Most of us are probably familiar with dealing with a relative who you don’t get along with. Whether it’s a sibling, a cousin, a distant aunt, or an in-law, odds are there’s at least someone in your circles who you just don’t see eye to eye with. You hold opposite opinions and values, or maybe you just got off on the wrong foot. Either way, you’re trying to work through it. Maybe you want to just avoid each other whenever you can, though perhaps you’re required to see each other at family gatherings.
Or maybe you’re trying to build a bridge between you, emphasizing your similarities rather than your differences. Or maybe you’re just trying to ignore them and their effect on you. But sometimes, no matter how hard you try, they get under your skin anyway. Or maybe they use the people closest to you to hurt you.
Enduring a seriously dysfunctional marriage and being left a widow, Saint Marguerite d’Youville did not give in to despair. Rather, she founded the Sisters of Charity of Montreal, the “Grey Nuns,” rescued a failing hospital, and cared for the sick. Not even the destruction of the hospital by fire drove her to despair.
Family relationships are often some of the closest bonds that people will ever experience, but that doesn’t mean that they are always a walk in the park. Everybody messes up occasionally, even with those they love. What is even worse is that many actively choose to betray the trust of their relatives for their own ends, completely upending relationships and family dynamics. Even in the most secure relationships, all it takes is one stupid mistake or malicious action to erode the trust and care between family members.
Unfortunately, this is something that some people do not realize until it’s too late, and then they are not happy when they face the consequences for their actions. This is especially true for those who are younger and have a life lesson or two to learn about how to behave around others. It might not be pleasant, but it is a necessary response.
When it comes to finding a life partner, the person you attach yourself to romantically is only a part of the story. Most of the time, being in a committed relationship means that you have to be comfortable with your partner’s family as well. In-law relationships have a reputation for being difficult, and they can easily become a headache in an otherwise happy relationship if a parent decides you aren’t the right fit for their child.
In situations like this, people may try to avoid interacting with in-laws as much as possible, but the reality is that it is sometimes unavoidable to deal with them and the drama they may bring up. The crucial point is being in a relationship that is supportive enough for the couple to work as a team and point out unfair treatment where it is appropriate. Family resentments do not necessarily have to ruin the right connection.
Most of us have probably thought about what we would do if we won the lottery. Every time we buy a scratch-off at the gas station or enter some numbers on a whim we have daydreams about what vacations we would take, what houses we would buy, and what we would do for the people we love. But most of us don’t actually get to live that fantasy. It’s called the lottery for a reason. It’s famously really difficult to win.
But we rarely talk about what happens to those who do end up winning. We might assume that their life is all figured out and they get to live their dreams, but it might not be so simple. Maybe they have people in their lives who feel that they deserve something from them. Maybe they have nefarious actors around acting in bad faith trying to get something out of them, even if they’re just trying to do the right thing with the money and putting it towards their kid’s future.
When you agree to commit to another person by marrying them, there are certain topics that you have to be crystal clear about. One of these is how you are going to manage your finances as a couple. If you have any kind of joint income, this conversation is particularly essential. The last thing you want is somebody spending your money in a way that you don’t condone.
For many reasons, money is something that many spouses fail to adequately discuss, and this almost always leads to problems further down the line. If you are anything like most people, you have a limited amount of those precious dollars, and the majority of partners are going to expect that your priority should be using them to make your life better as a couple. While it is understandable to want to help out your family when you are stable and they aren’t, there can be limits to this.
There’s a big generational gap when it comes to attitudes about work. Older generations might think that since they were forced to work a certain way, others should too. They spent countless hours commuting, stayed at a company for decades, and sometimes put work before family (especially if they had a wife at home taking care of the household). Needless to say, this doesn’t have to be true anymore. The popularization of remote work means more flexibility for employees, less commute time, and saving companies money by not having to pay for offices.
There’s also a general attitude and understanding that we should all be kinder to each other in the workplace. The world is scary, so we can give each other breaks. But it can be hard for one generation to understand another. These beliefs are deeply engrained, and they might be hard to shake even when confronted with evidence.
