Hello and welcome :)

Growing up, my aunt & uncle's house was the gathering place for their very large and very diverse group of friends. Their debate nights were incredible, and I was allowed to sit on the stairs and observe. I learned to judge people by their character and their actions, not the color of their skin or the nation of their birth. I learned to laugh at myself and not take things so seriously, and I learned that an open mind can introduce you to a world of possibilities.

Hello and welcome :)

Depends on if you view tattoos as damage or not. I personally love them, and view them as art (if they merit being called art, that is).

Re the pic - OUCH! That had to sting, especially on the sides.

It's randomized

I'm not one for airing personal laundry for the public eye, but I'm to the point of being seriously worried about my best friend. I've run out of ideas, so am hoping someone else has something that I haven't tried.

She has been married for 13 years, and they have a son with Asperger's. She is a stay at home mother as a result, and the family demands are very high.

Her husband's brother has moved in with a 19 year old girl, and the two of them go to my friend's house every single weekend, as well as popping up randomly during the week. My friend made every effort to be pleasant, but she cannot stand this girl. Neither can her husband, but he's a "go along to get along" type, and he and his brother are very close. My friend does not do that well, and she's stressed to the point of my being very worried about her. She has tried explaining this to her husband, but he forbid her to say anything to his brother, for fear the brother would stop coming over. She suggested that her husband go over to his brother's house and visit there, but her husband said that their house is disgusting, (they don't clean, do laundry or take out trash) and he won't set foot in there. She is to the point where she leaves her house the minute that she hears that they are coming over. She comes over here - if I'm not home, she uses her key and just hides out until they go home. She has attempted multiple times to talk to her husband about the situation, and is told to just "deal with it". From what she & her husband & the rest of their family have told me, it's not just her being petty. I don't know the girl, so I won't list out the reasons for my friend's dislike.

My fear is, I'm seeing things that have me worried. She's not eating, she's not sleeping, she rarely leaves her bedroom. She's lost interest in everything other than her son, and it scares me. Her leaving is NOT a possibility right now...it would throw her son into a severe emotional tailspin. He cannot tolerate any change to his routine, and that is not him being "just a kid", it's the Asperger's. She says that she has to consider what he can handle, not what she can handle. The problem is, her husband knows this.

She knows that I am available to her 24/7 if she needs to talk, but it's not cutting it and I'm out of ideas.

ETA: I realize that the reason behind the stress seems petty, but it isn't. It's just far too involved to give a thorough explanation in a post.

I used to be very insecure about my height. Even in high school when I was in my prime physically as an athlete, I slouched. I wore huge baggy clothing and did everything I could to try to minimize the fact that I felt like a linebacker. It didn't help that my best friend referred to me as Amazon, and I was always told that I would never get a date because no man wants to go out with a woman who could beat him in a wrestling match.

As I've gotten older, I've become far more accepting of myself. I am not now, nor will I ever be, a size 2. If people don't like the way my body is shaped, the simple answer would be for them not to look. I know that I am healthy, active, and not far off from the ideal weight for my build, so I no longer worry about things like that. I also discovered that I got asked out a LOT more once I became confident in who I am, lol. There's a lot of truth to the "confidence is sexy" statement :)

Hello and welcome :)

Hello and welcome :)

Did they have wings & fairy dust?

Sadly, there are no Mingle fairies lurking around, poofing true love out of thin air. I have seen some lucky souls who meet and have an instant connection, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

Welcome to the site :)

Click My Account, then Settings, then Mail Settings. You can type in your new email address there, and update.

Hope that helps :)

Hello and welcome :)

Hello and welcome :)

Hello and welcome :)

I've been working on computers since 1986. I remember green screens, DOS, the 8" floppies, and so much more, lol. Some of the veterans at work & I will laugh at the newer techs when they complain about a page load taking more than 2 seconds....we remember when 9600 baud was blazing fast, and having 8 MB of RAM was considered indulgent.

Wolf spiders are pretty cool. When I lived out in the country, we used to get some massive ones crawling around in our basement (as in, the size of the palm of my hand). I used to capture them and take them outside.

Hello and welcome :)

Hello and welcome :)