My friendship with my son Toby and his wife Layla got worse after my husband died. The way Layla put down and manipulated me all the time was getting to me, and I knew I had to stand up for myself. When she came back with my car damaged and full of lies and refused to pay for the damage, I decided to do something about it myself.
I thought back to the time my late husband Nathan asked me to take care of Toby all the time. He knew that our son was sensitive and that I had always been there for him. Everything changed when Layla came into our lives. She was smart and sneaky, making herself look like a victim to get Toby to feel sorry for her.
Layla called me one day and asked to use my car. I agreed because I saw it as a chance to fix things between us. When she returned the car, though, it was scratched and dented, and she said she wasn’t responsible.
I couldn’t sleep last night because I was studying and making a plan. When I went to their house at night, I brought animal repellent sprays with me.
I sprayed their driveway, front door, backyard and yard so they would wake up to a mess. Toby called me in the morning, freaking out about the wild animals that had taken over their land.
I pretended not to know, but I knew Layla got the point. She had finally found her true love.
She has been careful around me since then, and Toby and I have started to get back together. I understood that to protect my bond with my son, I had to set limits and stand up for myself.
I may have done something out of the ordinary, but I was fighting for the safety of my family. I hope my story reminds you that sometimes we have to stand up to bad behaviour to protect the people we care about.
