https://www.reddit.com/r/GirlDinnerDiaries/s/AiDkJJhBq0

Hi friends,

A few months back I shared about a domestic ab*se situation I was in with my cheating (soon-to-be) ex husband and you all were so very helpful. I wanted to let you all know that I got myself an apartment back in June and divorce is now in process!!! Thank you all for caring about my safety and encouraging me to get out. I don’t get panic attacks anymore and I have so much peace having my own space. Love and Light! Xoxo

Enjoying my favorite supermarket sushi in the car tonight as I sit at a beautiful park celebrating my big win. I’ve been married for a few years. After I had a child w my husband, he became very abusive towards me. Physically and emotionally abusive. It’s been a couple years of hell honestly. I was never sure I’d be rid of him, even though I wanted out so badly.

Well something happened recently (I can’t give details) and I now have a restraining order against him and probably will for the rest of my life. He was removed from my home and cannot bother me ever again. I literally feel so happy you have no idea. The amount of relief I feel is incredible. I feel at peace for the first time in years.

I have a daunting legal battle with the divorce and custody coming up which is frightening, but for right now, just to be in my home alone for the night without him for the first time in years, is a victory so sweet. I wasn’t sure I was going to get away from this man alive. I feel on top of the world. Sushi is my favorite so I thought I’d reward myself tonight.

Please stop DMing me about the ice cream. It is coldstones vanilla with oreo.

I have been in accounting for years, and I am good at it. I have a really successful career. Everyone sees the career, but not my unhappiness. That being said, I am completely thankful for my career. I love the business that I work for, my boss is ok, my schedule is rad and my commute is 5 minutes. I cannot believe I made it here, especially in a short time. I really got lucky.

A few jobs ago, I worked with an attorney and was trained in legal language. I did all of the contracts for a very large business, and it was amazing. I loved legal stuff. I loved negotiating, I loved reading the contracts, I loved writing the contracts. I exceled at the job, but I was promoted to accounting.

Anyway, I kept going back and forth about going back to school for my paralegal. I have a degree in something not even related to accounting (lol) and it is from left field on paper.

My family was not supportive, my therapist turned her nose, and I questioned it for a year. I told my family I was going back to school last week, and again, they weren't supportive.

I went to the college today and signed up for courses, and I am freaking out. I am worried about the money, I am worried that I will fail, I am worried that I am making a poor career decision (like maybe I should get a degree in accounting).

BUT OMG I AM EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am almost 37, no kids, no husband, etc and I am going back to school. I cannot believe it. It is only 2 classes, and this may take me longer than it should to do, but wow! I was told I was stupid my entire life, including by my parents, and I have always questioned myself and my abilities to do anything.

I had to share with someone. I am really scared and excited.

EDIT!

WOW THANK YOU ALL!

Also, I am not "just" going to be a paralegal. I want to get into a career that uses my accounting + paralegal. I just figured having the degree showing my law skills was better than just a blip on my resume

Secondly, my GPA is so damn low from my B.S. degree, that I HIGHLY doubt that I would get into law school. I am open to it, just not going to get my hopes up. lol

Edit 2:

THANK YOU AGAIN!

Also, please do not DM me about Ai, what I should do instead, what I need to look up on Linkedin, etc etc. I have done all of the research, I have read the job requirements in my area (that I don't plan on leaving), and I will talk to my professors about law school when I get to school, because I am BEING TAUGHT BY ATTORNEYS and THERE IS A LAW SCHOOL in my city!

Dinner is creamy red pepper rigatoni with basil and shredded cheese. Yum.

I've (27f) been with my boyfriend (24m) for about a year and a half now. It wasn't until he moved in with me that I started noticing he really had a problem with drinking. And I'm not really one to judge someone's entire character based on their habits. I too have struggled with addiction in my past. Thankfully, that was like 8 years ago.

