Family Relationships

Family Relationships can be some of the most trying, difficult, draining, and hard to manage relationships there are out there, but they can also be some of the most fulfilling and rewarding relationships of one's life.  You are born into your family, you don't get to choose it.  These relationships can be the most difficult because you can't just end these relationships, especially when you are younger (although in very extreme situations, ending the relationship can be a last resort).  You typically won't want to see any family relationships end, because family ties can be some of the strongest ties there are.

This section will be dedicated to discussing all topics relating to those (sometimes a little crazy) people you call your family, and I suspect there will be quite a lot discussed here!

My Personal Story: Part 2 - Sneaking Out: The School Adventure

     When we last left off, I was telling you how as me and my best friend Matt got older, we started sneaking out of the house when we would stay the night with each other.  This time I want to tell you about one of the craziest adventures Matt and I ever had (I had even crazier adventures later on sneaking out with other friends and family) while sneaking out.

    

     One night in particular, we decided to walk all the way to our elementary school, which was over a mile down the winding 2-lane roads of our little town between the mountains.  We had placed pencils under the windows in one of the classrooms before leaving Friday for the weekend, so the window looked shut and locked but was actually still open.  The plan was to sneak into the school over the weekend.  See, I had been talking back and forth with a cute girl from our school, and had talked her into meeting us at the school that night as long as we came to her house to get her.  Of course, I had all kinds of crazy ideas as to what this meant; as a seventh grader at the time, the furthest I had gotten with any girl was a quick kiss on the lips, and I thought this was going to be my chance to really step up from that!  Earlier in the day, Matt and I had come across some old Michelob (which we thought read as "Mitchell Bob") bottles his dad must have forgotten about leaving in his work shop in the large garage at their house, and we had stashed it away outside to take along with us on our adventure.  We did our usual routine, with all black outfits and uber stealth, but at Matt's house leaving through his bedroom window was not an option, so we always had to sneak out the back door of his house.  As a secondary precaution and our last line of defense, just in case his parents were to wake up and decide to check in on us, we placed a combination of pillows and toys under the bedsheets that looked surprisingly similar to us when we were actually in the bed.  We covered the head area just enough to make it look like we had just pulled the sheets up over our heads a bit.  Finally we threw our BB guns over our shoulders, slipped quietly out the back door, and went on our long journey to the school.  

     We tried to avoid leaping into the ditch since we were supposed to be meeting a girl, so we avoided walking along the road whenever we could; sometimes walking along the creek bank, other times sneaking across yards or walking along the tree line at the base of the mountains.  Finally we reached the school, and the girl lived just up a hollow next to it.  The plan was to call her from inside the school once we got there so she could be watching for us to show up at her house (bear in mind this is 1997, there were no cell phones, especially for kids).  We opened the window and climbed into the classroom.  We knew there was a phone in the lunch room kitchen, and it was right next to the classroom we were in.  We went over there and made the call, and she actually answered!  At this point I got kind of nervous; I thought "oh man, this is actually gonna happen!"  But she had apparently gotten nervous too and said she was too afraid to try to sneak out of her house, something about her dad still being awake.  To say I was let down would be an understatement... Luckily in true best friend fashion Matt came up with some things to do to cheer me up and make sure the night was not a total waste.  We decided since we were already in the school, we should do some things that we would never be able to do normally in the classroom.  We popped open our "Mitchell Bob's" and started to drink, and quickly we found out how bitter beer can taste, especially when it is really old and not refrigerated.  We weren't sure what beer was supposed to taste like anyway, but it was so bad we decided to get into the huge cooler in the lunch room and chased it with milk out of those little singles boxes that you used to get at school!  I know, I know, just thinking about it now makes me sick; but we didnt' know any better and it actually did seem to help up get it down.  We decided to turn on the TV in the classroom and put it on MTV, since that is also something we would never normally be able to do.  After watching TV and drinking the milk-beer combo for a while, we decided to go check out the girls' restroom since we had never seen it before and this would probably be our only chance to do so.  The boys' restroom was always pretty nasty, especially since some of the other boys would regularly hold contests to see who could pee over the top of the stalls or who could spit their loogies the highest on the wall and make it stick the longest (pretty gross, I know).  We thought the girl's bathroom would probably be cleaner than the boys, but apart from that we really didn't know what to expect.  

