A woman who had “adulterer” carved into her cheating husband’s gravestone has had her actions defended by her son.
Finding himself in a unique situation, the son decided to share his dilemma on Reddit’s “Am I the Asshole?” subreddit to find out if people think he’s right or wrong for supporting his mother.
The son explains the details of how he came to be in this situation.
“My father and mother had a very bitter marriage towards the end of his life, he had a long-running affair with another married co-worker and got her pregnant before he passed,” The son elaborated.
“He was planning to leave mum, skip the country and move to Canada to start a new life with her.”
The son detailed how the pair had even “had a house picked out and all.”
Though a dramatic turn of events soon changed everything.
“He had moved out and was living with his co-worker when he suddenly died of a heart attack while having sex,” He continued. “Divorce papers were never filed, no legal separation. They were in the process of moving all things legal. But on paper, they were still happily married.”
The son then explained how all of his siblings have flown the next, and how he works for a tech company and is currently back in his hometown “helping my mom manage his [the father’s] estate.”
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He then gets to the part we’ve all been waiting to hear about.
“Well, my mom was hurt and petty and marked his gravestone as “In loving memory of John Doe, son, husband, father and adulterer.”
The gravestone’s offensive addition has prompted some family members to react angrily.
“My dad’s family and his pregnant partner are mad and want me to fix it.”
The son however doesn’t see a problem with the description, but couldn’t do anything even if he did.
“I personally think its fine, that’s who he was. He was all of those things. And since it’s my mom’s plot, I can’t do anything,” He concluded.
After being upvoted over 36,000 times, the subreddit officially labelled the son as “Not the A-hole” (NTA) as people commented why he wasn’t in the wrong – and neither was his mother.
One person wrote: “ I would DIE (no pun intended) if I was walking through a cemetery and saw that! Your mom is an icon. NTA. I hope she burns his old shirts or something.”
“NTA your moms a straight bad ass though,” another person said.
Someone else added: “NTA – it’s not yours, it’s your mom’s to deal with. She’s given her answer on the matter, so it’s closed.”
“NTA. He decided for a long time that he wanted to be an adulterer rather than file divorce papers. That leaves everybody with little legal recourse and there isn’t much you can do,” a fourth person replied.