Have you ever have to bite your tongue about your friend’s horrible romantic partner? We’ve all been in that situation where your bestie is dating someone that you can’t help but dislike, but how you deal with that dislike says a lot about who you are as a person. For most of us, we will bite our tongues, especially if they’ve only been together for a short amount of time. That way, you’re betting on them breaking up at some point, where you’ll be able to say, “I never liked them in the first place.” Unfortunately, that breakup might never come, forcing you to pretend to be happy for your friend during their wedding and marriage to this total drip. That can be avoided if you tell them from the jump that you don’t like their partner, but most people won’t do that because it might damage the friendship to the point of no return.
100 years after the events of the Boston Tea Party, two wealthy septuagenarian sisters from Glastonbury, CT found themselves fighting against taxation without representation. The curious case involves the seizure and auctioning of their pet cows, including two calves named Martha Washington and Abigail Adams.
The kitchen can be a sensitive room in the house for many families. It is inevitable that everybody will have slightly different tastes and preferences when it comes to cooking, and being the person who has to try and cater to them all can be exhausting. It can be a challenge for even the most accomplished of chefs.
This can prove even more true when it comes to cooking for partners and in-laws. There is every chance they grew up eating a lot differently from how you did, and this has to be taken into account.
Also, many relatives by marriage love to use things like culinary prowess to judge those who join their families, often unfairly. Meals together can quickly be turned into power trips with the wrong kinds of people, making a situation that is already a lot of work into something that is just plain unpleasant. After a point, a reaction is inevitable.
You literally never know how a marriage will shake out. Many singles are advised to be extremely careful about whom they marry because that is the most important choice they’ll ever make in their life. But marrying someone upstanding, attractive, hard working, and happy doesn’t guarantee that it’s all going to work out for both of you in the end. The dynamics of a relationship come to a full 180 once you wake up one day and are bound together by law. Your partnership might have been fun and fancy free when it was merely a relationship, but once the excrement hits the fan, it’s all gloom and doom.
The relationship doesn’t even really have to change for things to go completely awry. Every monogamous relationship comprises two people with their own interiority and emotional state that can’t be fixed by merely jumping the broom and running off into the sunset.
You literally never know how a marriage will shake out. Many singles are advised to be extremely careful about whom they marry because that is the most important choice they’ll ever make in their life. But marrying someone upstanding, attractive, hard working, and happy doesn’t guarantee that it’s all going to work out for both of you in the end. The dynamics of a relationship come to a full 180 once you wake up one day and are bound together by law. Your partnership might have been fun and fancy free when it was merely a relationship, but once the excrement hits the fan, it’s all gloom and doom.
The relationship doesn’t even really have to change for things to go completely awry. Every monogamous relationship comprises two people with their own interiority and emotional state that can’t be fixed by merely jumping the broom and running off into the sunset.
It is no easy task taking on the role of a step-parent. Not only do you face the challenge of learning to live happily with your partner and make peace with their ex, but you also have to take care in your relationship with their kids as well. Assuming that they haven’t reached adulthood yet, this can be a difficult process of figuring out how you can best be a presence in their lives and homes without upsetting anybody, and ideally build a mutually appreciative relationship.
Of course, one look at many blended families will tell you that it doesn’t work out this way a lot of the time. Some people want nothing less than having to parent somebody else’s kids, and others are far too eager to create a dynamic that takes a lot of time to nurture. It goes without saying that in these situations, the children often suffer most.
Rebuilding a life after a divorce is often difficult. The relationship that a person most likely thought was going to be forever didn’t work out, and now they have to figure out how to make things work without it. Assuming they want another partner, they have to experience all the drama of the dating game again, and if they have kids in tow, it only makes the experience even more complicated.
