Relationships

Relationships

I am a man who was widowed 11 months ago. I met a woman on a dating site, and we clicked immediately. We have been enjoying each other's company for several months. We have a long-distance relationship. She lives three hours away. Although she indicated on the dating site her status as separated for two years, she still lives in the marital house with her husband.

Dear Prudence is Slate's advice column. Submit questions here. Dear Prudence, I just found out something horrible about my friend. Her dad is her mom's son. That is, she is a product of incest. She casually mentioned it one day when we were at book club. Do I break off her friendship? She is lovely and has kids of her own with a lovely man, whom my husband and I are friends with. -Not Loving the Lineage

Simone Migliori liked the idea of an October wedding so much she had two - a backyard elopement in 2023 and a bigger bash in 2024. Part of the decision, at least on wedding No. 1, was that it was the anniversary of when Migliori, 27, and her husband first met. But it was also because she's always wanted to get married in the fall. Both events were held in Massachusetts, and she loves the color palette and the cooler weather

Lea Veloso, 26, has an ever-growing ick list. If he spits on the ground, can't cook, lies about his height, identifies as apolitical or doesn't travel enough. If he's weird about other men wearing makeup (like, K-pop idols), says he wants a slightly autistic woman, has no skincare routine or only likes songs that got famous on TikTok. It's an ick if he doesn't call his parents, sniffs every five seconds, is an unsuccessful DJ or is embarrassed to do karaoke.

My 12-year-old son goes to an after-school program oriented around healthy living. They learn to cook vegetarian dishes, do yoga and meditation, and learn about various topics such as healthy sexuality and substance abuse. I'm extremely passionate about all of these things and was delighted to hear that my son was enjoying it as well when he started going two years ago, especially because he had never particularly liked sports or other extracurriculars.

Some people ignore the rules and don't pay attention to the limits that others set on their behavior (we think of them as high-conflict people or HCPs or bullies) unless a meaningful consequence will follow if they violate the limit. HCPs often (but not always) have Cluster B personality disorders- narcissistic, borderline, antisocial and histrionic personalities-which studies show have a strong association with being domineering, vindictive, and intrusive. 1

We share the cooking, and due to shift work and other reasons, dinner can be anywhere between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.Usually, when dinner is ready, whoever cooked it will send a message in the group chat to call everyone to the table. (People might be spread out on three different floors, or outside.) Recently, my boyfriend and I went on an outing during the day. We had an amazing day of hiking.

Our niece (my husband's brother's daughter) is expecting her first child. While we are very happy for her, the way she announced her news, and some of her past actions, have affected my feelings toward her as they had directly impacted me, my husband and our kids. This niece announced her pregnancy to us (via FaceTime, as she doesn't live locally) at a family birthday dinner that was held for the combined birthdays of her father and our son.

You've woken up today in the best of moods possible, excited about spending a weekend day doing nothing but spending time with your partner. Your partner is not only your best friend but also the one person in the world whom you want to be with the most. It's going to be a great day! Much to your dismay, you don't sense this enthusiasm reflected in your partner's demeanor.

If you feel like friendships are harder to make or maintain than ever before, you're right. The pandemic did us no favors when it came to building and maintaining close friendships. While we may have been sharing "Zoom Happy Hours" from our deck or sofa, even the most intimate conversations were being mediated by a screen, and vocal nuances and body language cues were often lost.

The first and only time I've used dating apps was in the spring of 2021. I'd just moved to Los Angeles and wanted to see more of the city. But I soon grew tired of the actors, musicians and DJs who hounded me to attend their events; not to mention I didn't feel safe with total strangers and I'm particular about hygiene.

The six-step Meet Your Future matchmaking process begins with a thorough intake consultation to uncover each client's values, lifestyle and long-term goals. From there, the expert team benchmarks compatibility, conducts a targeted search through an exclusive candidate network and facilitates high-impact introductions. Every interaction is individually tailored, with an emphasis on discretion. Clients benefit from personalized refinement at every step, with matchmakers serving as strategic advisors throughout the journey. There's no apps, no ice breakers and no time wasted.

A few years ago, my husband and I turned to gestational surrogacy to grow our family. It could cost tens of thousands of dollars, so we wanted to lower our living expenses while saving for it. Meanwhile, my mother-in-law, who had lost her husband a few years back, was living alone in a four-bedroom house. "I have all this space and I would love to have you all so close," she'd said.

Different couples make all kinds of different pacts with each other some spoken, some unspoken. In your partnership it seems you originally found parity; you both benefited from the arrangement between you. Aside from being happy in your everyday lives together, you were able to use your sexual creativity to satisfy him, and in turn perhaps he was able to avoid having to acknowledge aspects of his sexual orientation that made him uncomfortable.

