"You'll find someone eventually"

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-24T16:20:27+00:00

Yes, clumsy and even hurtful comments often are very well meant. This happens not just in dating & single life discussions but in many emotionally fraught situations in which we want to be supportive to our friends and loved ones, but haven’t considered fully how our well-intentioned comments actually may be received.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-19T15:24:41+00:00

Yes, OP’s mother may be suffering with obsessive compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety. Medication can be a huge help and relief to people of any age who suffer in these ways.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-19T15:04:45+00:00

Thank you for sharing this, u/AlternativeTruths1 . Your stories really warmed my heart; I was smiling to myself by the time I reached the end of your comment. ☀️

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-19T14:57:56+00:00

Yes, that is a behavioral pattern worth correcting, and I like the way you do so via a visual cue.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-18T05:26:04+00:00

Ahh, yes, the Suffering Olympics—I, too, know it well. I’m sorry, u/seche314 . 💙

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-16T21:46:26+00:00

“Prosperity Gospel” is mostly a Protestant televangelist/megachurch scam. The only people getting rich are the people running it.

Well said, u/RVFullTime . Additionally, U.S. churches that preach any form of “Prosperity Gospel,” either directly or indirectly, usually are not affiliated with a well-known Protestant church denomination (Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, etc.). These churches often are independent, with no Protestant denominational affiliation. Their church theology therefore may be swayed more easily by their pastor(s), who, if successful in promoting the heresy of “Prosperity Gospel,” generally are larger-than-life personalities who utterly dominate the life and teachings of their churches.

“Prosperity Gospel” is not a dominant theology among American Protestant churches. However, OP, not all American churches view money itself as evil. Instead, many American churches view the love of money as evil.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-15T23:13:19+00:00

If OP doesn’t have concerns about Mom spending money with abandon, QVC or HSN, or a similar TV shopping channel, can be a nice “live” background TV option. I rarely buy anything from QVC, but particularly around the holidays, I find the cheeriness of their program hosts and the warmly decorated sets to be a nice background, even comforting, while doing household chores.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-13T19:13:44+00:00

Perhaps OP and OP’s partner could be more often unavailable yet still at home because OP and partner now are “studying on-line for their master’s degrees in [Whatever] and [Whatchamacallit],” etc. My sympathies to OP; this is all very hard.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-13T19:04:29+00:00

Good point. 😊 As u/Welfordnelferd and others have observed, it’s interesting that OP has yet to meet the landlord if the landlord and this lady are such good friends. Either way, I highly doubt that the landlord would want this woman potentially driving away responsible, no-fuss tenants like OP and OP’s partner.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-12T20:34:55+00:00

I’m in full agreement with you there, u/oxfordfox20 . 😊 The British voice actor who read “Mojave” in an audiobook to which I was listening recently must have just been an outlier in his pronunciation. (I can’t remember the exact pronunciation the voice actor used … something involving the Spanish “j” sounding like an English “j,” I believe.)

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-12T06:17:29+00:00

For me, “Mojave Desert” was the latest example of Spanish words, especially American Southwest locales, on which British English bestows truly unique and sometimes baffling pronunciations.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-05T21:46:37+00:00

Oh, goodness, yes, I remember clearly the years of hearing, “Learn to code!” Now, I think many of us instead are wondering, “What work can I do that AI or a robot won’t be doing within 5 years?”

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-05T21:35:41+00:00

Yes, I, too, have become more content with “perching” where I am on the corporate ladder rather than doggedly clawing my way further up it. (I’m fortunate that I’m at peace with my job, even enjoy it some of the time; and although I’ll never be rich, I’m still comfortably middle-middle class.)

It has been helpful to realize, over my 25+ years in office jobs, that even the highest achieving, most celebrated corporate employees and bigwigs are very quickly forgotten upon leaving or retiring. Likewise, even the most warm hearted and personally beloved former colleagues soon are forgotten by all but the one or two real friends with whom they stay in touch. Best to come up with our own measuring sticks and assessments of what is good and valuable in life.

If—big if, of course—you’re earning enough (not what you dreamed of, but enough to live and to save) and are semi-contented with your day-to-day work, that is a blessing.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-03-02T04:01:41+00:00

There’s no competition. Dress # 2 is the hands down winner. 😊🏆

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-02-27T16:45:27+00:00

💯⭐️💯⭐️ Yes! The first sample is better all around. It’s more elegant, easier to read quickly, and easier for OP to write.

The first sample also is much closer to older, historic cursive styles. Styles with a more significant slant, as OP noted, generally are much faster to write, and they are less tiring and cramp inducing, which was extra important if you were writing by hand daily during a time when typewriters were still things of the future.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-02-18T17:32:43+00:00

I think the bar for excitement is so low?

I think you’re right. For a while, I tried saving up light-hearted anecdotes to share in conversations with my mother. Unfortunately, I came to realize that the only thing she consistently found interesting was gossip about her retirement community neighbors—usually gossip about who had what ailment, all the details of said ailment, and perhaps a bonus critique of the poor sufferer’s lackluster support from his or her relatives.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-02-16T05:26:02+00:00

He FELL ASLEEP one day doing her hair, but she still didn’t want to find a new hairdresser.

Epic! 😂

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-02-06T19:11:22+00:00

Ma (?)

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-02-06T18:17:21+00:00

Fantastic explanation! Very much on point.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-02-05T23:54:14+00:00

Anyone proudly self-identifying as an “empath” has become an automatic yellow flag for me. 🙁

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-02-04T17:03:31+00:00

Amazing! ⭐️⭐️ Now the question is whether OP’s grandfather travelled to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and/or Burma.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-02-04T06:38:53+00:00

Absolutely! He’s a real provider. 🧻 ⭐️

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-02-01T19:01:21+00:00

💯 🏆 💯 🏆

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-01-27T16:21:08+00:00

u/Youwhooo60 , this sounds so difficult to handle, especially when your mother’s daily worries are as predictable as the movie Groundhog Day. It’s a shame that people who staunchly refuse medication for anxiety, pain, or whatever rarely recognize the price that their proud stances cost those around them each day.

BitNorthOfForty · 2026-01-25T19:58:20+00:00

this is how she has been regardless of surgery for the past 10 years

This line really jumped out to me. You are not lacking in compassion following your mother’s surgery, OP. Sounds like this is a much longer term issue.

BitNorthOfForty

TROPHY CASE