The reality is that while life might not end after you have children, it does make things very different. If a mom or dad is in the position of finding a serious romantic relationship, it’s important to take into consideration how a potential partner may be around their kids. While it may be upsetting for somebody to have to leave behind someone that they like because they don’t align with their lifestyle as a parent, it can occasionally be a necessity to keep the family at its happiest.
Am I terrible for not wanting my (38F) aging dad’s (65M) childfree wife (66F) to move into the apartment I built for him?
This is something that one adult woman found herself struggling with after bitter childhood memories and her sense of duty to her family collided. Due to their health, her dad and stepmom were looking to downsize to a smaller, one-story home, and she and her husband had built an apartment on their property for this exact purpose.
However, the woman was reluctant to offer it to them as she felt her stepmother had failed to be adequate in her role while she and her brother were growing up, being dismissive of them and seemingly annoyed that they impinged on her childfree lifestyle. In her current position she felt guilty, and looked for advice.
Some people, bless them, just don’t know how to cook. Or rather, they have no instinct for it. Maybe they try to chef up a meal every now and then and it always ends up either burned, undercooked, under-flavored, or over-salted. Cooking requires a non-negligible amount of intuition. Yes, you can try and follow a recipe, but there are still some implicit skills you need in order to carry it off correctly. You need to know what it means to “sweat” an onion versus “caramelize.” You need to know the difference between a head and a clove of garlic. And you need to know what a “pinch” means. I won’t lie, it’s not always easy. And some of the best cooks still mess up sometimes.
If you’re a bad cook, though, it’s your obligation to recognize that. It’s your job to understand your shortcomings and, most importantly, not foist them onto others. You wouldn’t want someone to do that to you, would you?
One of my biggest fears is being at a party that turns into a multi-level marketing sales pitch. Maybe you think you’re just going over to your friend’s house for some rosé and finger foods, and suddenly someone brings out a brochure. They try to make it seem all casual like they’re just asking you about what saucepans you use, and then wham you’re accidentally dropping a band just to avoid having an awkward situation with your friend. Multi-level-marketing schemes are so predatory. They rely on your relationships with others and make you exploit them for cash. It’s a quick and easy way to ruin a friendship in my humble opinion.
But what happens when someone you love is implicated in one? To what end will you go to appease their desperate cry for sales? Is it your job to get them out of there or do you just let sleeping dogs lie?
Portrait of French author George Sand by photographer Nadar in 1864. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, she stood up for women, criticized marriage and fought against the prejudices of a conservative society.
Grief is a terrible thing, and it affects everyone very differently. Some people can move on from the loss of a loved one surprisingly quickly, while others never get over it as long as they live. Even for a person as important as your life partner, the grieving process looks different for every individual. Some people can remarry within a couple of years of their husband or wife passing, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Those relationships can thrive, even with the knowledge that the widow/widower fully loved their lost partner and very well might still be with them if they were around. A lot of complicated feelings can arise from being the partner of a widower, but that doesn’t mean those feelings are correct. Feeling jealous of a past spouse who is six feet under does not mean you should try to erase their memory because you both can’t and shouldn’t do that.
Some of us (I would actually venture most of us) have limited social batteries. We can’t go all day talking with people, especially people we don’t know that well, and come home and do some more talking. Most of us need some amount of alone time so we can recharge, regroup, and feel like ourselves again. If this sounds like you, odds are you’ve had some practice setting boundaries in this way. If we’re on a big trip with a bunch of people, we might say “I’m taking a recharge walk by myself, see y’all in a couple hours.” And if you’re clear and respectful about communicating your boundaries, then your friends have no choice but to respect them.
The woman in this story, though, had a weird way of going about boundary setting. Instead of trying her best to participate in group activities when she could, she neglected all of them in favor of her crafting activity.
Some holy people have a rather full life spread over a couple of vocations. Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio is such a person having been married twice before becoming a Franciscan.
Linda Fenton turned to dating apps to find love after her long-term marriage ended. Unlucky in her quest, she thought there was something wrong with her, until she realised the odds were stacked against her.