     We paused for a moment at the door to the hallway, because we knew that there were some kind of motion detectors out there that would surely pick us up if they were running.  After a short debate on whether or not the motion detectors were just for show, we decided that since our school was probably the poorest in the county, it was highly unlikely that they could afford a real security system; and so we stepped out into the hallway reluctantly.  We stepped out into the middle of the hallway, half expecting to hear some enormously loud alarm to go off, but all remained quiet.  We started walking down the hallway towards the girls' bathroom while we discussed what to do if it was a silent alarm and saw cops or anyone else pulling into the school. We decided that the smartest way to escape would be to run out the back doors where we could run through a gate in the outer fence and we would almost be to the creek, and relative safety, from there.  After what seemed like forever, we finally made our way to the girls' bathroom door.  We slowly pushed the door open, it creaked slightly as it started to move.  Then we saw it in all it's glory, the girls' bathroom!  Instead of dull blue and covered in pee and mucus, the walls were pink and spotless.  They had actual mirrors above their sinks! I mean, the main reason we didn't have mirrors was because someone would break them within a week every time we got new ones, so I guess they finally gave up on it completely.  And in place of the horse trough looking multi-person urinal we had, the girls had all stalls.  Each toilet was in immaculate condition, along with the floor, surely due in part to the lack of females having the ability to pee in any direction, and likely also due to the fact that most girls at the school were much more mature that the boys.  After giving  the bathroom a good look-over and relieving ourselves in neighboring stalls, we decided to move on and find something else we could get into that we would not normally be able to do at school.

      This time we decided the only other things we could do were things outside the building, so we cleaned up any evidence that we were ever there and climbed back out the window the same way we came in.  We knew of a certain spot where there is a low roof that we could probably boost each other up to and be able to get on top of the building.  Parents and teachers would sometimes use this spot to climb onto the roof to retrieve balls and other things that got stuck up there.  So, Matt boosted me up onto the low roof and I proceeded to then pull him up, and there we were on the school rooftop with not much of an idea of what we were going to do or why we were even up there.  We decided to look around and saw that there really wasn't much to see up there besides a bunch of small pipes sticking out of the roofing, so we decided to just sit up there for a bit and try to finish the last bottle of "Mitchell Bob".  After a good 20 minutes of effort along with some target practice on a nearby street light, we had finally finished off the last of the old warm beer, and as a final act of defiance tossed the empty bottle down one of the many pipes jutting out from the roofing.  It dropped for only a fraction of a second then we heard it smash into a million pieces. 
     We were finally ready to drop down from the rooftop and make our way back home.  We got down without incident and started heading back up the long road to Matt's house.  On the way back, we were less worried about getting dirty so we stuck to the road and jumped into the ditch when any cars came by.  The morning dew was starting to accumulate, and we could feel it slowly soaking into our clothes.  We brought a couple of the single serving milk cartons with us as a souvenir of our adventure, and we had planned to keep them until we passed by the school bully's house and saw he had left his car windows down (yes he was old enough to drive in 8th grade, probably part of the reason for his bullying looking back on it).  We sheepishly grinned while we opened the cartons and poured the milk into the cloth seats of his car, all the time thinking of all the mean and terrible things he had done and said to us and many other students over the years.  It wasn't enough milk to really soak the seats, but it would definitely leave a good stink in there if left in the heat of the day.  After we'd finished getting our revenge, we hurried home as quickly as we could.  
     We came upon Matt's yard and snuck across the wet grass as quietly as we could.  As we crept across the yard, our hearts dropped.  The kitchen lights came on!  We scrambled to get out of sight, hoping it was just his sister getting a midnight snack.  As we approached the side of the house, yet another light came on!  Needless to say, we were really freaking out now; no way his sister would be walking around turning all the lights on in the middle of the night... We quickly passed around the garage to the back side of the house, hoping that maybe we could slip in before they reached the living room and just pretend we had been there the whole time.  The light was still off, so we quickly discarded our BB guns under the back porch and approached the door.  Just as Matt reached for the handle, the living room light came on!  If we weren't kids then, I would say we would have had a full on heart attack right then and there.  We heard the door handle jiggle, then start to turn.  We thought to quickly kick off our shoes so we could act like we had just been sitting on the back porch talking or something.  Just as we kicked the shoes over the edge of the porch, the door started to open.  The light was so bright, we were blinded for a moment as it opened.  Our eyes began to adjust, and we could see a figure in the door...

