taysteewonderbunny

Hello!

Happy birthday, much, much belated.

Hello!

Hello!

Happy birthday!

Hello!

Hello!

Happy birthday.

I am about a month behind in it, but I wish you a happy birthday anyway.

Happy birthday, much belated. Hope it was a good one!

Oops! I missed your birthday! So sorry. From what I can tell, I haven't been on since maybe as long ago as January 12th! Anyway, hope you had a splendid birthday, and since it is always an appropriate occasion for hugs, I'm sending you some of those.

Thanks, everybody!

You are the bestest.

Whoa. I missed your birthday by six weeks. I'm sorry. Happy birthday!

My wishes are a week late, but happy birthday, Bean! Big, big hugs to you. I hope you had a great birthday.

I wouldn't take it personally. It may be that the person is a bit ditzy and unaware of the incongruity of his statements. It may be that this person has a martyr complex. It may be that this person lacks a little tact and is actually making a preemptive apology for the cheapness of the gift. In any case, the problem is his, not yours, and real gifts do not come with the expectation of reimbursement--so don't reimburse.

I know you want to leave, but make sure you have a safe place to go to. It may be safer for your recovery if you stay. You feel like you are the scapegoat in your family, and you likely are. Try to explain as calmly as you can your feelings at the meeting (if it hasn't already passed). Keeping cool keeps your options open. Making full admission of your guilt in prior acts, restating your apology, and showing some willingness to make restitution can make things easier. It may all be that no matter what you do, things will suck, but if you've quit the drugging, the worst really is behind you so long as you make the firm commitment not to repeat the insanity sober. Come vent here afterward if no other friends/recovering addicts are available.

For me, it is very important, but only when it comes to my absolute closest friends, of which I have only six: my best friend, her husband, my brother, Destiny, my mother, and my significant other. Fortunately for me, they all resoundingly endorse my significant other, though sometimes he himself is somewhat bashful in this regard. There was a time, or times, or several, or nearly all, occasions, really, when I had stubbornly, defiantly, and blindly stood by my most recent paramour to the concern and trepidation of my support group. It was this experience, however, that taught me two things: 1) how to identify real friends--they are the ones that stick by you even through the worst disasters but without condoning your bullshit. 2) how to identify a good candidate for a significant other--they are real friends. I am not sure how precisely relevant this information is to your situation since your issue is with your s/o's friend. But it seems that it is also an issue with your s/o if he is not accepting of the boundary you have drawn in this instance.

I agree with others' posts. I feel that they have given you excellent advice. It is highly unusual of me to recommend such a thing, but I think you might find some comfort in a sermon I have heard lately. It's a Unitarian sermon, so there aren't many denominational references in it. I found it inspiring and have been thinking on it much. Some of the sermon is relevant really only to my church congregation, but the greater lesson is pretty universal. In any case, I hope it gives you some consolation. Clicky here to hear "Free Fall."

Well, what's so wonderfully safe about cynicism is that it guarantees that the cynic is never wrong, for it is human nature to disappoint. Yet, the fault of the cynic is that he is also never right.

You still didn't answer my question.

Thank you for providing yet another perspective.

On the other side, I found myself fighting the urge to bind and gag my mother who launched a diatribe during McDonnel's response. We need to do MORE, as a public, than allow our knee jerk reactions to control us. We aren't the people of the Democratic team versus the Republican team versus the Green Party team versus the Tea Party team. We are team America, and we better start acting the part.

For the most part, he's been pretty honest. His numbers aren't always right, but he works hard to deliver his promises, about as hard as hundreds work to undermine those same promises, so altogether, I think he's been pretty effective. To address your first statement, I think everyone agrees that reforms are needed to clean up the mess. The points of contention are based around the question of "which reforms?" That's partly true. He has four confirmed former lobbyists in his administration. There may be more. I don't know about 12, though. I would like to see him find other qualified people to replace those known former lobbyists. Will your candidates for office and office holders do the same? Many people of all political persuasions seem to be in agreement on one issue: lobbyists have too much sway in government and they don't, for the most part, speak for the majority interests: that current policy puts to much sway into the hands of special interests whose power is not meted according to the needs of the people. Perhaps, in another thread, we could brainstorm some ways to restore the balance. Culling of influence is sorely needed on BOTH sides of the aisle.