One of the reasons to get married is to combine finances. Odds are you’re excited at the prospect of doing that, or else you would just live together and forget about the legal stuff. There can be huge advantages to combining finances. Maybe both of you work high-powered jobs, and now you get to double the kind of fun you’re having. Maybe one of you earns more money than the other, so you can support them to do other things (pursue art, raise children, etc.) Maybe you’re both struggling to get by on your own, but splitting a one-bedroom is a lot more affordable than trying to do it yourself. As many advantages as there are, though, it also makes life more complicated.
Maybe one of you will start to resent the other for depending on them. Maybe one of you becomes afraid to leave the other if they feel like their future won’t be secure. And worst of all, when you split up, things get even more complicated.
Saint Joseph of Leonissa was known for his austerity of life and single-minded commitment to preaching. Arrested and warned to change his ways, Joseph returned to his former behavior and was re-arrested and condemned to die. He escaped, however, and continued a life of preaching.
Asking your partner to sign a prenup can make the relationship slightly tense. Although it’s perfectly normal to want to protect millions of dollars worth of assets that you acquired before the marriage, you’re basically saying you don’t trust your partner and are in some way anticipating a divorce. I know that’s not actually what you’re saying, but it’s easy to jump from A to B to C. Maybe assuming that prenups are premeditating divorce is kind of an immature way to think about it, but as someone who watched Charlotte York get torn up over whether to sign a prenup, negotiate with Bunny MacDougal for $1 million, have a horrible, unfulfilling, loveless marriage with Trey, and barely even make it out with her apartment, I have my reasons to be suspicious. All I know is that Harry Goldenblatt would NEVER ask his beautiful, wonderful wife to sign a prenup.
Saints Timothy and Titus were trusted friends and co-workers with Saint Paul through many of his trials. He eventually set both up as heads of local Churches and encouraged them as would a father. Saint Paul seems to have truly relished their support and friendship.
Fairness is a concept that can be difficult to stick to as a parent with multiple children. Some moms and dads see no problem in being obvious with playing favorites, which can often turn nasty in the long run, and others try their best to treat all their kids equally and still don’t succeed. The fact is, with all the stresses that come from parenting it can be difficult to make sure that every child is getting the exact same treatment. It isn’t always possible.
Nonetheless, many parents hope that when they grow up, their kids feel like they are treated with a decent level of equality. This is especially true when it comes to the thorny topic of money. Even if they are relatively independent, many families choose to help out adult children financially for various reasons and it is very easy for the whole thing to become a competition.
I’ve seen so many posts from married people with kids talking about the necessity of prioritizing their marriage first and their kids second. As a married person without kids, I feel incredibly qualified to judge them and say that they don’t have their priorities straight. In my mind, I feel like your kids and your husband/wife should be on equal levels of importance. Obviously, the needs of the children are greater than the needs of the grown adults, but prioritizing a strong marriage is of the utmost importance. I don’t know, I’m sure I will have different opinions on this as soon as I create life and commit to the holy vows of matrimony, but today is not that day.
It’s important to understand the difference between a kid’s wants and needs. A kid might want expensive and extravagant things, but just because they ask doesn’t mean you, as the parent, should give in to them
In creating Consider the Consequences! authors Doris Webster (1885-1967) and Mary Alden Hopkins (1876-1960) were toying with a new idea: write a book that provided readers with narrative options. The result was the first choice-based novel ever printed as well as the precursor to the Choose Your Own Adventure book series that would become popular later in the 20th century.
A little prank is good fun every now and again. Not enough people do them in my life. Things are usually so boring and monotonous, that sometimes we need pranks to throw us out of our rhythms and make us feel the zest of life again. The perfect pranks, though, are ultimately harmless. Like putting a Whoopi Cushion under your significant other as they sit down on the couch to watch Better Call Saul. Temporarily humiliating? Yes. Damaging in the long run? Absolutely not. If anything, it will strengthen your relationship, giving you a happy memory to look back on if you ever hit a rough patch.