     And that is all the time we have for this post!  Haha, I know, I hate cliffhangers too; but I thought this would be a great time to end this post and a great place to begin the next one!  I hope you enjoyed reading, and I hope you will definitely be awaiting the next post.  Was it just Matt's sister being nosy?  Was it his parents and our lives are over?  You'll find out very soon!!!  Don't forget to share the links to these posts with your friends and associates, and thanks again for spending some time with me listening to my life story!

My Personal Story: Part 1 - Childhood Trouble-Making and Funny Stories

     My story is a long and complex one, so I have decided to break it up into several parts.  I grew up in a rural town about 20 minutes away from anything resembling a city, so I spent a lot of time outdoors.  I enjoyed playing in the streams behind my house, fishing, riding ATVs and motorcycles (I started riding a tiny ATV when I was 2 years old, but it had a safety string so if I got too far ahead of my parents the string came off and cut the engine), and playing sports like baseball, basketball, and football with my friends, as well as my two younger sisters.
     I was the eldest of my parents' three children, and I was also the only boy.  Of course, my sisters and I did not always get along, and I grew quite skilled at blocking kicks, dodging bites and scratches, and their favorite; the ole' kick to the groin.  One time, my oldest sister and I were playing and accidentally knocked over my mother's favorite vase.  The fall chipped a small part off the main vase, and broke the cap right down the middle; we knew we were in for it then.  Along came my younger sister, and we decided to try to trick her into taking the blame.  We told her "Look! Look! We broke open mom's vase!!! I'm going to go tell her first!"  She immediately ran off as fast as she could so she could tell mom she "opened" the vase first!  We couldn't believe it worked, and we knew she wouldn't get in any real trouble, whereas we would almost certainly get a spanking and grounded... so we didn't feel all that bad about it.  But my little sister's face when she realized mom was mad at her instead of proud was absolutely priceless.  There are a ton of equally funny stories I could also tell about me and my sisters' shenanigans, so perhaps I will make a different series of posts telling some of those stories at some point as well...
     Growing up, I had many peers I could call friends, but Matt was certainly my best friend; he was also my distant cousin.  We played together all the time and got into all kinds of fun together (a lot of that fun was causing trouble and doing things we knew we were not supposed to).  Each year on Memorial Day, we had a small family reunion at my house and my aunt's house next door.  It was always a lot of fun; I had several cousins that were my age so we always played together, and we had a pool, plus all the games we set up for the event like badminton, horseshoes, whiffle ball, kick ball, etc.  We also had a treehouse in our back yard with a jungle gym connected to it, and we had the creek out back if we ever got bored with the pool.  When I was about 7 or 8, we had decided to play actual baseball instead of whiffle ball.  We played with a regular baseball and metal bats (a big mistake, in hindsight).  I was ready for my turn, and started walking to the plate when I noticed Matt was already standing there with bat in hand.  Before I could react, I saw the pitcher throw the ball and  Matt begin to swing his bat...and that was the last thing I remembered.  The next thing I knew, I was on the ground and looked over to see dad leap over the pool fence like an Olympic gold medalist!  He was to me literally in a heartbeat and picked me up and rushed me into the house.  I remember laying on the kitchen table; above me all I could see was the faces of all the adults looking me over and talking.  I ended up being taken to the hospital and earned 3 stitches on my temple from the incident, and we never played actual baseball on Memorial Day again... Oddly enough, the very next year we were all playing by the creek throwing rocks into the stream.  Matt picked up a rather large rock and attempted to throw it into the creek, but neglected to notice my oldest sister Tiffany out in front of him a ways.  He threw the rock far too low, and it cracked my sister right in the back of the head; nearly knocking her out.  She escaped without needing stitches, but had a nice big knot on her head for a few days from the hit.  Matt was branded "The Hit Man", and we have never let him live it down, even to this day we remind him of it every Memorial Day.
     As we got older, Matt and I got into more troublesome antics.  We started getting bored just playing in our rooms all night when we had our little sleepovers, and began sneaking out of the house long after our parents had gone to bed.  Most of the time, we just went walking up and down the road, and would dive into the ditch whenever a car approached (yes, I don't know how I'm still alive either).  We went all out with it too; donned all black outfits with hoods or black toboggans, black shoes and socks, and even black gloves when we had them.  We also tried to be as stealthy as possible; at my house we would exit through my bedroom window, and because the top half of the window would try to drop as soon as we unlocked the window, we had to prop it open with a sword I had bought years past on vacation at Medieval Times.  The bottom part of the window would stay in place once we lifted it up, but also made a loud creaking sound as it was being lifted up.  To ensure maximal stealth, we turned the air conditioner fan from automatic to on so the sound of the vents would help cover up any sounds we made.  We also placed towels against the bottom of my bedroom door and covered the entire door by hanging a light blanket over it using thumb tacks in the hopes that this would further muffle any sounds we were making (what I would give to have that kind of energy now...).  We also started taking our BB guns with us in case we ran into a wild animal of some sort, but we only ended up using them to shoot out street lights or practice shooting trees. 