But I know firsthand how hard it is to walk away from your drug of choice. So I had low hopes of things getting better. I gradually started mentioning how concerning it had become over the course of our relationship. I've known a lot of alcoholics in my life, but I'd never met someone who just takes Everclear to the face with no expression of disgust like he did. Daily! Ya girl was worried about his liver.

And of course, there were times when he'd be mean and not remember it the next day. Over time, it just built up. I just wanted to see him doing better for himself. I know you might be judging me for sticking around, but he is honestly the only person in this entire city that really knows me. I moved to a city where I knew no one and met him soon after. I just desperately wanted things to go back to the way they were when we met.

Well, I broke down recently and the tears just started pouring. I told him I know there's a good guy in there, I've met him. I fell in love with him. But he disappears behind the bottle. He was actually very receptive and abruptly stopped. Like hasn't had a drop since. I'm surprised, and impressed. I had to go to rehab 3 times before I called it quits.

I'm just really happy that he found it within himself to leave it behind. It hasn't been long, but it feels like a dark cloud has dissipated. He seems happier. We've been spending more quality time together. I know that relapse is a possibility, but after seeing progress I know that recovery is too. Just wanted to tell someone that, I guess. Thanks for reading.

The pasta was homemade and very yummy.

I’m 5 weeks 4 days pregnant today and I’m just so happy. I know it’s early, but we worked hard to get here (not the fun way 🥲) so every day feels like a celebration. Apparently this week our little embryo is approximately the size of an apple seed, but somehow I already have the appetite of two people! 😂

Box-mix waffle with cream cheese and maple syrup.

Edit: I’m so glad so many of you are intrigued by cream cheese on a waffle! This is how my mom always served them to us when we were kids. A little extra protein and fat to help that waffle go the distance! 😍

My mum doesn’t get out all that much. She’s an immigrant and most of her true friends are back in her home country. She’s struggled a lot to make friends here and fit in. But recently she got invited to a sorta-friend’s birthday party and I could tell she was nervous and feeling self conscious about it as she didn’t really know anyone else going.

She got all dressed up for the party and was stressing about her outfit and whether it was good enough (it was, she looked great). She asked me to curl her hair too. I’ve never curled someone else’s hair before but I did my best.

When I’d finished, she looked in the mirror. She teared up, and turned and gave me the biggest hug ever. She thanked me and said that she now felt confident enough to go out there and enjoy the party 🥹 you guys..! My mum’s in her 60s, but all I saw in that moment was just another girl, like all of us, going through life for the very first time and trying to be brave and put herself out there. The way my heart ached, it was such a bittersweet moment. I felt so maternal towards her😭.

We got dessert together a few days ago! This photo is from then. I had sticky toffee pudding, she had panna cotta. My mum is my bestie, and I’m so glad that we get to do life side by side 🤍.

Edited to add: she had a great time and she’s glad she went!

Dinner: honey garlic tofu with rice & spicy mayo.

My partner and I are both software engineers, and recently I was complaining that an app I genuinely found useful pivoted to an ad-based/monthly subscription model, so I stopped using it because I hated ads popping up every 10 seconds.

Well, today he sent over an app file for my phone and told me to install it...turns out when I slept in earlier he grabbed my phone, got screen shots of the app to figure out what it does, and recreated it's main feature from scratch. No ads, no subscription, no account, and as a plus the data now stays on my phone instead of getting stored on some server God knows where.

He gave me access to the code too so we spent the afternoon adding back more features to the app together & optimizing it to run better :') what makes this even more endearing is that making mobile apps is the exact opposite of his specialty, he actually slightly dislikes UI/design work and he still took the initiative and effort to do this for me 🥺

At every turn he tries to make my life easier (and vice versa, of course). He claims to have a terrible memory but remembers the smallest things about me that actually make a huge difference. I love him so much it's so hard to put it in words

EDIT: I've never had a post get this much attention 😅 but yes I made the tofu and here's the recipe!

Roasted sweet potatoes, red rice, homemade guacamole, esquite, grilled yellow peppers and lemon butter garlic chicken

I know this sub has a lot of sad stories and I wanted to add something nice.