On the other hand, some pranks can easily get out of hand. They go too far and end up damaging your relationships. Pranks should never cross the line of damaging someone’s physical property, their physical person, or their mental well-being. This shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish. Certain social media personalities challenge this notion, but as regular people, it’s important we keep strong and only do pranks in good faith. But that’s not what happened in this story when a woman’s sister took pranks a little too far and then suffered the consequences afterward.
I hate when people in their 40s drag teenagers into their adult problems. I know parents who complain about their spouse to their children and ask for advice on managing their marriage. It’s totally age-inappropriate, and it puts the labor of fixing relationships on kids who aren’t even in said relationships.
Sometimes, adult problems involve kids. In the case of this story, the so-called problem is that a stepmother’s stepkids don’t like her as much as they like their mom. Any rational stepmother would know that they can’t fully serve as a replacement for a present, alive, and involved parent. Arguably, they can’t replace a mom fully who isn’t present, involved, or alive. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop the stepmom in this story from trying. Her stepdaughter planned a spa day with her mom, maternal grandmother, and paternal grandmother, and her stepmom was enraged that she wasn’t included despite the poor treatment of her stepkids.
One of the most common sources of arguments among married couples is how they should share their resources. If marriage is a partnership, then it makes sense that you should communicate clearly about what you exchange with each other. However, it is common for this not to be as clear-cut as it should be, leading to arguments and disagreements on many different levels.
This includes things as personal as gifts, as one husband recently found out. He received a bonus in the form of a gift card at work, and his wife was already planning on how to spend it when he informed her he only wanted to use it on himself. He reasoned that as she didn’t let him use the brand discounts she got at her job, this was fair. It was up to the internet to decide whether that was truly the case when it came to this partnership.
Uttarakhand will become the first Indian state to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) starting January 2025. The law mandates marriage registration within six months and requires live-in couples to register within one month. The UCC addresses marriage, divorce, inheritance, and live-in relationships, aiming to end practices like polygamy and ensure equal inheritance rights.
There’s a time in your life when you’ve got to grow up. I’m not saying that you must get married, have kids, and abandon everything you loved when you were younger. You literally don’t have to do anything of the sort, but the reality is that most people do end up getting married or having kids at some point. As a wise woman once said, “If you have a baby, you don’t get to be the baby.” If you choose to get married, you can’t spend 8 hours a day playing video games with your boys like you did when you were 13. If your wife is pregnant, you can’t just decide three-quarters of the way through the gestation process that you aren’t feeling it anymore. A pregnant woman recently took to Reddit to share her experience with her man-child husband and the actions that led to her leaving him for good.
Sometimes, babies cry for literally no reason. There are so many babies who cry uncontrollably for no discernable reason that the medical establishment coined the term “colic.” There’s a big difference between a baby who is genuinely colic and one who hasn’t had their needs tended to. The baby in this story is the latter.
If a baby is crying, you can’t always tend to their needs immediately, like if you’re driving and they’re in the backseat. But if they’re sitting in their playpen, crib, or highchair and you don’t offer them food, a pacifier, or physical comfort, you’re not doing the bare minimum to solve their crying. A mom recently took to Reddit to share the argument she had with her husband. While she was in the shower, she heard her baby uncontrollably sobbing for 15 minutes, and when she got out to see what was wrong, things unraveled from there.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud delivered an emotional farewell address on his last working day, expressing gratitude for the opportunity to serve the nation and highlighting the importance of justice. CJI Chandrachud’s tenure, marked by landmark judgments on Article 370, same-sex marriage, and electoral bonds, was praised by colleagues and legal luminaries.
