I woke up thirsty.
As I walked past the living room, I casually opened the camera feed on my phone—just to make sure everything was fine.
And then…
I froze.
On the screen, Emily’s bedroom door slowly opened.
A figure stepped inside.
Thin frame.
Gray hair.
Slow, unsteady steps.
I covered my mouth, my heart pounding, as I realized:
It was my mother-in-law — Margaret Mitchell.
She walked straight to Emily’s bed.
Gently pulled back the blanket.
And then lay down beside her granddaughter.
As if… it were her own bed.
Emily shifted, pushed toward the edge of the mattress. She frowned in her sleep but didn’t wake up.
And I…
I cried without making a sound.
A Woman Who Spent Her Life for Her Child
My mother-in-law was 78 years old.
She became a widow when Daniel was only seven.
For more than forty years, she never remarried.
She worked every job imaginable:
– Cleaning
– Laundry work
– Selling breakfast food
All to raise her son and send him to medical school.
Daniel once told me that when he was young, there were days she ate nothing but dry bread, yet still found money to buy meat and fish for him.
When Daniel left home for college, she would still mail him envelopes with $20 or $30, carefully folded.
As for herself…
She lived in heartbreaking frugality.
The Silent Illness of Old Age
In recent years, my mother-in-law had begun showing signs of memory loss.
– Once, she got lost and sat crying in a park until midnight.
– Once, while eating, she suddenly looked up and asked:
“Who are you?”
– Sometimes, she called me by the name of her late husband’s wife.
We took her to the doctor.
The doctor said gently:
“Early-stage Alzheimer’s.”
But we never imagined that at night, she would wander through the house.
And we never imagined that…
She would end up in her granddaughter’s bed.
When the Adults Finally Woke Up
The next morning, I showed Daniel the camera footage.
He sat in silence for a long time.
Then he broke down.
“She must remember the days when I was little…”
Daniel held my hand.
“This is my fault. I’ve been so focused on work that I forgot my mother is slowly losing herself.”
Emily slept with us for the next few nights.
And my mother-in-law…
We didn’t blame her.
We loved her more than ever.
A Decision That Changed Everything
We decided:
– To gently lock Emily’s bedroom door at night
– To install motion sensors throughout the house
– And most importantly: never let my mother-in-law sleep alone again
We moved her to a room closer to ours.
Every evening, I sat with her. Talked to her. Listened to her memories. Helped her feel safe.
Because sometimes, the elderly don’t need medication.
They need to know they still have a family.
ENDING
My daughter’s bed was never too small.
It was simply that a lonely, aging woman—lost in her own memories—
was searching for the warmth of a child she once held for an entire lifetime.
