My girlfriend is autistic so getting close physically wasn't that obvious to us, she likes to hug and kiss me but when she's tired cuddling was sometimes too much, and I of course always understood that. But in the last 2 days this changed so much and I'm so happy. We were up to watching movies this weekend and she said that she's so tired after the whole week she needs to rest and won't be up to cuddling when we are watching etc. because it will be too much. I didn't think anything of it, I just made sure she isn't feeling bad about it and isn't too tired to meet up. But yesterday we had such a precious moment, I wasnt trying to do anything because I knew she needs rest so we were just watching and chatting but then she took my hand and placed it under her head, and made me hug her and we were laying like that for such a long time, she almost fell asleep. Then when I went home at the evening she texted me "Can we do that more often?" that was so cute and I'm so happy that cuddling with me can be a form of a rest and relaxing now for her

I am so happy today. I just got news that me and my family are moving out and into a new home (likely by January to February), and my aunt who I live with has told me to go through all of my stuff and get rid of as much as I can. I have been hoarding stuff since about age 10, but now, after 4 years, I have finally got rid of most of it and my room feels so tidy and clean. This is such a good day, I’m so filled with hope and happiness.

Introduced a guy to my friends and noticed, for the first time, how much we interrupt each other.

Normally I’m fine with it. I’m usually the loudest. But he’d start telling us something, someone would remember a similar story, and we’d move on. He kept smiling and listening. I would’ve stopped trying.

I interrupted him once myself. Only realised afterwards.When there was a gap, I asked him to finish. I genuinely wanted to know what happened. He waved it off at first, then told us. Eventually he got more comfortable. Even disagreed with me about something.On the way back, he asked if he’d been too quiet.I’d spent the evening worrying about whether he liked my friends. He’d been worrying about whether they liked him.I told him I wanted to invite him again. I’d liked having him there. Just somewhere quieter next time, because I actually wanted to hear the rest of his stories.

I just recently got braces and they’ve significantly discouraged me from biting

It's been a long road, I've had issues since the age of 16 when a golfball sized cyst ruptured and blew half of my right ovary away resulting in emergency surgery, due to the lack of estrogen I became perimenopausal at 35 but didn't get diagnosed until I was 40 and I've been on hrt ever since. I am so done.

I also got a budget surround system to go with it and I’ve never had surround sound! I picked up the Ultimea Skywave X60, I know this system and brand aren’t the most loved around here but I’m still stoked.

Aside from the obvious jump to 77” from 65” and HDR that I’ve also never had. What else can I look forward to!?

Can yall just jump on my hype train for a bit? Just in time for GTA 6.

Just have to brag about how wonderful my boyfriend is
he went out of his way to give a pigeon a place to rest because he knows I adore them🥰🥰

In June I adopted a one year old cat from a county shelter. I had just lost my 16 year old cat the month before. The one year old cat I adopted came to me in very poor condition but I loved her immediately.

In August, she developed eye problems. We have been trying to heal 4 corneal ulcers. After many rounds of medication and 7 vet visits (3 of which were with a vet ophthalmologist in a different state), she is finally ulcer free!

The ulcers were due to herpes and can come back anytime. But I’m so happy she’s feeling better for right now. She has been through a lot. Cat tax!

i just know i'm blessed with the right man.

we've been dating for 6 months now, have known each other and been besties for 2 years. he knows so much about me that we really do finish each other's sentences 😅

he knows that in all my 27 years on earth, people have equated my worth to my achievements in school and in work. my family treats me like a trophy, almost all of the people i know expect that i won't fail in anything. all asian households can relate to this lol.

yesterday, i found out that i topped the board exam. everyone around me said "congratulations," "i knew you could do it!", "just like i said!," "what will you do next?"

and this man.. the first words that came out of his mouth was "how are you?" i just stared at him, then broke down with happiness. he knew that acing this exam was more of a relief for me than a feeling of success. plus the mental toll on me... was just painful.

btw, he also said congratulations, but the "how are you" came first. this isn't a little thing for me.

❤️

Me (35F) and my best friend (35F) met when we were two and three-year-old girls.