Parents should know their kids better than anyone. I wouldn’t expect a mother or a father to be able to predict their kid’s every move, especially in adulthood, but I do expect that when their kid tells their parents who they are, they listen. The mom in this story didn’t do that with her 24-year-old daughter, who said she didn’t want a proper wedding after getting engaged to her fiancee. Her daughter, Lynn, is an alternative in many senses of the word; she graduated college for the first time at 16, has tattoos and piercings, and fully marches to the beat of her own drum. She reluctantly agreed to a wedding after her mom pressured her into it, but after one dispute over the flowers, she quickly went home and eloped. While her dad understands why she did that, her mom can’t get over her devastation over the elopement.
[World Bank] As we mark the International Day of the Girl Child, it is sobering to realize that only 16 million out of more than 37 million adolescent girls in Western and Central Africa are currently enrolled in secondary school. Of these, fewer than half will complete lower secondary school, and many will enter early marriage or childbearing before they become adults. These numbers reflect lost potential and futures limited by circumstances beyond their control.
This man learned that his wife’s over-spending was the reason they were dipping into the red every month, so he brought in the heavy artillery: His frugal mother who raised him and his 2 siblings as a single mother on a meager income… And his wife did NOT like that.
When your parents give you your first allowance as a kid, your mind races and you start thinking of all the fantastic things you’ll buy with the $20 bill in your hand. You could buy a Hot Wheel, some candy, maybe even a movie! But as soon as the stars in your eyes fade from some frivolously silly purchase, you realize that the money’s quickly dwindled and you have nothing left. Most people take that lesson into adulthood, learning to taper their spending and mitigate their losses, but the woman in this next story learned that her daily ‘little treat’ at Starbucks was literally starting to bankrupt their family.
Keep scrolling to read the details of how a marriage was tested when a frugal mother-in-law saves the day with a stringent budget.
Cornelius was elected pope “by the judgment of God and of Christ, by the testimony of most of the clergy, by the vote of the people, with the consent of aged priests and of good men” after a 14 month vacancy in the papacy.
This post walks you through the 285-day trip of Hawaii King Kalākaua as the first monarch to circumnavigate the globe in 1881, showing many of the routes and places he traveled or visited through maps and images at or near the time period.
Jane Frances de Chantal was a wife and the mother of six. When her husband was killed, Saint Jane Frances took a vow not to remarry and sought to join a religious community. She was dissuaded by her spiritual director, Saint Francis de Sales.
Saint Elizabeth of Portugal did not have an easy time in spite of the fact that she was royalty. She spent her life seeking peace between herself and her unfaithful husband, and between many of her relatives. Elizabeth saw some progress in this endeavor before retiring to a Poor Clare monastery where she died.
Saint John Fisher’s name is usually associated with Saint Thomas More and their difficulty with King Henry VIII. A bishop and cardinal, John Fisher refused to agree with Henry’s divorce and remarriage, as well as the idea that the king, rather than the pope, was the head of the Church in England. He was imprisoned and eventually martyred.
We thank you, O God,
for the Love You have implanted in our hearts.
May it always inspire us to be kind in our words,
considerate of feeling,
and concerned for each other’s needs and wishes.
Help us to be understanding and forgiving
of human weaknesses and failings.
Increase our faith and trust in You
and may Your Prudence guide our life and love.
Bless our Marriage O God,
with Peace and Happiness,
and make our love fruitful for Your glory
and our Joy both here and in eternity.
Saint Paulinus was a married priest and bishop. In his day, marriage was not an impediment to the priesthood. Though married for many years, Saint Paulinus and his wife were childless. When they finally were blessed with a son, he lived but a few weeks.
![Mother-in-law refuses to see daughter-in-law’s remote programming job as ‘real,’ calls her out at a family barbecue: ‘Yeah, and that […] paid off your son’s student loans’ #Fun](http://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/mother-in-law-refuses-to-see-daughter-in-laws-remote-programming-job-as-real-calls-her-out-at-a-family-barbecue-yeah-and-that-paid-off-your-sons-student-loans-fun.jpg "Mother-in-law refuses to see daughter-in-law’s remote programming job as ‘real,’ calls her out at a family barbecue: ‘Yeah, and that […] paid off your son’s student loans’ #Fun")