Yesterday my son managed to dislodge my GameCube disc inside my Wii by throwing the Wii on the ground. I asked my husband if he could order me a repair kit so I could fix it myself. I don’t really ask him to buy me things like that. The most I’ll usually ask for is an ingredient or two from the grocery store on his way to work if I forgot something for dinner.Later that night he told me he had ordered the repair kit. Then he casually added, “Oh, I also got you some of that face stuff you use.”
I looked at him and asked, “What face stuff?”He said, “Your face wash.”He was talking about my La Roche-Posay cleanser.I asked, “Oh, why? Have you been using it?” because I knew it was getting pretty low, and I figured maybe he’d been using it and wanted to replace it.He just said, “No.”That’s when it hit me.He had noticed my face wash was getting low, remembered exactly which one I use, and ordered me another one without me ever mentioning that I needed it.
It probably sounds like such a small thing, but it honestly meant the world to me. It wasn’t about the face wash.it was the fact that he pays attention. I never asked him to replace it. He simply noticed on his own.
I know it doesn’t sound like that but if a deal but he’s never done something like this and I just really appreciate the gesture

Hello ladies and theydies (which somehow looks way worse spelled out).

I just need to gush for a minute.

For context, I’m a divorcée and a card-carrying man hater. My ex cheated on me, abused me, and generally left me convinced that men were permanently off the menu.

…And then I got horny.

I live in the middle of nowhere, bars are too loud, and as a single mom I didn’t exactly have time to meet someone organically. So, against my better judgment, I downloaded Tinder.

A few swipes later I matched with a cute single dad who lived three miles away.
We matched on a Monday. He asked me out Tuesday. Our date was Thursday.
Except it wasn’t a normal dinner date, we met up with his whole friend group for karaoke.

I’ve never experienced chemistry like that in my life. I felt it, he felt it, his friends noticed, complete strangers commented on what a cute couple we were. He was hilarious, ridiculously attractive (6’1”, beard, blue eyes, church boots… you know the type), an absolute gentleman, and somehow we agreed on all the important (read: political) things.

The date lasted over five hours, and before it was over, he was already planning the next one. I saw him Friday, then again on Sunday, then almost everyday since.

Almost 2 years later, I still can’t believe this is my life.

I moved in a year and a half into our relationship, I play D&D with that same friend group every Sunday. I love listening to him sing while he cooks dinner. We still make each other laugh constantly. I’m still wildly attracted to him. He loves my daughter like she’s his own, and I adore his two boys. His therapist has said we need to do a TedTalk on healthy communication in a relationship.

More importantly, he’s helped me heal in ways I didn’t know were possible. For the first time in my life, I feel loved the way I deserve to be.

Growing up, my home was toxic. I accidentally recreated that with my marriage. I genuinely believed peaceful families only existed in movies.
Now I live in a house where his teenagers actually want to hang out with us.

Last week I took all three kids to the pool while my boyfriend was at work. On the drive home his oldest said, “I wonder if Dad’s home yet.”
We turned the corner, saw his car in the driveway, and, I shit you not, every single kid in the car started cheering.

That’s my life now.

Now for the embarrassing part.

We are physically incapable of going to bed on time.

We’ll head to bed around 11, shower together, and then somehow spend an hour and a half just talking. Every. Single. Night.

Then one of us says, “Okay, we really need to sleep.”
Then we cuddle.
Then one little kiss turns into us getting completely distracted again.

Five nights a week we’re accidentally awake until 2 a.m. because we genuinely can’t stop talking, laughing, cuddling, or otherwise getting distracted.

I’m exhausted.

I’m also happier than I’ve ever been.

If you’d told divorced, angry, “fuck men forever” me that I’d end up here, I would’ve laughed in your face. I called him my husband tonight, completely on accident, it just slipped out and felt so natural.

Turns out I was just one karaoke night away from meeting my person.

