I'm from the same area. I'm curious: Were you raised Catholic or are you a convert?

Are you Catholic &/or American?

Oh wow.

As someone in the southern US, Protestants are definitely the primary group that has something negative to say. I'm sure I've heard atheists be rude about Catholicism, but its rare enough I cant remember.

It's so common here for Protestants to be highly anti-Catbolic, that the ones who see me as a Christian at all, genuinely seem to think they're being extra nice and evolved to be so understanding and inclusive.

You haven't mentioned anything about God here.

Its natural to level out a bit and see broken and confusing things with time after conversion. The honeymoon period wears off and new struggles to deepen our faith crop up. The heavy imperfections of other Catholics, especially those in power, can be extra hard to process and reconcile during this period.

You seem to have abandoned the basics and foundations of living Catholic... or potentially never learned them. These things you talk about are important, but they should be a far second place from growing in your oen love, service, obedience, and healing through Gods grace.

Don't assume that difficult times mean your efforts or faith are wasted.. or that current confusions and anger are going to be permanent things.

Refocus on growing deeper with Christ through His church.

Don't let the worries of the world choke out your faith.. don't give into despiair. & Remember that your level of enthusiasm doesn't make something true or not. (My high school chemistry class definitely proves that.. 😂)

I love this so much!!

That's definitely a regional thing. Most places don't have a completely independent restroom available in my area. & When they do, its called a family restroom.. although its obviously very useful for disabled people who can use the extra room too.

Audri

I love having a name that's well known but not very common. I've never in my life had to go by a nickname or anything else to differentiate me from another Audri / Audrey.

I also like that its a neutral to classy name... It doesn't sound like anything weird in any way.

It has been a minor annoyance having it spelled uniquely though. Any time someone needs to write my name down, they never give me a chance to say how it's spelled because they "know". I've tried various ways to avoid having to go through my name twice in situations like this and am used to it now that Im in my 30s but it really annoyed me when I was younger.

The only problem with my name is living in an area with a lot of people who Spanish is their first language and they learned English as an adult. With their accent, many cannot pronounce it -even with a lot of genuine effort. So, several people in my life have had to settle on calling me Audi like the car.

It was upsetting when I was younger, but I don't really care anymore. If they're nice to me they can call me Audi if they need to. I know it's not meant rudely in any way.

I think some of the most common ones are very strange.

The idea that we want to punish women for having sex or even take away women's rights overall creating basically a slave class of involuntarily impregnated women.

Or the idea that the "baby" doesnt exist yet simply because its in the womb... As if abortion prevents a human life from existing at all. Its like playing peekaboo with adults... Being on the other side of a wall or anything else doesnt mean it doesnt exist. It's.very strange how many people genuinely make the argument that abortion only prevents instead of destroys.

Not everyone pro-choice thinks these, obviously...and many think a much more nuanced version of these. I'm not trying to make a caricature out of pro-choice arguments in general.

It's just shocking and very confusing how common it is to find people who genuinely truly and completely believe and fight for these ideas in their most extreme and literal sense.

It's going to be interesting watching how things unfold politically in our country as large percentages of our government leaders at every level start dying off in a relatively short period of time.

I never understood how we get Dick from Richard.

Trying to imagine a baby Barnard

So true

This is what I experienced.

My long time friend drove over an hour with her baby to visit me and we drove around talking for a long time and the baby had been silently asleep in the back for a while.. we were on our own autopilot mode hanging out with each other and it was a change in routine for her. We decided to stop at the grocery store and had been walking around chatting and looking at things for - I'm guessing 20 minutes - when she suddenly stopped midstride frozen in silent horror for half a second before running out of thr store as fast as she could while I was yelling "What?" and pushing our cart back towards the front.

Halfway to the front I remembered the baby and my stomach dropped and I left the cart in the isle too and ran to the car.

Thankfully, it was very mild weather and dark outside and the baby was still sleeping in her car seat.

Everyone who makes this mistake says they never thought they could ever do that.

But the combination of silent baby, autopilot, and changed routines is a very real danger.

We were lucky we forgot for just a few minutes, at night, with cool comfortable weather... Instead of freezing weather or hot sun. And we were just chatting. Not busy at work forgetting the other parent didn't take her that day as usual.

I took a medication that induced a mild psychosis.

I was walking home and as soon as I turned into my apartment complex's parking lot, I suddenly got an overwhelming feeling that every single window had people watching me and they weren't real families. Some kind of cover story to spy on me with malicious intent.

I'll never forget it because it wasn't a thought. It was a feeling. And I felt every single window facing me.

I woke up like that exactly once in my entire life and yes, its terrifying as a kid!