     There were several really close calls and crazy things we ended up doing during our sneaking out phase; not the smartest things we could ever do, but they do make for really good stories now.  Since it would take way too long to tell those stories in one post, I'm going to tell a few of them of the next few posts so you're not stuck reading one 3 hour long post lol.  I hope you've enjoyed this so far, it was really fun to write and reminisce about my childhood!  If you enjoy this you will probably love hearing the stories I will tell next, so please share these posts with your friends and anyone in your circles you think would enjoy them! Thank you for reading!!!

How Do I Ask Someone Out?

How Do I Ask Someone Out?

If I could put this answer in one word, CONFIDENTLY.  Your chances of success go way way up if you seem confident asking someone out, it's just that simple.  If you come across as confident, whether you are male or female, whether you are seeking male or female, you will instantly be more desirable.  We are all somewhat drawn to confident people, and this is exactly why being confident is such a good idea.  Being confident helps in almost any situation, whether you're asking out someone you have known for a long time, a best friend, or someone you just met, I cannot think of any time that being confident could be a bad thing.


So What Exactly Does It Mean To Be Confident?  What Does Being Confident Look Like?

Always make sure you are being confident and NOT cocky!  Being confident doesn't mean bragging about your car, how talented you are, or your many accomplishments; no, confidence is being comfortable in your own skin and feeling right at home in any situation, keeping your cool, always feeling like you belong where you are, and making lots of eye contact, especially when you're talking with someone.  Use strong body language; don't put your hands in your pockets and slump over, instead stand up straight, cross your arms at your chest like a bouncer does, put your hands on your hips, or just leave your arms at your sides.  You should also dress and do your hair, makeup, etc., so that you feel like you look good, since that will give you a ton of confidence right from the start, and it never hurts to look your best when asking someone out.  Keep a sly smile on your face, like you know something no one else does, and when you're not smiling, make sure you're not looking like you're mad, sad, frustrated, or in any way experiencing negative emotions or not having a good time.  That can be a turn-off for most people; they want to have fun and want to hang out with happy, fun people.