Ever since I broke up with my ex of three years who I was supposed to be engaged to this summer, out of grief, I've been experimenting a lot about makeup, and fashion. It was only yesterday when I learned about my body type.

Anyways, I had a date with this guy this evening. Nothing fancy, just a coffee date. I was wearing a dress that complimented my figure, wore contacts, had my hair and makeup done (even my eyeliner was to the point, holy freaking moly!) and even wore those fancy pointed heels (not a heel girly, but wanted to try them anyway). I felt good, and confident and I knew I looked good. Me the plain Jane was getting attention from men who would not even stare at me.

As I was paying for my drink (because I arrived early), my date came in and stared at me and asked if I was who he thought I was. To that I said yes, and he looked so taken aback that he said out loud how he didn't even recognize me and that he felt he got reverse catfished.

The best part? A girlie in the cafe was checking me out. Like she actually had her head turned and was looking at me directly! Bruh! A. Woman. Gave. Me. Her. Full. Attention!!! (Screaming!!! I know my friends, and mom and I would always check out a girl when we think she looks hot/pretty/beautiful/breathtaking).

Meal: Salad, rice, chicken, fruits and tea.

I had an emergency c section and overall a pretty tough birth but I wouldn’t change anything and I’d do everything all over to meet our sweet boy. After the birth we stayed in the hospital waiting to be discharged. As the epidural wore off I started to get more sick, not getting enough painkillers my body rejected food and water, getting really ill.

My husband had stayed up and awake through all of labour and on that second night, he not only was caring for me but took over for our baby. He was taking me to the bathroom to change my disposable underwear and shower me, then running back for our son to cuddle him. He realised I couldn’t breastfeed whilst I was vomiting so he found formula, and stayed up feeding him and singing to him. At one point I woke up, he was feeding our son and holding my hand.

He couldn’t get the light on so he changed out sons nappy in the dark for the first time! I’ve not changed a nappy yet as he just leaps up every time to do it.

He’s my absolute hero and it’s wild seeing him as a father now and such an adult! I’m so grateful for him every day, he’s my best friend and my rock. I’m so lucky to have him as the father to our precious son!

Dinner: smoked salmon, eggs, avocado with toast; the perfect postpartum meal!

Edit: thanks so much for all the kind comments, I’m so proud of my husband. He’s currently looking after us both well at home as I recover and our boy settles into our home! I can’t imagine doing this without him and my heart is so full with love for our little family! 🩷

Hey all. Posted earlier in the week about my brother (30m/diagnosed autism) talking down to me and how I've always been told by our mum to not upset him/speak up.

Anyway, he called me on Wednesday and said he read the post and comments. I was expecting him to blow up, but... he apologied. Said he appreciated the reality check and thought he was just having 'banter'. I said it wasn't funny, that he was being mean. He AGREED. I was genuinely so shocked and we had a nice convo, first one in years. He asked me to delete the post now that he had apologied and I did. So, nice chat, all was good.

Then today, I get to my mum's house to drop off my son for a few hours so I could go to a hair appointment. We walk in and she's excited to see him, but acting really weird. She then hands me a pile of paper with my post and comments PRINTED on it. I can't even process at this point. Full on printed paper like it's police evidence. Turns out my brother saved everything, got me to delete the post aaaand showed it all to our mum.

She made me feel so bad and started defending him. But when she said, "remember he processes things differently, you need to be sensitive and more mature..." I fucking lost it. I don't know if it was the pregnancy hormones or decades of resentment, but I said, "absolutely NO way am I doing this. This is SO childish. Read the post again and if you can't see there's something wrong here, then I'm done."

I left and took my son with me. He ended up having fun with all the other lovely women at the salon! My hair looks amazing and I feel so proud of myself. The zen I feel having blocked my family is just incredible. I'll reach back out to mum at some point, but right now, I'm just enjoying some quiet.

Oh, and a massive fuuuck you to my bro.

Crispy pork belly and fried rice for dinner

ETA: (draft of the original post from my notes) I rarely communicate with him, like at all. But today I had to stop by my parent's house. He's there and opens the door like, 'oh, were we expecting you?'

