We’re going on a family trip to Spain for 8 days with our two kids (12 and 14). My 15-year-old stepdaughter started to pack, but I told her, “I need you to stay to water my plants. I’ll pay you!”

My husband was silent; he knows how I love and care for my plants. He also knows that there is no one else to care for them. My mother is an option, but she is old and lives 50 minutes away, and it doesn’t make sense for her to come every day just to water the plants.

So my stepdaughter stayed. The deal was simple: I would pay her $30 a day to water the plants.

But once we got to our hotel in Spain, I got a shocking call. My mother was telling me that a truck had shown up at her house and workers were unloading all of my plants there.

I was stunned. When I turned to my husband for answers, I found out he was the one who arranged it. He told me, “This is to remind you that your plants are not more important than my daughter. I don’t want them in my house anymore.”

Then he added, “And if you think you can’t live without them, maybe you should move to your mother’s place too.”

I froze. Our vacation was instantly ruined.

Yes, my husband owns the house, but I am his wife, and I have the right to live there as well.
I wasn’t being unfair to his daughter—I was even paying her to take care of the plants.

Is this really how I should be treated?

Yours,
Reena