A week before Christmas, I overheard my daughter Amanda talking on the phone. She sounded excited as she discussed holiday plans, and at first I paid little attention.<\/p>\n
Then I heard her say, \u201cJust leave all eight kids with Mom. She doesn\u2019t have anything else to do. We\u2019ll enjoy a few peaceful days at the hotel while she watches them.\u201d<\/p>\n
I froze.<\/p>\n
She went on to explain that she, her husband, and even my son\u2019s family had already planned their vacations. According to her, I would take care of all eight grandchildren, prepare Christmas dinner, buy the gifts, and handle everything else\u2014just as I always had.<\/p>\n
The only difference was that nobody had bothered to ask me.<\/p>\n
As I stood there listening, I realized they weren\u2019t treating me like a mother or grandmother. They were treating me like a free babysitter.<\/p>\n
I quietly walked upstairs and sat on my bed, trying to process what I had heard. At sixty-seven years old, after years of putting my family first, I suddenly felt invisible.<\/p>\n
For the first time, I asked myself a question I had never considered before:<\/p>\n
What would happen if I stopped saying yes?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A week before Christmas, I overheard my daughter Amanda talking on the phone. She sounded excited as she discussed holiday plans, and at first I paid little attention. Then I heard her say, \u201cJust leave all eight kids with Mom. She doesn\u2019t have anything else to do. We\u2019ll enjoy a few peaceful days at the…<\/p>\n