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Barb, I am curious why your daughter shared that with you. Is she wanting your support? What would she think you would say about such a thing?
I fully understand that she might be giving herself some "love" diversion that is safe in that they are not in the same country, that she shares a love of something, albeit Star Trek. I just wonder if that's something I would share with my Mom. I might tell a friend. But I mean, I would expect the worst reaction out of my Mom.
To me, our kids grow up and have to have their own lives, their own families or not, their own successes and failures, even their own illnesses. I pretty much can gladly accept that.
If my daugher (61) came to me with that story I guess I would say "Oh. Is that so". I mean she's a bit old for me to be giving advice to unless she writes the Forum.
I sure would be here fast, though, ha ha. So I get the venting.
My theory on our kids is always ALWAYS don't overreact. It goes South from there and they get pushed into their corners and don't think about what they are doing, but rather think about how to respond to YOU. When I was an RN one evening shift my late teen (then) daughter showed up at the nurses station with purple hair. I just looked and said "Wow, it is a great color with your eyes!" Actually it was. Made then a really intense hazel. Purple hair was then unusual; today not so much. When she left, Dr Fong said "Gee, you handled that OK. I would have gone off like a bomb". I just said "That would make it worse. "
All I can say is next time she lets you know this say "Great! Going to make for some good stories on AC"!!!! Hee hee.
Golden, loved your post.
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Golden, I met my husband on Match.com, so I'm not opposed to on-line meeting/dating.

My feeling is that when you have a minor child, you have to make sacrifices/compromises to protect/benefit/raise that child.

She seems to think that because her dad and I can be at family events together and cooperate for family holidays/babysitting grandkids and the like, she and her current husband will enjoy the same cordially and family support--immediately.

She doesn't see that MY family would sooner lie in $hit than ever talk to my ex again. And that all that cordiality is due to radical ego-less-ness on my and his new wife's part.

I wish there was some way to help her. I feel very powerless and sad.

Thanks for your feedback, Golden, it helps.
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I don't know what has happened with FB recently. I am frequently getting friend requests from men that think I am oh, so, enchanting and interesting. It must take very insecure, needy and uninformed people to respond to something like that. There is one man that keeps sending me requests through a game that I play. I keep deleting it, he continues to send it again.
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barb - that he wants to cyber meet you is good, that they met in a Star Trek chat room is fine. That it is happening very quickly is not good and that she is still married is terrible and that he presumably knows this and doesn't mind isn't great either. All together it doesn't add up to a match made in heaven.

Does she have regular depression. It almost sounds bipolar.

Online relationships can work. I know a few which have, but there are many which are disasters.

Not much you can do for her really, if she is not open to a mother-daughter chat.

Glad you can be supportive of your sil.

I actually know a gal, like know her reasonably well, who met a guy while playing a farm game on face book. She is Canadian and he is American. They hooked up. She moved to the US and they have been happily married for some years now. And, yes, he is a farmer and she is now too and loving it.
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If you all want a good laugh, she met him in a Star Trek chat room, smh
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Scammer is what I'm thinking as well.

I have little to no agency in this situation, except to encourage my son in law to go to therapy, which he is doing as of tomorrow.

Just need to vent amongst you guys and hope for the best.
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I would think the same, Barb! OMG! Still married, and she is shopping and hopefully has not picked up a scammer. At least this person is a country away. But, that is curious there, isn't it? Makes it harder to meet. I am just so terribly suspicious of these relationships....

I thought the same with my oldest daughter, divorced about 6 years ago now. She was ready to have a beau just move in with her, that was a couple of years ago. This last summer she was going to sell her home as she was marrying someone else. Did they marry, yes, they seem a good match, but why marry in this day and age especially if you are independent?

She did finally decide to rent her home out. He is a realtor and property manager so he takes care of all that needs to be done. Nice setup and I really hope this relationship works out for her.
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Yikes Barb 😲🤯
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My middle child has taken leave of her senses. She has a 6 year old and doesn't have a full time job. She suffers with depression (being treated) and is in the process of diagnostics to figure out if an autoimmune disease is causing her near constant hip and back pain.