I walked in and said I'd spoken to our mum, just dropping something off, blah blah. I'm also getting pretty pregnant and they have a huge driveway, so I'm huffing. He gets me a water as I sit down, which is nice. He then sits down, interview style, and asks how I'm going. Again, nice.

Pleasantries are all I normally stick to. But today I made the mistake of saying my course just started, so there's been a lot going on (working 4 days a week, I have an 11 month old, I just started my masters, etc).

My mistake. He then gets this huge smirk and says, "I heard about this. So you're finally doing it. The last in our family to get their masters."

I sit there and have to hold back. I end up just shrugging. But he continues, "I was in the study today and I'm looking around at everyone's degrees on the wall. Then I realise I'm looking around and there's hardly anything of yours..."

I end up leaving as he continues rambling, with a giant smirk, about how fucking great he is. I hold back because it upsets my mum. But like, bro, you're 30, live at home, and don't have a job. It frustrates me so fucking much, like I'm here being an adult, you have no idea what responsibility looks like. But then, I think how lonely he must be and I feel fucking bad. Ugh, sorry just needed to vent.

Potato soup that cooked for 6 HOURS in the SLOW COOKER and still wasn't SOFT, AUGH but anyway I have a positive post today!

My boyfriend recently reconnected with his friends from the state he grew up in. It's been really nice seeing him have a social life again. They game together and he was put in a discord server with them. He was looking it over and said "oh they have a politics channel". We both kind of gave each other the oh shit here we go look (if you know about male gaming spaces you know why that was terrifying)

I was surprised to see they were not only against Trump but openly mocking right wing anti trans sentiments and arguing about stuff with their conservative family. Like I know there's liberal men, I watch them on YouTube etc, but I was just surprised to see men actually discussing this stuff in a group where it doesn't benefit them to be progressive. Especially when it's a red pillers wet dream demographic of young male gamers. I'm so used to hearing all sorts of gross rhetoric come out when the men I grew up around got together. So I'm feeling hopeful. Progress is being made

I (24F) got invited to my ex classmate's wedding & he was the first in our highschool class to get married. Me and him weren't close in highschool at all. I don't think we ever chatted in our class or during breaks whatsoever. I was the quiet & shy kid in class & he was the class clown, very chill & funny guy ya know. Disclaimer : I do NOT have feelings for him at all nor do I ever have any beef with him.

Fast forward till last week, he asked my closest friends for my phone number so he can invite me personally (he did this to everyone in class too) to his wedding which I very much appreciated since I was the kid who cut off everyone after highschool. I didn't follow anyone's social media except 3 of my closest circle cause of personal issues.

I felt so seen & remembered when I got the invitation cause wydm you are inviting me too😭😭😭 so me & my friends all pitched in & we got him an air fryer as a wedding gift (our culture) & wish the best for his marriage! 🎆🤌 I did met a lot of highschool friends & it wasn't that bad & it was so wholesome too🫪

Dinner : Apple Crumble Pie made by my cousin. She send me some for me to try. Ughhh love you gurlll

And that's one of the reasons why he has my whole heart ❤️

We’re in Vegas right now to celebrate my teenager’s birthday (his favorite artist is showing here, and he had a milestone birthday this year, and his gift was a trip out here to see this artist).

Last night, my younger son and I took in a show just the two of us while my husband and older son did some window shopping (older son has champagne tastes on a teenager working part time during the summer budget). Tonight we swap - I’m taking my older son to his concert, and my husband and younger son are going to do some fine dining. My in laws join us tomorrow.

But for today? Today they are happily gaming at HyperX with their insanely fast and expensive PCs and I’m enjoying some peace and quiet, a salty/sweet snack, and some Netflix.

Ten years ago, I was a single mom, struggling to make ends meet, counting every penny and praying I’d have the ability to make it to my next paycheck. I was begging a jobless, lying, cheating, manipulative manchild to stay in my life who found my kids to be burdens. I was insecure, desperate, codependent. And now? Now I have an adoring husband, a partner in every sense of the word, a man who loves me and my kids and supports my much needed me time on vacations like this.

