The thought made her wonder what she had been doing all that time, and an answer immediately emerged — slaving away.

It made her very upset and realize that all her life, all she had been doing was trying to please her family, at the expense of her own well-being. “This has to end,” she told herself.

The first thing Debra did was call her daughter to inform her of her decision.

“Hello Mama, I was just going to call you,” Kayla said as soon as she picked up the call. “I was hoping you could send me my allowance earlier than Friday?”

“No Kayla, I will not do that,” Debra said, annoyed that her daughter had not even let her speak.

“What? Mama, why?” Kayla complained.

“Because you’ve grown too complacent with your lot in life. It’s time for you to wake up.”

“What are you saying, Mama?”

“I’m saying effective immediately your allowance is terminated and you’ll no longer be receiving it. If you want money, get out there and work for it.”

With that, Debra hung up and went in search of a beauty salon, where she had her hair dyed before getting a beautiful haircut, manicure, and many other procedures.

She turned her phone off to enjoy what had become a novel experience, and after that, she headed to a mall and got herself several beautiful dresses, one of which she decided to go home in. Her old clothes did not leave the mall with her.

Upon arriving home, her husband, who had picked up a call from her boss redirected to their landline, asked where she had been.

“Two of your bosses said you didn’t turn up for your shifts,” Austin said from his position on the couch. When he turned around to look at Debra, he coughed up the bite of chips he had just swallowed.

“Debs, is that you?” he asked wide-eyed.

“Yes, it is,” she replied stiffly.

“You went clothes shopping and all when you were supposed to be working?” he asked her angrily.

She gave him a vague answer but he started scolding her about how much money she wasted treating herself to all those nice things.

They were in the middle of that heated conversation when Kayla walked into the house with all the confidence of a righteous person done wrong. “Why would you cut my allowance off?” she asked without pausing to read the room.

After a moment, she took in her mom’s new look and pointed out how comfortable she was spending so much on herself while refusing to help her.

Debra had to take a moment to calm herself down before responding by explaining what had happened to her daughter. The girl was still trying to contain her shock when her mother turned to her father and revealed her desire to get divorced.

“I’m done cleaning up after you Austin,” she said. The man was shocked. He could not understand why she suddenly turned upon them, but Debra did not back down.

“For the past two decades, I have shouldered this family’s financial burdens. But now I’m tired and would like to focus that energy on myself,” Debra said tearfully. It was like admitting defeat, but what choice did she have? Those she was fighting for had given up a long time ago.

“I want you to leave,” she said.

“What? You can’t mean that,” Austin said.

“I do,” she said, then went past him to get to their room. After that night, Austin’s bruised pride caused him to move out of their home without trying to beg for forgiveness, and Kayla stopped asking Debra for money.

A month later, Debra quit her hard and disliked jobs and settled with one that really brought her passion. She lived her life, traveled the world, and when she could, helped her daughter to look after her grandson.

Debra never regretted her decision to divorce her husband even though he begged her to return after he found a job. “I will keep your offer in mind,” she’d told him, and he had not stopped trying to deserve her ever since.