When I was growing up, my parents got divorced. It soon became my mother with just me and my two brothers. My mom was never rich or had a lot of money, but she always found a way to give us everything we needed, regardless of her own circumstances. Money was never really a key factor, as long as we had each other that was all that mattered. No matter how many times our electricity got shut off, we still made the most out of it. Eventually, my mom met a guy at a wine outing and from there on, they developed a relationship.

The man she met at this wine outing came over for dinner one night. We learned more about this guy. He was a year younger than my mother. His profession was being a wine salesman of several different wine stores. He had a lot of money, but to my mom that didn’t really mean much. When I was growing up she would always tell me, “money isn’t everything.” It was just another good thing added to his qualities.

When she met him, we lived in a condo in Peabody, Massachusetts.  A few years later, they finally decided to move in together. They ventured out to buy a house of their own. After months and months of searching for a house, we found a nice house in Wakefield, Massachusetts. It had four bedrooms, so now my brothers finally had their own room. Also, there was a greenhouse attached to our house, which was pretty cool for being in Wakefield.

Everything was going great, my mom finally felt financially stable with him around. When they finally got engaged, my mom was ecstatic and it was very long awaited. They were going to wait to get married until we were all done with college, so she could remain a single mother for her childrens financial needs. About five years into their relationship, my mom managed to learn that he was an abusive alcoholic. Not necessarily physically, but definitely emotionally. When I was younger, I didn’t really like my mom, so it didn’t bother me as much as it should’ve. I also was extremely obvlious to what was going on since I hated her fiance. As years passed, I could tell how unhappy my mom was with him, and I knew it was time to respect my mother more. As we got closer, his problems would show more and more. I would always be extremely rude to him and soon enough, my mother saw what I saw. That he wasn’t right.

Every Monday night, he would come home extremely drunk due to a day filled of wine tastings. My mother and I would say to each other, “where are we going out tonight?” Just to get away from him and his absurd behavior.
Even though I never liked my mom’s fiance, he still decided to spend his money on me. Money was all he had to show affection and get people to like him. Throughout the years, he bought me a dog, a car and many other things. I was extremely thankful for that, but money never made me like him.

In August of 2014, my mother finally decided she had enough and it was time to leave him. She wasn’t thinking of money, or what would happen to us. She was more concerned with her own stability, and he wasn’t healthy for her to be around. After not being with him for a while, she realized that she was only holding onto their relationship because of his money. She also realized, that she was now much happier. She knew she wouldn't have that financial support anymore, but that was ok. She had the support from her three kids.

My mom gave up all her “money” and decided to move on with her life. Money wasn’t enough to make her stay in an abusive relationship. She knew her own happiness was and will always be more important than money. My mother’s tough decision helped me realize that money isn’t always the square root of happiness. Yes, money will make you happy, but your own stability is sometimes more important in a situation like this.

I made the decision to see him a few weeks after my birthday in May. I didn’t want to see him, but I felt guilty. In a way, I always knew it was my fault they weren’t together anymore or at least part of the reason. When I saw him, he ordered me the most expensive sushi he possibly could have. Throughout the whole dinner, he kept telling me “nothing's changed about you.” When dinner was over, he handed me a card with five hundred dollars in it, along with an expensive wallet. Inside the card read, “ Money is the only way I can show I care about you right now.” It was nice to see that this guy really hasn’t changed. It came to my attention that he was blatantly drunk the entire dinner. I wasn’t even the least bit shocked. Suddenly the guilt I felt, had subsided. He was still the same old alcoholic he always was. I always thought money was the key to happiness, but now I know that is not true.