The Price of Saving Face

I received a call from my mother in January of 2008. She told me that after twelve years of marriage she was getting a divorce and needed to move out. She couldn't afford to move out and live on her own so she asked if my boyfriend and I were interested in coming down to Florida to live and to find a school that I could attend. I have always wished that I was one of those kids that had parents that could afford to send me anywhere I chose and into whichever field I wanted to regardless of the cost. The offer was enticing because my boyfriend at the time worked for the same company that my mom did so a transfer would have been easily attainable. My Mom had told me many stories about the fun things that she and my sister had done while living there. I told my mom that I would talk to my boyfriend and that I would call her the next day. My mom said that if I didn't want to move and help her that she would be okay and she would just have to find a roommate to make ends meet. The conversation ended with me telling Mom that things would be okay and that I love her.

The following day I sat down with my boyfriend and asked him how he would feel about moving to Florida. His first response was that he was happy in Wisconsin and that he had a good job and things were going well. I told him that my Mom needed help because she was getting divorced and could not afford to live by herself. I remember telling him that I could not let my Mom down and that she had never asked me for anything before. I felt that I needed to help take care of her and I was sure that he would love Florida weather and all the things that there was to do. I pressured him into making a decision right then and I kept giving him reasons on why I thought we should move. I guess you could say that I convinced him that it would be the best thing for my Mom and for me so that I could spend time with my Mom that I never had growing up. His answer was yes and in two weeks we had broken our rental lease and were making plans to move down by February 1st.

My Mom was relieved and excited about us moving down. She found a small house for us to rent that had enough bedrooms for all of us. We arrived a few days early and were able to move in right away. My mom left most of the household things with her ex-husband to be so she had very little to start with. I unpacked all of my household goods and we used them to start out our new place. Things just seem to fall into place and we settled in quickly. My boyfriend and I loved the Florida way of life. So many things to see and do, plus the weather was wonderful. No ice, snow or below zero temperatures to put up with.

A couple of months passed and my boyfriend seemed to be less excited and happy like he was in the beginning. He started to sit in our room more and shelter himself. I had gotten a seasonal job at phantom fireworks and made some friends. I started to hang out with them out of work and had invited