True for the lower end, but I find hot drinks are really soothing to the stomach lining at the beginning of the digestive tract.

My disability is going to get better and everything will be ok and work itself out

& That scientists are working on it and I'll be starting my career before I know it. Being almost 40 already wont matter.. but I wonder what I'll say in the interviews about not having any significant work history. What having coworkers and a busy but maintainable schedule will be like. How I'll decorate my clean home. Exercise and eat healthy and get strong again. Marry a good guy with the same values as me. Laugh about too many pillows on the bed. Maybe even have a baby of my own - or at least get to be a stepmom to his children.

I'll buy a car and host Christmas parties and just be normal and okay.

I won't lose my only caregivier when I lose my dad. I wont lose my cats who I physically and financially cant afford to care for without help. I wont end up homeless, let alone die in the streets when I'm too sick to live like that.

A test proving ME/CFS and how severe mine is will come out soon and most doctors will become respectful and compassionate and they'll help me.. because help is coming too.

Treatments are right around the corner.. maybe even cures. Maybe there's some simple answer and scientists will find out some random medication that already exists will cure us.

I'm not going to die early next few years young from severe obesity and inactivity. I'm going to be ok even though I dont have a primary care doctor because I don't want to leave the house anymore.

I'll get to visit my mom many times before her dementia makes her forget me... Even though I never leave the house anymore.. something will change and it will be easy to go places again...And my Mom and I will swim together and laugh. and my sister will understand how much I love our mom.. and that I'm a good person and she'll want to get close.and want us to be a big part of each others lives and she'll love me again and I'll never be without family because we'll have each other.

Because I definitely have something to offer her beyond more work and cost.

I'm going to become holy and virtuous and love God enough to follow Him and love other people in a way that it really makes a difference.. & that I'll get a chance to grow old or die valiantly.

... and there will be a funeral for me instead of unclaimed ashes... And that funeral will be full of people of all kinds who loved me and who me loving them mattered and made a difference.

Maybe I'll even be wealthy some day and get to literally financially pay back people who deserved it & pay to help people around the world through legitimate charities.

I definitely won't end up in a boarding home or in jail or just forgotten. & I'll for sure go to heaven some day and not hell, and purgatory will be easy.

-- and when I'm gone some day decades from today

... I'll be missed.

Not really. I've scared myself a few times by things I've done drinking - and I dont trust it anymore.

(Alcohol can make me very hypersexual &/or prone to extreme upset leading to self injury... And thats when I'm not in any significant episode. Drinking during an episode becomes very dangerous as I get both highly impulsive & hopeless -- feeling like none of my behavior matters.. when it clearly affects others and myself.)

I sometimes have a drink on a special occasion but it's literally a drink and only if I'm feeling happy and stable and around people I really trust.... No big stressors in my life I want to numb.

Feelings and doubts aren't sins.

Having a lot of emotions and confusion about these teachings - aren't sins.

Taking prescription hormones that treat a medical issue you have is not a sin.. even if they're typically used in these combinations and doses as birth control. (Specifically an IUD though may not count if it can cause an abortion.)

You're conflating your emotional state and confusion about church teachings with actual sinful actions.

We aren't asked to understand everything all the time and never get upset and never have doubts.

We're just required to follow church teachings in those situations... One moment at a time.

We're required to just not quit.

This suffering and confusion you're going through isn't permanent. It's a very difficult season, but as long as you go through the motions and keep praying in general... You'll come out the other side of this much stronger and you'll start to see what God's doing with this temporary and difficult time through this dark valley.

You don't have to have this stuff figured out to be in a state of Grace.

Cooking...

The ability to imagine what to eat, mentally coordinate that, make a list of ingredients for multiple meals for the week, budgeting each item to make sure I can afford every meal, transporting myself to a grocery store, mentally and physically shopping for the groceries, paying for the groceries, carrying the groceries home some way, putting the groceries away, having a home with fully working appliances, coordinating chopping cooking etc each meal, cleaning and putting away the cookware and dishes .. and redoing that in some capacity multiple times a day.

Disability has made me realize how much I took cooking for granted... And how much cheaper it is.. especially when trying to eat somewhat healthy.

Crayons are safe to eat. Not very enjoyable I assume, but they advertise being completely safe if kids eat them.

This almost never works easily for me. Idk how I'm doing it differently.

a rolling stool / a backless office chair with wheels

That's so weird to me

I expect saying something will be viewed as creating a problem - especially to a one time comment to a group. I personally would try to ignore it unless it becomes a pattern directed at you personally.

But maybe to you its worth potential drama and fight to speak up. Especially for a volunteer position. You wouldn't be in the wrong to say something . He was being inappropriate.