While being supported by her husband, she tells me "I am no longer romantically involved with B (her husband). But I have met someone online in California and he wants to meet you (via Zoom).

I feel better having typed that out.
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FF, my mom would have loved a phone jack in the bathroom! She used to take the phone in with her when she bathed. She just loved chatting and soaking.

LOL! In my neighborhood most homes have landline jacks. The builders stopped putting them in a number of years sgo. I checked into a landline a couple of years ago because I wanted wired internet service. My internet service was wireless from Viaero and was awful; It would be out sometimes for days at a time! It would have cost $900 just to dig the trench to bring the line to the house. That is when I discovered Verizon wireless internet was available for me.

Bad thing is when fiber finally comes in, a trench will need to be dug then.

I was able to dump Viaero (which has an outside antenna, similar to a directv dish)! I couldn't be happier with my Verizon wireless internet service! Well, except for the price. It was $45 a month and is now $65 a month. Verizon does not need the outside antenna. All I have is a cube that sits near the window and is about 5" x5"x5"!
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cwille, trade ya.... the previous owner of my house had phone jacks in every single room, including both full baths, the powder room, unfinished basement, garage, two attics, and deck. Only one that is gone now is the one on the deck.
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When I bought my 1980's house it had clearly been updated which was nice, but one of the biggest annoyances to me is that they got rid of whatever phone jacks were previously there. To install my computer modem, tv cable and landline I had to run the cables through the drop ceiling in the basement (TG it wasn't drywall) and drill a hole through the floor - yeah, that's not an improvement!
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Some day my hubby [76] is going to fall flat on his face racing through the house to answer his cellphone. When he first got his cell, you'd think he was a 13 year old girl as he was looking into his phone all the time, glad he stopped doing that.

I've noticed young people are starting to get that hunch back look because their neck is bent over viewing their phones.

We have a landline in every room. I refuse to give it up. In case one of us gets a stroke and we are alone in the house, and if one can dial 911, the dispatcher will see our address immediately, and will sent someone out without us saying anything. Plus I like the clarity of the landline phone, it's not tinny like a cellphone.

Then there is cell phone vision syndrome [blue light emission}.... and whole other topic.
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Seems wrong for the university to do that. I have had androids but my current one is an iPhone. I don't really have loyalty one way or another. I like several features of smart phones - texting, maps, being able to use Kindle, being able to access AC and F/B, the alarm and reminders app, notes, and, of course, the camera. I don't have another one at present.
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Flip phones are back that lack all the data capability that keeps people on their phones constantly. Just a phone. I have never had an iPhone always Android for me. I vowed to never get an Apple product when I was working on my masters. The University had just started using online class content that was only available to Apple product users. Evidently, Apple provided funding to get online systems up and going and I exchange got exclusivity for a bit. That really ticked me off!
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I had more spam calls on my land line than on my cell phone. I gave up the landline a few months ago as I had transitioned to the cell phone and find it quite handy. It's great being able to read while waiting at the hairdresser.
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My dH and I have never had a cell phone.We just have our land line and were still using the same phone number Iv'e had all my life.
The only reason I think I'd want one is to be able to put pictures into my computer with it but I think there's a way to hook up my camera with a cord instead.
Iv'e never liked the phone.
The night my Mother broke her neck,she was racing to answer the phone....
It interrupted so many dinner's and woke me up so many times,etc.
It's annoying, so it's a-ok with me that we don't have one~
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Recently, I was without a cellphone for about 6 months. Talk about FREEDOM. No wonder they are called "cell" phone, makes you feel like a prisoner if you are joined to the hip with one.

I like my new cellphone but today some stupid game downloaded itself to the phone. It's the first thing I see when I check the phone. Eeeeeeek.
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FF,

We are old! LOL 😆 It’s either ‘catch up’ or we are left out in the cold.

You’re right, we have to adapt to a different and more modern way of doing things.

Sometimes, I miss simplicity. Other times, I like certain changes in how things are done.

I don’t know how anyone would be able to function these days without a phone.
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My whine for the moment is parking garages. In our area, population has grown so fast that any open piece of land once used for open air parking now becomes a building.

