Normal life

It all started very simply in 1944. It seemed like nothing had happened—an ordinary thing—something like that happens every hour, even every minute. That year, two people, completely different from each other, were born: a boy and a girl. The boy came from a strange marriage at the time, between a Polish mother and a German father. He didn't know his father, and his mother had remarried, which wasn't good for the boy at all. Otto, for that was the boy's name, didn't have an easy life; there were three other children from his second marriage. It was never quiet or peaceful; there were always parties and revelries. You could say the boy drank alcohol even with his mother's milk. However, he grew into a talented and handsome young man, though not at all easy to get along with. As for the girl, Lili, she came from an ordinary family, and life went on as usual. She studied, worked, and played. She was a beautiful girl, and over time she grew into a beautiful, delicate, and calm woman. She finally met what seemed like her dream man, whom she loved with all her heart. Although her parents were against such a candidate, she achieved her goal and married him. And that wedding, in fact, marked the beginning of their true life. Otto was a hardworking man, taking on any job he could to support his family; he didn't want his beloved Lili to work. He was a milkman, a hairdresser, and above all, a husband and, ultimately, a father. After a year of their marriage, a boy was born, named after his father. He had blond hair and his father's blue eyes. He was a little rascal and a great individual. And it seemed that everything was fine, but now Otto Sr. was already showing what he was capable of. Lili didn't have an easy life, although she loved her husband; he often partied with friends and came home drunk. Yet she still loved him and hoped that would change. True to her nature, she endured it quietly, only occasionally crying into her pillow. The boy grew and became the joy of her life; she often took him on her lap and sang him to sleep. Finally, a girl was born, a chubby and exceptionally ugly girl named Basia. She had bowed legs and a chubby face. Her father didn't like her and didn't spend much time with her. Lili, however, loved the child, and although her marriage wasn't a bed of roses, she did her best to raise her children to be decent people. Two years later, her second son, Jan, was born. Things were getting harder, but when the holidays came, there was nowhere as close to home as here. Lili began working as a homemaker. Often, after putting the children to bed, she would sit by the nightlight and sew dolls to supplement Otto's salary. He wasn't thrilled with this turn of events; he didn't like his woman working. He was a man who believed that a woman should stay at home and raise children. He often took the dolls she had made and tore them to pieces. He wanted to have many children so that Lili would stay at home. She didn't tell him about the next pregnancy, but even though it hurt her heart, she decided to terminate it. She knewShe was afraid she wouldn't be able to handle another child; she had no strength or money, and her marriage to the man she'd seemingly dreamed of was falling apart. Finally, she said enough, gave Otto a choice: either change or they'd divorce. She sued him for alimony, because now he was drinking away all the money he'd earned, selling all the wedding gifts they'd received to pay for their drinking. After this ultimatum, however, things slowly began to improve. Lili kicked her husband's family out of the house; there was no room for them there. With them, she began drinking too, but she knew she had children and had to raise them. And her drinking didn't reduce her husband's drinking at all, something she'd secretly hoped for. They almost divorced, but Otto realized it couldn't go on like this, that he had to stop. The next pregnancy ended like the previous one; Lili didn't trust her husband enough to decide to have this child. She loved the children she had, especially Jaś. He was quiet and calm, giving her the peace she now lacked. Life was slowly regaining some kind of order. Otto went out with his friends less often, but when they did, they had a wonderful time. He no longer drank, but for two months a year, he wasn't sober for a day. Then he would be grumpy and nagging Lili. And so the years passed. Lili learned of her next pregnancy too late to terminate, and the baby was too strong, and all attempts at miscarriage were unsuccessful. In January 1977, another daughter, Klaudia, was born. When the little one was ten months old, Lili's mother decided to move in with them to help. Lili went to work; now it was clear that she couldn't survive on one salary. Besides, Lili wanted a break from her husband and his problems, and work provided just that. Klaudia was the apple of her grandmother's eye, but as for the older children, they were frightened little ones. Jasiu, now five, always sat quietly as he took apart his older sister's first toys. Basia was a mouthy seven-year-old who, to avoid Grandma's wet rag, hid in the toilet and talked back until she was exhausted. Otto, the younger boy, was a skinny boy with frightened eyes, constantly running away from home and hiding from his father, who only had a good thrashing for him. Since Grandma had moved in with them, things had become much quieter in that tiny apartment. She had taken the father into her own hands, and although he now drank frequently, he remained silent, afraid of his mother-in-law. She made sure he didn't take anything out of the house and made things easier for her eldest daughter. Another two years passed and Ala's third daughter was born, and Lili found out about her too late, she gave birth to her, but this time she knew that she had help in her mother, now when little Ala cried she didn't run to her immediately because her husband was bothered by the baby's cry, now she was able to say "take her then", and maybe that's why Ala was daddy's favorite girl, even though he shouted at her more than once,He had much more love for her than for his other children. That's how they lived day by day, month by month, and year by year. Lili worked, Otto worked, the children went to preschool and school. Eventually, the oldest ones also went to work. That's how fourteen years passed. In the end, the life Otto had led so far benefited his health. He had gastrointestinal cancer. Less than a month after the diagnosis, Lili buried her husband. The first words she said when she learned of his death were: "Why did you leave me alone? How will I cope?" But somehow she managed, she had to. She had two other teenage daughters, daughters who needed her. The older children helped as much as they could. Despite the difficulties she faced throughout her life, she raised them to be good, decent people. And she wanted to help these two become good people. And she succeeded. As her youngest daughter settled into her life, she remembered her husband more and more often, recalling only the good times. Those when they were still engaged, and those later, when he didn't drink and made sure the children lacked nothing. She missed him more and more. It wasn't long before she saw that all her children had settled down and had families of their own, and she left him for her husband. Her heart couldn't bear the longing for the man she had loved thirty-three years before