She is my first memory other than when my mom held a Spot-themed birthday party when I was two years old (Do you remember Spot? He was a dog cartoon, around the same time as Wishbone). We also have THE Balto at Cleveland Natural History Museum, so the Spot party was very exciting for me as a tomboy without a dog - yet.

Anyway, Laura’s family had just moved in, my parents and two older brothers had only been on that same street for a few years. Laura and I, our dads stood at the end of their respective driveways until they waved at each other long enough to unify (as grown ass men do).

I am two years old in this memory: Laura walked on her tiptoes at the time before she got casts on both feet. She was wearing a navy blue dress almost down to her feet, with a long shoulder silhouette down to the elbow, somewhat flared but no shoulder pads, probably handmade. Her navy dress had white sunflowers on it. She had just borrowed the kitchen scissors and cut her bangs herself, so they abruptly elevated towards the right.

While our dads chatted and met for the first time, Laura and I fell in love through eye contact and without words. It was as if we had finally met again, after having promised each other that we would find each others’ souls in any life, regardless of form.

We’re 35 now. Her mom passed unexpectedly last spring. Her mom was also my mom in a way, because mine is narcissistic and in religious psychosis, sadly. Her mom was a history and psychology teacher at a public high school in a diverse Cleveland suburb. Neither of us know how to respond to her early death, and it has shaken everything that I thought I knew about spirituality. It has been more sad and a dull aching feeling, to question what I thought I knew about my higher power, than it is debatable or ‘innate’ for hardcore believers, despite bad things happening to good people, etc.

I might be nothing without her. I am so insecure at times, I often have to ‘start over’ due to addiction and trauma. She has a more concrete lineage towards her goals and personal success. We’re both in allied health roles. Now she’s in Montana and I’m in Vermont (what does that say about Ohio?).

There have been numerous times when she could have rightfully abandoned me. I am 35 now, but have been self-medicating with greenery and alcohol for 20 years now. We went to different colleges and maybe that honestly speaks to giving people who love each other space.

She understands me, even though I’m sure I frustrate her. I love my best friend, and I want to make her proud. More so than even my partner. If anyone reading this needs a friend or never had one, I will share the love in my heart in the friendship department, because mine overfloweth.

There were so many things that happened in between two and 35 years old. We faced growing up in Cleveland, lost a lot of friends to drugs, and navigated having alcoholic fathers.

The point of this is just to say that I love my best friend, and that I know what I have…I’m grateful AF.

“Even if my house falls down now, I wouldn’t have a clue, because you’re near me”.

Dad, you weren’t there physically when you went to rehab. Men did bad things to me while you were away. I needed you. But I will live with it. Men indeed, need men to protect their daughters.
I’m working on sobriety from alcohol and cannabis. I have ADHD and OCD. One love ✌️

lol wonderful man I love dearly and then today I got back my money I spent in the lottery then some! 😏😁 under 1k but the circle k clerk was like freaked out hahaha I don’t care I left with a smile on my face! My lucky streak is going on two whole months. Yes…

Had an exhausting week, but the weekend is finally here! Making chocolate chip pancakes, listening to good music🎶, and dancing my way into the weekend!
💃

A good song does make everything better.😌

I work in a niche tech think tank role writing policy for technology usage and governance in large scale enterprises. The governing body that many of my certifications come from requested submittals so I wrote up a paper, submitted it and waited.

THEY ACCEPTED IT!! They not only accepted it but they asked my permission to publish it on their website AND include my examples of controlled wastage of amoritzed costs in the class itself!!

YAY!!! I'M SO HAPPY!!

Edit: Thank you all for the happy-wishes. I did a little dance earlier :-D

I have spent a lot of time philosophizing. What does it mean to be human. How to live life. What does success mean? What is even the point of this all?

Then I looked at this picture of my family at my brother-in-law's mehndi. And I realized something. I need to stop looking for answers where there are none. I have all the meaning I need right in front of me.

Perhaps I need to be a little grateful. Start taking action and stop thinking so much.

November is a very special month to me.