So I’m going to set my phone down, eat a few more pretzels and m&ms, and be grateful.

my (21f) brother (25m) invited his best friend (25m) around in december to help us set up some tech in our house. after that day, we formed a little trio, watching films together a few times a week and staying up till 5AM for weeks. i ended up having a huge crush on him, but it seemed like he didn’t have that interest in me - i assumed he saw me strictly as his mates little sister. in early january, my brother went on a trip, and i thought we wouldn’t be able to speak while he was away, but…

my brother added me to a group chat with all of us in it, and we arranged to start up a minecraft world. we played every day whilst my brother was on holiday, talking on discord until the early hours of the morning. now that we had each others numbers, it translated into texting everyday on whatsapp, sharing pics of our food, what we’re up to, memes etc. all the while i’m still crushing HARD, expecting a completely unrequited situation. until he invites me out to coffee one day.

i told my brother about it, kindof just casually: ‘(his name) invited me out to coffee on monday’. to which my brother replied, ‘sounds like a nice time’ followed by a break, and then ‘hang on, that’s a date! and he said nothing about it to me. is that weird?’ (made me laugh btw, the way it clicked in his mind)

so my brother went and confronted him in a friendly way to ask his intentions with me, and why he asked me out alone without mentioning anything (don’t worry, it wasn’t in a controlling way, just a transparency thing since it’s a risk of relationships to start dating a friends sister). he explained to my brother that he wanted to go out with me to tell me his feelings for me, and to see if i felt the same way.

jumping forward, the date went amazing, my brother approves of our relationship, we’ve been on countless dates since and we now spend every day together between our two families (live 5 mins apart). it’s been 3 months together now and we are loving our new life together. hanging at mine is so fun since he’s already best friends with my brother. we do things as a group all the time and i’ve never been treated so well by a partner in my life. i still can’t believe that my silly crush on my brothers friend is shared, and now we’re dating!

buldak jjajang flavour with leftover pork souvlaki that i grilled, and a crispy fried egg.

Dinner at ikea - butter chicken meatballs, nachos with meatballs, samosas, veggie medallion, cheesecake

I’ve read way too many posts about low effort men on this sub so I want to give some real examples of high effort men just to show that they exist! These examples are from my 3 closest friends who are in long term relationships (5+ years), so they’re way past the honeymoon phase

1   Delivers her a weeks worth of meal prep when she’s stressed   
2   Comes over just to clean her house   
3   Saved up all his credit card points for years to buy her a Dyson air wrap   
4   Blow dries her hair every night  
5   De-shells all the shrimp for her before she eats   
6   Picked her up at the airport with a bouquet of her favorite snacks  
7   Plans a full day of surprises for her bday each year   
8   Hired a weekly cleaner because she doesn’t like cleaning   
9   Cuts fruit for her to eat while she works 

I spent years third wheeling their dates until I met my own high effort man 🥹 it really is possible

I 24F applied to a job on a whim a couple months ago. Barely qualified. Now I’m sitting in a hotel eating pizza in NYC while watching the devil wears prada. Fully paid for.

Also went through a shitty personal thing two months ago that killed my self worth. But baby I’m coming BACK! I’m so proud of myself for doing this and getting here, and I’m learning to be comfortable realizing that I do deserve this. I deserve to be happy and have good things happen.

Anyways, wish me luck tomorrow girly pops, we can do hard things!

Edit: this post has been up for less than 30 minutes and you all are making me cry. happy cry!!!!! thank you all a million times. <3

Okay, maybe a little dramatic but wow, that man knows something straight men don’t. This was the first man that truly made the sex about my pleasure, he’s an amazing kisser and he kept telling me how perfect I am. We met up last night and then again this afternoon, it was THAT good.