If someone else comes up and starts talking to the person you're wanting to ask out, keep your cool!  This is a great opportunity to show how confident you are.  You don't have to try and interrupt the other person or talk over them or one-up them; just stand/sit there confidently and patiently, and from time to time, share a smile with the person you are asking out when they look at you, like you two are sharing in an inside joke.  Let the other person talk, but keep yourself in the conversation by responding insightfully or with a witty joke to the things they are saying.  Don't go over the top; just respond enough to remind the other person and the person you're after that you are still there.  If they aren't going away or it starts to feel awkward, just tell the person you're wanting to ask out that you're going to go to "blank" and do "blank", and you will talk to him or her later, then walk away.  Don't look sad or let down, just keep that sly smile; you'll get your chance soon enough.  Once you finally have some privacy, go for it and just ask her out!


What If They Say No???

Another part of being confident is not losing your confidence, regardless of the situation.  If they happen to say no, just say "Okay; if you change your mind, you know where to find me.", and walk away still smiling.  Odds are, if you have acted confidently they will at least give you a chance and say yes to a date.  If they do say no, there is always a chance they will change their mind later, and there are always plenty of other fish in the sea!  Don't roll over and give up if you get shot down once, you just have to get back up, dust yourself off, and try again.  Look at it as a learning experience, a chance to get better.  Look back and figure out what you think you could have done better or just differently, and how that might have affected the outcome.  Was the place you chose to ask them out getting in the way of your goal?  Was there too much or too little going on there?  Was it even possible to speak to her privately without others being able to hear?  They may have said no because they were embarrassed to talk about that kind of thing in front of your friends or their friends or just other people in general.


Where/When Is It Best To Ask Them Out?

When and where you decide to ask someone out can make the difference between a yes and a no.  Most people don't like talking about things like going on dates in front of other people, so anywhere that it will be hard to have any privacy with them is probably not a good choice.  If it is someone from your school, that may be one of the best  laces for asking someone out.  At school, it can be a good idea to ask someone out while you are in class together.  They are likely pretty bored in class, so it might make going on a date with you seem that much more enjoyable.  I would recommend you do this via text, Facebook message, or old school using an actual note.  This way you don't risk getting called out by the teacher and embarrassing ther person you want to ask out in front of the whole class (probably best not to use an old school note for this same reason).  If they happen to look over at you after you send it, try to give them a little nod along with the most attractive smile you can manage.  REMEMBER TO ACT CONFIDENT!!!

Another great place to do this at school is while studying in the library.  Since studying can be quite boring as well, you also get the bonus of asking them to do something fun while they are bored just like during class.  Here however, you can feel free to ask them face to face since there is no teacher here, but this may still not be the best option since there are likely to be other people around, so you may still want to message or text them instead.  A great situation would be if you asked them to study with you at the library, then asked them out while you were studying and enjoying each other's company.  If they enjoy studying with you, they will likely assume that doing something fun with you will be that much more enjoyable.  It would probably be best not to ask them out until the end of your study date, since it would be extremely awkward if you asked as the start of your study session and they said no!


So What Exactly Do I Say To Ask Them Out????

The actual words you choose to use to ask someone out can also have a huge effect on what someone will say back to you.  You could start by inviting them to come hang out with you and a group of mutual friends.  People are usually much more open and comfortable when they are in a group, so this can be a great way to get your foot in the door as it also doesn't feel nearly as pressured as straight up asking them out on a date as a couple.  Once you are both out with your friends, it is a great time to strike up some conversation with them and get to know them a little better, and get a general idea of what sorts of things you have in common and your likes/dislikes.  This information can help you formulate the perfect setting for a date later on; they are much more likely to say yes if you are asking them to go to a place and/or do something they really enjoy.  This will also give you a much better sense of how compatible you are with one another; you may have just been attracted to someone only to find out you have nothing in common and they are completely not your type.  If you happen to already know this person well, you may just want to go ahead and skip the hanging out with mutual friends part and simply ask them if they would like to do something together with you.

