My siblings are very difficult to deal with. I feel like they have cheated me and it’s not even fair. So we are four siblings in all and I am the third born. Our father died when we were all kids, but our mother died just a year ago. Mum had a stroke for years and she has really been through a lot. When she died, I cried for so long, but right now, I feel a little bit better knowing that she is in no more pain. When my mum got the stroke, she was staying on her own in a two bedroom apartment with a tenant at the boys quarters. It’s our parents’ house, they built it together at some point in their lives. My mum was very active and she didn’t like people helping her or doing things for her so she was okay staying alone there and at least she had a tenant.
When she had the stroke, we both got scared because if it was not for the timely intervention of the tenant, she would have died. But the tenant also left a little while after that. My two sisters were both married at that time and were in my their husband’s house. My younger brother was also focused on school. He had just gained admission to the University. I was the only one who was unmarried and I took it upon myself to take care of mum so I moved into the house. It wasn’t easy. For almost ten years, I was doing a lot of things for her. She used to bless me and pray for me because at a point I felt like my sisters could at least pass by on weekends and check up on her. But they weren’t doing it. They were sending money sometimes, but I was doing almost everything for our mum. Even the nurses thought I was her only child because I was the only one always taking her for hospital check ups.
I don’t want to describe all the things I did for my mum because she deserved that and much more. I didn’t do it to expect anything in return. At a point in time, my siblings had not seen her in over three years and she will speak bitterly about it. I will call them and beg them to come and see her to make her happy, but they wouldn’t. When mum died, they threw a big funeral for her. My eldest sister footed most of the funeral expenses and I know that it’s part of human nature, but seeing such things happen to you just hits you in a different way. The issue is that mum and dad didn’t write any will and so the four of us have decided to share the only house they left us. Barely four months after mum was buried, my eldest sister started bringing in prospective tenants to inspect the house. She wanted to rent it out. There are also two stores in front of the house and she wants to rent all.
This is someone who never stepped foot in the house for over three years when mum was alive and needed her to visit her. I am also planning to get married soon and my boyfriend is renting a place which is expensive, so we have planned to stay at my parents’ house for the meantime before we plan our next move. My sisters are both in their husbands houses and I wanted my younger brother to be staying in the boys quaters so that my husband and I can be in the main house when we marry. I have discussed this with my sister and she disagreed. It even turned into a quarrel. She wants to rent the whole house and the stores. She says since she is the first born, she will take the biggest percentage of the rent money.
I have brought my mother’s relatives into the matter and there was a meeting. Nothing came out of it because my sister disrespected the old men and they have washed their hands off the matter. For someone who refused to visit or even see her mother for a whole three years before she passed, I am shocked that she will be so aggressive over her property like she is doing now. My younger brother spoke to me and told me I am so calm because if it was him, there will be chaos. He knew how much sacrifice it took for me to come and stay with my mum and take care of her for almost ten years. He was the only one who came to visit mum in the last few months of her life. I don’t understand my sister because her husband is a very wealthy man and she doesn’t lack anything. Her kids go to very expensive schools so I don’t understand why she is so keen on doing this.
I need your thoughts on this issue please. My sister wants me to leave the house so she can rent it out and she doesn’t care where I will go and stay. My brother is already renting and she says I can also go and rent elsewhere or pay the full rent she is charging in order to be able to stay in the same house I have been living in for the past ten years. She is a 39 year old woman, I am 33. At our ages, I cannot even have a talk with my sister without her suddenly flaring up and telling me to respect her as the firstborn. She didn’t know she was the firstborn when our mother needed her to visit. I just don’t know what to do anymore.