Priceless Love

Family Dynamics and First Meetings

Baaabaaa, pleeeease! Sanem begged.

Nehat looked at his wife with his eyes pleading her for understanding.

Sanem, you are almost 14 years old! No daughter of mine is going to be running up and down a football field, covered in mud, Mevkibe bellowed, crossing her hands in front of her chest.

Nehat looked at his sweet adventurous daughter in defeat. Mevkibe never lost a battle when it came to propriety in their daughters' lives.

Leyla got to join the clubs she wanted to when she was my age, anne! It's not fair!! Sanem said loudly with fire coming from her eyes.

When Leyla was your age, canim, she joined the math club, Mevkibe said sternly.

Just then, Leyla walked into the room wondering about the commotion that could be heard from the front door. She had on a summery dress with little purple flowers on it, her hair up in a sleek ponytail and her perfectly manicured nails were on full display as she threw her hands up in dismay. At 16, she already looked like a model. She and Sanem were polar opposites in so many ways.

What are you all shouting about? The neighbors can hear you from outside! she said with her brows furrowed.

Worried that this could be true, Mevkibe lowered her voice. The last thing she wanted was more scandal from the nosy neighbors next door. They already suspected for some time that she and Nehat were having marital problems and was gossiping about them at the country club.

Sanem, I simply can't allow it. You are a young lady now, not a little girl. You need to start acting like one, she said with her voice decidedly lower.

She loved her daughters dearly, but she needed to protect them from her own parent's sneering comments if they ever found out that she was allowed to join the football team, and a co-ed one at that.

Seeing that she was losing this fight, she turned back to her father who always had a sympathetic slant towards her adventurous soul.

Baba, I have kept my grades up as was expected of me, even taking extracurricular activities that pleased anne, she said as she gazed fiercely at her mother, but this I want to do for me. You know how much I love football. All of the other clubs and activities that I do are inside. I need fresh air, baba. Please! Please say yes. Talk to anne and convince her! Sanem begged, her eyes brimming with tears.

Sanem knew that her mother loved her deeply but never understood why she was so afraid of the opinion of others, especially her grandparents. 

What Sanem did know was that when they did visit, the whole house was on pins and needles. Her mother would have them clean the house for a week before a scheduled visit from them. Nothing every seemed good enough because they had a permanent scowl on their faces the entire time they visited.

Once, when she was 5 years old and her grandparents came to see them for a holiday, Sanem made the mistake of asking her mother if her grandparents had eaten lemons before they arrived because of the sour faces they made. She remembered that anne was mortified but she was sure she had heard baba snicker. 

Her grandparents hadn't seem amused.

Anne, if this is about Grandmother and Grandfather, they won't need to know. Please, anne??! Sanem continued to beg.

Leyla watched the interaction and didn't know how to help. She was always caught between her parents when it came to her alliance. Now that she was in high school, she had a better understanding of their strained relationship. To the outside world, they were happily married but she knew better. She shielded Sanem from the fights that had increased over the years by distracting her with games and dance parties with loud music.