I’m the younger of two brothers. My father was always out of town on business, and my mother hired maids to take care of me and my brother. I was very close to him, since he was practically all the family I had nearby.

He is seven years older. When I was five, he started to play inappropriate games with me. Of course, at that time I didn’t understand it wasn’t how brothers should play. These games continued for years, until one day when I was eight, I told him I didn’t like the games.

He got so angry he dragged me into one of the guestrooms that was always empty and violated me. I never told anyone what happened out of fear. Now I’m 25. I have been unable to have any type of relationship with anyone, and since a few months ago I have started to feel an attraction towards males. I never felt this way before.

(more…)

I have been divorced two years and am now engaged. Recently my ex-husband calls me for everything. Did you take the kids to school on time? Do you have a sock that belongs to one of the kids? Et cetera, et cetera.

All these things I believe are for the best interest of my children. My fiancé says my ex calls all the time because he wants me back. I don’t understand that because I only have conversations with my ex about the kids. Now he does call about 20 times a day, but all the conversations concern the children.

Am I doing wrong by not putting my ex in his place? I’m afraid if I tell him I don’t want him calling all the time, he will take that as I don’t care about my children.

Tess

Tess, in 1938 E.B. White wrote that “…I attended a television demonstration at which it was shown beyond reasonable doubt that a person sitting in one room could observe the nonsense taking place in another.”

(more…)

I noticed how extremely shallow she was and even a little racist, though she said it was just to be funny. I noticed she was immature and idolized her musician friends because she believed they might be famous one day. I was ready to leave her.

And I tried to, but on that day I tried to leave, she showed me a part of herself I’d never fully seen. She was mature and self-sacrificing. She cried and tried to stay strong and smile and tell me it was okay.

That’s when it hit me this girl was who I thought she was all along. So we stayed together. But about a month and a half later I found out more things that were deal breakers. She is a chronic, deliberate liar and lies about so many things, big and small. She never physically cheated, but she abuses the hell out of mental cheating.

(more…)

My husband is a father to my son. My mother-in-law says things aloud to me and my husband about how blood relatives are different and basically if you’re not blood you don’t matter. If you ask her how many grandkids she has, the number is one less because my son is not counted.

Well, we don’t live like this. My son is also my husband’s son and a member of this family. I am upset because my mother-in-law sends cards for birthdays to the other three kids and not my son. My husband told her that’s not right. She doesn’t care.

My husband’s brother lost his first marriage because of this family. They blame his wife when I know it was them. They are terrible and have never accepted either my son or me. They talk about their other in-laws badly. I can only imagine what they say about me.

(more…)

My daughter and her fiancé’s feelings: This aunt despises the groom and has publicly declared her attitude. In the past she caused distress at two family weddings, and they wish for this wedding not to be the third.

For this reason, the guest list has been harshly altered to close friends instrumental to the couple’s relationship, grandparents and parents of the bride and groom. The guest list is now a grand total of 22.

My husband’s feelings: He loves his older sister; she is blood after all, regardless of her behavior. She lives in the area, therefore she should be invited to the event. She is family and will always be welcome.

(more…)

I’ve done all right for myself. We have a house, which is great, but my husband’s family dislikes me. I am a photographer, a little strange in taste, but I like me, my family likes me and my friends like me.

When we first started dating, his mother made comments about my clothes, so I thought okay, I can dress nicer. Sure. But she never visits us, even though we don’t live far away. We always go over there.

Two weeks ago my husband and I are having some drinks, he gets chatty so I decide to ask him, “Why don’t they like me? What is wrong with me?” And he says, “If you want respect in my family and the freedom to do what you want, you must have a good job and make good money.”

(more…)

To this day the entire time he’s been there he told me he loves me and I am the only person for him. Recently he said he could marry me if I moved out there.

He lives with my best friend’s brother. Last month she went out to visit her brother and came back with some fun facts about what this guy has been doing behind my back. Once he moved out there, he became obsessed with a girl and saw her for a little under a year.

They decided to have an “open relationship” and sleep with whomever they wanted. He never told me he was seeing or dating anyone else. He told me he slept with someone once a year ago, but she moved to Los Angeles. In case you were wondering, though, she’s still living in his townhouse.

(more…)

I was caught with explicit text messages and photos on my phone from another woman. I have been with my wife three years and I love her. After seeing how bad I hurt her, I understand I don’t deserve her love ever again.

She says she still loves me but doesn’t know how we can make it work. At the time, I didn’t think the text messages were all that bad, but when I look at it from her point of view, it is the same as cheating.

I never imagined I would be in this situation. We have been through two arduous military deployments. In both of them I had multiple opportunities to cheat, but at the first hint of anything, I rejected them because I knew how much she meant to me.

(more…)

About a month ago Abby started to grow distant and then suddenly started to ignore both me and Jenna with absolutely no explanation at all. Jenna and I tried repeatedly to ask for an explanation but received nothing. It seems Abby replaced the two of us with a group of cooler and more popular girls.

That’s not my big problem. It hurts, but it’s happened to me before and I’m trying to move on with relative success. However, Jenna is having a much worse time.

(more…)

We live five hours away so we only see her two or three times a year. Last Christmas we went to visit her, as we do every year. My husband’s sister and her children were staying with my mother-in-law. One of the children was vomiting everywhere, so we decided to limit our time there.

On our last night we announced we were leaving first thing in the morning so we would be saying our goodbyes. My mother-in-law replied, “Well, you have to come here tomorrow morning because I didn’t give you your presents yet.”

When my husband asked if she could get them now, she blurted out she couldn’t get them because she hadn’t wrapped them, and she hadn’t wrapped them because she was still suffering from a week-long stomach flu and had lost six pounds.

I was shocked. And very, very angry. She put her grandchildren in a germ-infested house, and our three kids ultimately spent their Christmas vacation sick with stomach flu. It was the worst illness my children have had, and I felt bad I could not protect them.

(more…)