My grandmother's brother

I grew up with my grandmother and grandfather. My grandmother, Milka; she often spoke to me about her family. They were many in the house. She had five brothers and two sisters. They were poor. Her father later took the land for rent and the family's income increased. In ten years they have become a wealthy rural family.
It was a period of more than 80 years ago. In rural areas, parents have arranged marriages for their children. The two brothers already had their families. One sister was married. Her brother Stanimir was next for marriage.
Parents decided which girl would marry him, and he was in love with another girl from the same village. The girl he liked showed sympathy for him. The only contacts he had with that girl were village celebration dances.

Parents of my grandmother, brother Stanimir and her another brother

They did not change their plan. They married him with a girl who was their choice. His horrors were getting bigger. They said that he did not sleep with his wife in bed but on a chair. My grandmother was 13 at the time, she loved her brother a lot. At one point he told her he would kill himself. She told mother about it. The mother did not take it seriously.
He went to the village celebration and helplessly watched the girl he liked. It was a few times. He loved his parents and did not have the strength to oppose them. Since childhood, they have been told that parents need to be respected. Confrontation would mean disrespect. He could not allow this to himself. If he had left the family, the parents would have thought that he had betrayed them, they would be offended. He could not communicate with the girl he loved. Stanimir was a married man and her family would have prevented any contact. It was necessary either to overcome love or to be strong and to do something radically, something that nobody in the village did before. He could not do either. The third solution could not be found.

The house where Stanimir killed himself.

On a cold November day, after lunch he remained alone in the room. The others went out into the yard. They heard a strong shot.
A rifle was hung on the wall. Stanimir shot himself. A great tragedy for the family and for the whole village. Nobody understood the man who loved with all his heart. After suicide, everyone could have guessed how much he loved and how much that girl was important to him. Unfortunately, he left.

My grandmother and I

Granny often mentioned him, but when she began to talk more closely about him, she would always cry. She regularly visited his grave and claimed that he lives. In her stories, in her memory he really lived.