So you are probably saying to yourself, "well that is all well and good, but what exactly do I say when it finally comes time to ask them out?".  As I said before, choosing the right words can be crucial, and this choice depends greatly upon your particular set of circumstances.  I will try to lay out the most common and effective ways to ask someone out, and you should be able to figure out which will work best for you from there.  

The most common phrase you'll hear about is "Hey, do you wanna go out sometime?".  I don't feel that is a very strong choice, since it doesn't give any specifics about what you want to do or when you want to do it.  I think it makes you look more confident and attractive to already have a general idea in mind of what you want to do with them and a rough time-frame for when you want to do whatever it is you're wanting to do with them.  For example, for the rough time-frame you could say "this weekend" or "this Friday" (or whatever day of the week you want).  With all this in mind, a better approach would be to say something like this; "Would you like to go to the movies with me this weekend?" You could also just leave out the "with me" part to make it sound less like a full on date if you decide that would be better for you. 

Take the opportunity to ask someone out if it presents itself.  If a conversation leads into something you know they like, such as bowling, movies, sports events, school events, television events, etc., take that opportunity to ask them out.  Simply say "We should go watch that movie/go bowling/watch the ball game/watch that show together, what do you think?"  That is a good way to ask someone out if you are only wanting to go out on a date with them and see where that leads.


What If I Mean I Want To "Ask Someone Out" (To Be My Boyfriend/Girlfriend)?

If you are talking about "asking someone out" as in you want to ask someone to be your girlfriend or boyfriend, you will take a different approach.  Usually if you are wanting to ask someone out in this way, you already know them fairly well and may already be friends or acquaintances.  So you will likely already know some of their hobbies, likes, and dislikes; if you don't, then you definitely want to find these things out before you ask them out. 

Most of the same things I said before still apply in this situation as well, particularly the part about being confident.  In fact, being confident is probably more important here than if you're just asking someone out on a date.  In this situation you are asking someone to be your exclusive significant other, meaning in most circles that you both agree you want to be with only each other and no other person.  In this situation, people are definitely more apt to be looking for someone who seems well put together and confident, dresses well and takes good care of themselves.  It is usually a good idea to go ahead and fix yourself up a little more than usual when you plan to ask someone out; sometimes this can make them see that you are even more attractive than they might have thought originally, giving you an air of mystery and making you all the more appealing.  

You may ask someone out on a few dates first to get a feel for how well you mesh together before you actually ask them to be your significant other, and I highly recommend this, especially if you do not know them all that well.  You will also get to know a lot more about their likes and dislikes, and how much you both have in common.  These things will play a major role in how well your relationship works once you become exclusive and start spending a lot of time together.

There are many different approaches to asking someone to be your significant other; you could be romantic and be intentionally over the top about it, you could try to be cool and ask like its no big deal, you could even ask a friend to bring the question up to them for you to see how they react, it all depends on your situation and the type of person you are asking out.  This is where it becomes so important to know all you can about the person you're wanting to ask out.  The more you know about this person, the better you can choose the best approach for asking them out.  

 When you finally decide to go on and ask the person out, you may want to start out by telling them you have been wanting to talk to them about something.  Then you should start by telling them all about how much fun you have with them, and how much you enjoy spending time with them.  Give them a second or two to respond; they will probably either say something about how they also enjoy spending time with you, or they will just stay silent and wait for you to continue because they really want to see where you are going with this.  If it looks like they are waiting for you, then just go ahead and start talking about how you would like to start spending even more time with them, that you have been thinking a lot about them lately, and finally that you would like to know if they wanted to be your boyfriend/girlfriend.  Wait a few seconds to see if they immediately say something back in response, or if they don't say anything right off you could continue talking about how much fun you have together and that you don't want to ruin it or make it weird.  Tell them that if they don't want to do that right now that you are okay with that and you still want to be just like you are now, so there's no pressure to answer yes to save the friendship.  Also tell them that if they want to think about it first that you completely understand, that you thought about it a long time before you decided to say anything to them about it as well.  If they don't want to answer right away, just give them some space and let them know that when they are ready you will be there.  