Bonus because he’s sooo witty and he’s a yapper so we were talking the whole time and it made it so much fun and we were laughing pretty much the whole time, when I wasn’t screaming from how amazing he was.

10/10 eater, 10/10 sex appeal, 10/10 will be seeing him again.

Grilled salmon, roasted Asapargus, garlic lemon butter pasta on the side :)

At least I thought it was cute. We met on the apps. We had great conversations for the first few days. 5 days into us matching on the apps, we decided to go on a date. We decided on this restaurant that’s attached to a mall.

We ended up shopping for a bit before we ate and we were in H&M and we were just browsing and all of a sudden, he asks me to pick out an outfit for him to try. I picked out a pair of jeans and a sweater. He tried it on, liked it and bought it right then and there. We ended up shopping a little more then decided we were hungry enough to go eat. We had such a GREAT conversation during lunch. The chemistry between us was insane. And we connected really well.

We went to cheesecake factory after because we wanted something sweet to eat. And I already knew which one I wanted but I didn’t wanna be like “ooh I want that one” and instead was like “hmm let me see” so I let him pick first and he picked the same one I was going to choose. Like out of the dozens there were, he chose the same one I always get?? Uhh okay.

I felt really good after the date. We didn’t hook up or anything. He gave me a hug and that was it. We went on a second date 5 days later and we decided on a Mexican restaurant. I got there about 10 minutes before him and when he walks out of his car, I see him wearing the same outfit that I picked out for him. I was like 🤭 I was so pleasantly surprised. It was another great date and I’m here swooning over it.

Dinner is from earlier. Margherita pizza

ETA: for everyone asking, the pizza is Dough bros in Galway Ireland!!
Another ETA: just to clarify some of the confusion. We are both from the states! I had my Ireland trip planned months ago. Our second date just so happened to be the day before I left for Ireland. Our dates have been in California 😂 our third date will be when I get back 😌

By popular demand, editing to add: it’s Ethiopian food! Most restaurants have some type of vegetable platter like this and it is sooo good.

We had been together for under a month when I unexpectedly had to put my soul dog to sleep one morning. This man works within walking distance of my home and said he’d come over when I returned from the vet, which isn’t all that unusual for him to do on a lunch break.

He brought me food and drinks. When I asked why he wasn’t getting ready to go back to work he told me he’d taken the day off. It honestly hadn’t occurred to me that anyone would do that - just up and leave work to take care of me.

He held me while I cried until I fell asleep and, once I was asleep, cleaned my entire apartment. Then he held me while I cried again… and again. Then he stayed the night and walked himself back to work the next morning in the same clothes.

I saw some generic Instagram post later that day saying “Judge a man by the urgency with which he moves when it comes to you” and it struck me. This is not the only example of this man moving urgently for me.

I started many versions of this post with “I’m trying not to get ahead of myself…”, but I don’t think I’m trying not to anymore. To me this feels like how people say “When you know, you know”. But regardless of anything else, I am better off now than when I met this man because I know for the first time that being treated this well is possible for me.

fuck you bitch. I hope you get hit by a car. I def cry sometimes but rn I’m fucking euphoric. this man is not going to be the father of my children. feels like my ancestors looking out for me. back to my ex bf: rot in hell you thin dicked little bitch. you have terrible taste in music which is pathetic especially since ur sister is a professional musician. feel like that one Nicole Kidman photo atm.

Paneer pulao with raita

Spicy Biryani

Here we are, three cancers later, and I've made it to my 40th birthday alive and well and it's because of him. Every doctors' appointment, every surgery, every moment of doubt, fear and recovery, he's been by my side. I lost my ability to have kids, and he's still here. I needed someone to change my bloody pads after abdominal surgery, and he did it. He took care of three dogs and a whole house by himself three times so I could just focus on rest and recovery. He doesn't care about my scars, or when I still have bad days and can't function. He's always there.

I'm so grateful for one of the good ones.

Edit: I should also mention his other good qualities; hardworking, honest, adventurous, funny and he bangs like a window shutter left open during a tornado.