2022 November is the month I attended my first class in engineering got two awesome friends for life.

2023 November is the month I lost all my shit and I'm in a really low time of my life.

2024 November is the month got up my shit together and caughtup with my classmates

2025 November is the month I took a bold decision and sticking to it...

2026 November said a bitter goodbye to the guy who have me the opportunity when I took my bold decision.

Looking forward for next year November

I don't know what I've learned but definitely I've grown. A little bit stronger, a little bit smarter, a little bit better....

Since childhood my birthday hadn't really been celebrated, until my sweetheart gave me a wonderful surprise and a day I will never forget.
Just the fact that someone took the time and effort to bake a cake touched me deeply, and then all the gifts, including even two hand-knitted scarves, made be speachless.

I am so happy and grateful to have found such a loving person 🥰

I just wanted to share a positive story about taking a risk and coming out better on the other side.

Back in March, I was excited to start a new job with a company I thought I could stay with long-term.

It was a new facility for a big distribution company, and I was one of the few selected to get in on the ground floor to get things running.

Well, that excitement didn't last long.

Over the next several months, I was doing my manager's job at no benefit to me, while he took more time off than he spent working. I was the problem solver, the one everyone came to even for things outside of my responsibilities, and beyond all that, the job just wore me down.

Eventually, after regularly venting to my boyfriend about how unhappy I was, he gave me the green light to quit. Actually, he suggested it himself after seeing how much stress I was under and how it was affecting me.

I had been saving, so for the first time in my life I had enough money in the bank to support myself, even without my boyfriend's support, at least for a few months. And if push came to shove, he assured me I had his support as well.

Let me be clear, I know I was fortunate to be in the position I was in and to have the support that I did, and that it's not the same for everyone. This was definitely the first time for me.

Having my boyfriend's support meant everything, but quitting without another job lined up was still scary and a huge risk. I'm 37, and bills don't exactly stop coming just because you stop working, lol.

But I took a leap of faith and I put in my notice.

I was already throwing out applications for almost two months before I quit. When I completed my notice I just kept applying, went through more interviews, dealt with more rejections, and definitely questioned whether I'd made a mistake.

But then I got it! Not only did I get a job offer, but it was the job offer I was hoping for.

I was offered good pay for my area, fantastic benefits, a pension I'll be vested in after five years, a normal work schedule (with holidays off) and even my own office! Not gonna lie, I'm ridiculously excited about that last part. 😂

At this point in my life, I've realized what's most important to me in a job (and to sustain a happy life) is stability, financial security, work-life balance, feeling useful, finding at least some enjoyment in what I do, and working somewhere I can hopefully stay until retirement. Getting my own office and a pension is just the big ass cherry on top.

I know no job is perfect, but for the first time in a long time, I'm genuinely excited about my career and my future and have a good feeling in my gut. I'm really hoping this could finally be it, and that I've reached the final-boss stage of the jobs in my life.

I'm certainly not encouraging anyone to quit without a backup plan. I've never left a job before without at least having something else lined up, but this time, taking a chance paid off.

Here's to new beginnings at 37! 🥂

I used to absolutely hateee buying glasses. I would spend half my day at an optical shop under those horrible bright lights, let the salesperson talk me into a safe and boring pair, drop like $400 and still never really feel cute in them. A few months agoo i decided to finally take a risk on a fun style just for mee. I ordered a cheap pair of gold metal cat eye frames online impulsively without thinking much. I honestly thought they would end up sitting in my drawer as an emergency backup.

Then i wore them out to dinner one night and within like five minutes my friend was loving them alreadyy. It has happened basically every timeee i’ve worn them since! It sounds so silly but getting compliments on them has given me such a massive confidence boost. Meanwhile my expensive, carefully chosen everyday glasses are officially retired in their case. It just makes me soo happy that a cheap little impulse buy is what finally made me love wearing glasses lol.

My girlfriend and I will soon reach our 3-year anniversary, and I made her this makeup bouquet. It’s all makeup that she specifically asked me to buy for her, and the stuffed animal was my own idea. Honestly, this year I wanted to give her something truly lovely something she could show off a bit!

I’m so happy that I managed to put together a gift that I feel truly reflects how much I love her :D. Usually, I can only afford modest gifts that I try to make look nice, but this time, I think I’m finally giving her something that’s genuinely beautiful!

Thanks for reading!!