One really fun and memorable way to ask someone out is to do it at a public even like a sports event.  This sounds counter-intuitive, I know, because earlier I said to get privacy since they won't be as comfortable talking about these things in front of other people.  This is one method for asking someone out where you can set that rule aside.  This approach is quite romantic and shows a lot of confidence and bravery on your part, but it is awful if they say no, because everyone else will know they said no too!  Therefore, you have to be careful using this approach.  You may want to get some info from their friends or mutual friends about whether they think she would say yes before planning something like this.  Getting the go ahead from their friends that they definitely like you and will probably say yes will go a long way in helping you feel confident when you plan is about to go into action, and will make you look that much more appealing to them.  This method is also great because it really shows that you are not one bit shy about letting everyone know that you want to be with this person and only this person, which will mean a lot to them.  Some good examples of this approach are things like asking someone out during a school pep rally in front of lots of people, asking them using a the jumbo screen at sporting events, standing up in front of everyone in the cafeteria and asking them out, or asking them out while riding on a bus either to school, from school, to a sports game, or on a field trip.  Even though it may be embarrassing for them, people usually love this because it takes guts and confidence on your part, and takes a lot of forethought and planning to pull it off right.  

Now a days, it is perfectly acceptable to ask someone out via text, phone call, social media, or using other technology rather than doing it face to face.  Some people may prefer this approach because they don't have to get up the courage to ask someone face to face, and the person being asked may prefer it because they won't have someone right there in their face expecting an immediate answer.  The downside to this approach is that it might seem impersonal, or like you didn't put much thought or effort into it.  It may also make it seem like you don't have enough confidence to ask them in person, which could also be a bit of a turn-off.  I would recommend this approach if you spend a lot of time talking to each other this way already and/or it is well known that you both like each other but just haven't made it official yet.


Questions? Comments?

I have said a great deal in this post about asking people out, and I'm sure some of you have plenty of questions and/or need clarification on some of what I have said.  Please feel free to comment on the post and let me know what's eating at you, or tell me your specific situation and I will post a response.  I truly hope this information helps you with your plans to ask out that special someone, and be sure to let me know if there is anything more I can do to help!  Thanks for reading!

How This Blog Will Be Set Up

I have given a lot of thought as to how best to set up posts and topics in a blog like this one, and after much deliberation, I believe the best set up will be a "question and answer" kind of format.  In other words, I will take common questions as post titles and the post will be about answering the question and giving advice in that area.

At first I will just use commonly asked questions I find on the web, and later on after I start getting comments on different posts with your own personal questions, I will start making posts that specifically ask and answer your questions.  Therefore, I highly encourage commenting on any of my posts that you find useful.  Let me know how things worked out for you, or ask any questions you may have, or explain some specifics of your situation and I will respond to that with a new post.

I truly hope everyone that finds this blog feels that the information here is helpful to them in some way, and I hope that I can be even more helpful once I start receiving comments and questions from readers!

The Goals of This Blog

The number 1 goal of this blog is simple: To help you better understand and deal with any issues that arise in your relationships, so that you will be able to improve these relationships and ultimately live a happier life.

If you are living a happier life, the people in your relationships will also be living happier lives.  Everyone has at least part of their goal in life to be happy and make those around them happy.  If for some reason any relationship you have is not making you happy, there are almost always things you can do to change that.  Sometimes certain things in the relationship can be changed, other times you just needed to talk to the other person or persons about things.  In some instances the only solution may be to end the relationship, or take time away from one another.

Choosing how to deal with problems in relationships can be difficult and complex, and it almost always helps to get advice from an outside source that isn't emotionally involved in the situation, and that is where this blog comes in.  I have experienced every kind of relationship from the most rewarding and happy ones, to the most toxic, emotionally and mentally devastating ones, and I decided I want to use all this experience to try to help others avoid learning things the hard way like I did.  My hope is that this blog will help you have the most rewarding and fulfilling relationships possible throughout your life, and when problems inevitably arise, I hope this blog will help you to quickly and effectively deal with any sort of problems that may stand in the way of your happiness.