, then ceased entirely. She seldom visited her father, occasionally phoning to inquire about his health.
One day, she posed a question that tore me apart. “How long does he have left?”
Clutching the phone tightly, my voice shook. “Susan, your father isn’t an item with an expiration date.”
“I just need to know, Mom. I’m swamped, you know that… I can’t come by often,” she responded.
“Swamped?” I repeated, my tone filled with disbelief. “Too swamped to visit your dying father?”
She exhaled deeply. “Look, I’ll attempt to come soon, okay?”
But that “soon” never materialized.
Then, the dreaded day arrived. The hospital informed me that George had passed away peacefully.
I was devastated, barely able to stand as the reality sank in. My beloved George, gone.
Shockingly, Susan didn’t attend his funeral. When I called her, she promptly excused herself.
“I’m expecting, Mom,” she stated, her tone strangely indifferent. “The doctors advised against lengthy travel due to some medical concerns.”
I swallowed hard, holding back tears. “But Susan, it’s your father’s funeral. Don’t you wish to bid him farewell one last time?”
“I can’t jeopardize my baby’s health,” she curtly replied. “You understand, right?”
I didn’t, not truly, but I nodded silently, forgetting she couldn’t see me. “Of course, dear. Take care.”
As I sat near my husband’s coffin, I couldn’t dismiss the notion that our relationship had irrevocably changed.
Six months post-George’s death, I was startled by a loud knock at my door. Opening it, I saw Susan and her husband Doug, along with a severe-looking man in a suit.
Susan entered without greeting. “Mom, we need your signature on some documents.”
Baffled, I blinked. “Which documents?”
Doug handed me a stack of papers, including a blank sheet. “Just sign these. They’re for transferring all the properties into our names.”
Crocodile catched little elephant’s trunk when he was drinking a water! See what happened after
With his mother’s help, the newborn elephant made a fortuitous escape when a crocodile tried to bite off his trunk.
A crocodile emerged from the water and snatched the trunk of a baby elephant that was swimming around the deep end of a drinking hole in the African forest.
Trunking and snorting, the herd mates stared in amazement as they battled to protect the defenseless little calf from the threat.
The young elephant overwhelmed the scared crocodile and tumbled back to avoid the danger, forcing it back into the murky water.
A baby elephant drinks at a watering hole in the African bush while a crocodile stands stiffly in the water a few feet away. The crocodile jumps out of the water and snaps its jaws shut around the calf’s trunk in an instant.
Francois Borman’s camera was used to take the amazing pictures by Mana Pools in Zimbabwe’s Zambezi Valley.”This is the last thing I imagined seeing! I was out in the jungle for several hours hoping for some activity,” he exclaimed.
I usually have high standards when I go out with my camera, but this situation is just amazing to witness.
“A local crocodile saw the herd of small elephants coming down to drink and spent some time measuring them up, chasing the baby calf playing in the shallows,” the observer reported.
“It’s clear the baby elephant was excited about the water because he sprang into the deep, murky water and began to roll around, screaming.”
The amazing photos were taken by talented photographer and farmer Francois Borman in Zimbabwe, close to the Mana Pools in the Zambezi Valley.
The rest of the herd gathered around in wonder, snorting and trumpeting as they struggled to keep the helpless baby elephant safe.
The baby elephant throws off the crocodile and stumbles backward with a little help from his mother.
“It didn’t have to worry about the outside world, and it definitely didn’t consider the dangers that might be present in the murky waters,” he went on.
The tiny calf knelt down to drink from its lips because it was unsure of how to use its trunk to do so. Eventually, it got up and tried its hand at using its trunk to reach the water.
“It was a mess when the crocodile jumped onto the baby elephant’s trunk and grabbed it.”With a choking squeal, the calf charged the crocodile, fighting for its life.
“Time stopped still as the calf resisted and with incredible tenacity, almost immediately pulled the reptile out of the water.”After more elephants raced to the scene to assist, the crocodile eventually released the calf.
“When I saw my pictures, I was overjoyed because I knew they were special.”
“Snaps like this are the payoff—wildlife photographers spend a lot of time waiting, hoping for that specific sight.”
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