"My daughter is out of town, so I'm taking my son-in-law to do 'old lady white people s---,' Harris said in one of her viral videos in which the dynamic duo visit a farm petting zoo and do goat yoga. It has over 7 million views. So Harris and Cruz decided to keep the adventures rolling. "I had no idea it was going to go viral, but that's exactly what happened," Harris tells TODAY.com. "It blew me away, how people really just wanted some wholesome content."

He lives with his openly gay male best friend of about 10 years, which is pretty impressive given that we're both in our early 20s. I guess he and his best friend trauma-bonded during high school, and it's made them close. REALLY close. Whenever we go on dates, he keeps his phone on alert to make sure nothing bad happens to his best friend.

Some people truly shine when it comes to being a house guest. Whether they're stopping by for dinner or staying the whole week, there's a list of spoken and unspoken etiquette rules to follow, and they nail it every time. While it's obviously the host's job to make their guest feel comfy, there are plenty of things the guest can do in return to be just as thoughtful. Things like taking their shoes off at the door, cleaning up after dinner, or making the bed every morning of their stay.

This isn't a photo of my wife, but it's a pretty fair depiction of the look I get when she asks if I've seen the funny photo she sent and I admit, once again, "Not yet." (I did think about posting an actual shot of her looking annoyed, but figured that'd be a terrible idea, given the tensions over the whole funny photo/'not yet' fiasco.)

Do you know your preferred love language(s)? In my experience, this question seems to be asked more and more often when couples are first getting to know each other-or when they've landed in couples therapy. Gary Chapman's book The 5 Love Languages is a longstanding bestseller for a reason-it simply and intuitively organizes the ways romantic partners demonstrate care for each other. Words of affirmation, physical touch, quality time, gifts, and acts of service: we have all noticed what these different behaviors mean to us when our partners do them, and vice versa.

According to psychologists, it's a phenomenon called 'mate choice copying' and it's something that's developed throughout human evolution, meaning people don't just randomly choose to break up happy couples. Multiple studies have observed how people and animals, such as fish, birds, and primates, seem more desirable to others when they've already been chosen by a mate. Women were more likely to experience mate choice copying because of the evolutionary pressures of mate selection and the drive to have children.

If you're in a long-term relationship, you and your partner likely have a few poses that work like a charm - and you stick with them every time. While there's no shame in having faves or knowing what works, it can also be fun to try new sex positions, especially when you're looking to spice things up. After all, it's not uncommon for established couples to fall into a rut, says Jonathan Bennett, dating and relationship expert at Double Trust Dating.

When was the last time you had an uninterrupted chat with your partner? It's so easy to come home from a busy day, turn on a show, and then go to bed without really catching up. While it's fine to coexist on occasion - let's be real, sometimes you're just too tired to talk - it's still important to check in regularly.

When I showed the photo to my friend, her reaction left me speechless. She practically threw the phone down and said, What an ugly family! Your mother is ugly and fat, and your father is ugly, too! She continued with more of the same. Other than that, she's a kind and giving friend. I can't get over what she said because I know I'm ugly and I hate being so. But if we were so offensive, why would she be friends with me?

When I was finished using the facilities, I opened the door and faced a woman standing squarely in my way, scowling at me. After holding the scowl for a few silent moments, she said, I thought you'd never leave. Taken aback, I merely laughed awkwardly as we sidled past each other. Miss Manners, I promise I did not take an inordinate amount of time in the restroom. Was there a better way to respond?

Her daughter was my bridesmaid, and after we emigrated when she was a teenager I became a distant mentor cheering on her ambitions and inviting her to spend a post-uni gap year using our home as a base. She has a great independent streak and quickly found her feet, and became close with my own children, some of whom now live near her in the UK. We all get together regularly when I visit each summer.

Because I haven't slept with anybody else for decades, my sexual skills don't feel transferable; they are specific to Lisa Lisa and I met at university in 1996, when we were 19. Since I've known her, she's grown from a willowy teenager into a middle-aged woman and I've become a middle-aged man with a belly and a bad back. But a 30-year relationship isn't about how you look.

I started when I was 17, long before the term "sugar baby" or "rent boy" even existed. I was at university, and I had a scholarship for my education, but I had no housing or food. I was 3,000 miles away from my family in an unfamiliar city. I had no resources to lean on. I found myself really struggling.

A divorce is seldom easy-not for the couple that divorces, but also not for their children (if they have any). However, past psychological research on how divorce affects children's development was often conducted in small cohorts of volunteers and showed conflicting results. Moreover, it typically focused on older children. Therefore, large studies in younger children are needed to get robust and trustworthy insights on how divorce affects early child development.