I use to love going to a certain town center, and enjoyed parking outside. Now one needs to park in a parking garage and download an app on one's phone to pay for parking.

Sorry, but with age comes vision issues with dim places, such as the inside of a parking garage. The lighting in these parking garages is terrible. It's like walking into your basement and the only light is a night light. Such garages don't feel safe.

Then instead of getting a parking stub at the gate, you need to use a cellphone instead. Really now, if one doesn't like to use a cellphone, they cannot park. An elder friend of mine had to buy a cellphone just so he could keep enjoying dining at a favorite restaurant.
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Me: (picking up mom's lunch tray, everything eaten, even the last drop of soup.) Mom, did you get enough lunch? Do you want more?

Mom: I don't know.

Me: Did you like the soup?

Mom: I ate it so I guess. I ate what I wanted.

Me: Mom your tissue box seems lopsided....and it's heavy.

Mom: I told you, I got enough soup. I ate what I wanted. I don't know.

Me: 🧐
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CarolynAces, this is such a lot for you to take in. I understand that all of the help that shows up, does indeed help your husband. But you are thrust into the role of master coordinator! It sounds exhausting! I hope things calm down and you are able to get some quiet time to yourself. This too shall pass. Best wishes.
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Thank you for your kind words Golden. Can't make this stuff up, lol!
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natasana - I hope you have kept these and make them into a book. Maybe with other people's experiences if you need more. They are hilarious and we all need a laugh, 🤣 especially caregivers. So happy for you that your mum is going into board and care. Counting the days down with you!!!
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Bath aide: (to mom) let's get your shower done so you can have the dessert your daughter has for you.

Mom: WHAT DESSERT!?!

Me: It's pumpkin pie today, mom. Your favorite.

Mom: (to bath aide) I never get the pie! SHE (pointing to me with her thumb) will make sure you see me with the pie, then as soon as you leave SHE takes it from me and eats it all. Then she throws crumbs on the floor I have to get with my cane and eat. Then she tells everyone I made such a mess.

Me: 🙊(counting down to March 1 move in to board and care)
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(((((((Hugs))))) Carolyn and prayers. So sorry you are going through this. I am an introvert too so I understand the need to be alone. Can the doctor give you something that will help. Try to take sometime each day, even a little, just for you.

I have found that Relora helps with anxiety and insomnia. Passionflower tea also. and CoQ10 and a big mug of tea!!!
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I just need to vent. I am overwhelmed!!!! I'm sitting down to take a break, but everything is everywhere! Papers, bills, calls to be made, physical therapists and occupational therapists, nurses coming to the house almost every day. Meals for my husband, putting up with having his grown son here. He's helping, and I'm grateful he's here, but I'm not used to having another person to deal with. I've always had and needed an exceptional amount of alone time, and it is gone. I went from being at home to seeming chaos. Everything turned upside down without notice. In the blink of an eye, my husband escaped dying by a miracle. I'm very frustrated and tense. Having headaches. Breathe... I took something mild to calm myself. But everything is still there. I feel surrounded. Logically, I know what I need to do. But it's not helping. Coming here to vent will help, I know. Thank you for listening.
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Seen all three of them at one time or another. A wolf only once on a cold New Year's Day trotting along the path by the woods opposite the house. Seen more than one fox on the sidewalk and on the path. One was a silver fox - beautiful. The others were all red foxes. Apparently someone a few blocks away discovered a den of foxes at the bottom of their garden. Youngest son used to "call" the foxes in the bush near the house on his way to work.
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Last year my neighbour was warning us to be careful when we went walking because they had spotted foxes in the area several times. I said "you mean coyotes". The insisted no, they meant foxes 🙄.

When I was younger we called them brush wolves, then locals began to call them coyotes (pronounced coy - oats). Today many people insist they are coy wolves or coy dogs, some even think the animals they've seen are wolves... yeah nope, just eastern coyotes
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Just saw a scrawny coyote trotting down the sidewalk. No doubt it is looking for a meal. Hope all small furry creatures are inside. It is cold today!
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