Losing love is hard. Getting divorced is even harder, as in your mind, that individual was going to be the one you spent the rest of your life with. It's difficult to put yourself back out there, but many divorcees are able to find the strength to move on and find someone else that makes them feel whole.
However, people on the other side of that relationship sometimes notice there might have been a real reason they were divorced in the first place, one they didn't share with you up front. That might have been the thinking Reddit user, r/psxpetey, had, who asked:
People of reddit who married divorcees, at what point did you realize there might be a reason the other person divorced them?
50. Save yourself!Â
When he grabbed me by my hair and nearly ripped it off my head. He was mad because I had told him I was worried about him hanging out too much by himself and not leaving his room anymore. After I left his apartment I texted him letting him know it was over. mermaidhairdontcare
49. Did y'all 'play' safe?
When a fellow fraternity brother informed me my then girlfriend had slept with fourteen guys in a span of two weeks, all of them were told that we had broken up and were unaware of the others. I was across the country at my grandmother's funeral/spring break. thelostcanuck
48. Calm down Ben...
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Looking back, I think I had the first inkling when I was reading Gone Girl and found myself relating to it a little too much.
To clarify, the crumbling marriage fake diary entries. Not the sociopathic mind games. imhereforthemeta
47. Cheers! Â
When I kept hoping he'd slip up and start drinking again so I'd have an 'excuse' to leave. :(
46. Hands Off!Â
The time I picked up her laptop to keep it from falling off the bed and she screamed and grabbed it from me and said "That's my personal property, you have no right to touch that!" robots_and_cancer
45. Um... That's not Creepy....Â
She had a mannequin. Not just any mannequin though, it was wearing a sweatshirt she took from me, and one of my hats. It was also in her closet. When I asked her about it, she told me it was "In case I missed you too much, I could still hold you." I broke it off the next day. Algorn120
44. Drowning...
When my alcohol spending overtook my food spending. dragon_bacon
43. Ice Queen....
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Where I felt like I was the only one showing affection and the only one trying. Where I felt lonely even in the presence of her. Pretty sad feeling to invest your all into someone and receive nothing but a cold look back. REDDIT
42. Breaking up is the gift!Â
He didn't give me a birthday present. Not a card or a cake or anything. That's when I realized he didn't care about me. Currently in the process of breaking up (we live together). jell_bell
41. Numb to You!Â
He would always say the meanest possible things when he was angry... Like, insecurities and secrets that I would share with him during close moments he would later use against me whenever he was mad. I realized it was over when his insults didn't hurt me anymore... I had no feelings left to give. Not even sad ones, let alone ones of happiness or love. TitzMcGhee
40. European Break Up!Â
When, shortly after taking me on a romantic trip to Europe, he came downstairs one morning and calmly told me to grab my things so that he could drop me off at my folk's place. He mailed the rest of my stuff to my mother. area--woman
39. Out of Excuses...Â
It was pretty simple. I just found myself making more excuses not to be with her because i found I enjoyed time without her more than with her. Jrspike
38. Change in thought...Â
When I realized that I don't miss her anymore and started to look at other girls
Also I started to think more about her bad things, only things I dislike, no more "hey, I love her because of that," more like "I hate this at her."
Having a long distance relationship makes things different. I rarely looked at other girls, but suddenly started to think "wow this one is cute and that one is hot" => change of mindset. scorer433
37. Border Jump!Â
When he left to another state without telling me. I had absolutely no clue before that. GimmeMuchosMangos
36. Take A Bow...
When she admitted she didn't even bother asking off work to come see me in my play. It was her learned helplessness, her inability to try. At some point, she had stopped moving her life forward so that our life together could get started.
Almost 5 years later, I'm engaged to someone else. She's my best friend and we've got our stuff together. Break ups suck, but they happen because they're supposed to happen. Fenris447
35. Make 'Them' Sob!Â
When I realized I was doing all the work in the relationship. I'd make a date, and he just won't show up. The worst was on my birthday. I sat on the park bench for 2 hours waiting and he didn't even have the decency to call me. I must have looked pathetic sobbing alone on a park bench but I was really distraught. VicieuxRose
34. Damn That Pokemon!
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We stopped having sex. Everything irritated me and other men started to seem attractive again. I wanted to explore new things, travel, do something different then the day before. He wanted to sit inside, watch football, and play pokemon. An entire year went by and this was still our routine football, pokemon, eat, sleep. I needed more. weare_stardust
33. Blackmail?! WTF!Â
When he blackmailed me with personal photos if I tried to leave. You really can't look at someone the same once that happens. It lingers in the back of your mind. glitchinthedark
32. No Air.
When it feels like you're trapped when you're around them. Similar to being claustrophobic. dripberg
31. You were in Shock!Â
When I was dying in the hospital, and our daughter was stillborn, he said he couldn't come to the hospital because he didn't want to miss classes. It should have ended there, but I was young, stupid, and honestly thought he was the best I deserved. It lasted 2 years until I packed a suitcase and ran. Lost everything except what I could carry. Glocksnkittens
30. Two Wrongs!Â
When I realized that we might never have a sexual relationship and that I would put him under a lot of pressure to do things he didn't want to do if I stayed. It was a mutual but very painful decision. xyxthris
29. Bored Now.
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When I wasn't angry anymore. He was still cheating and lying but I just ran out of angry. I was tired. biglebowski55
28. Sex is a MUST!Â
Biggest red flag was that I didn't want to have sex with him anymore.
That has happened more than once... I think I'm just terrible at recognizing when a relationship has run its course. My body has to pretty much shut down sexually before I realize. pastacountess
27. Girl BYE!Â
Two days ago. He snapped at me on the ride home after my abortion. I was ashamed and exhausted. He was annoyed the appointment had finished early and interrupted his nap. catland
26. Just Shut Up!
The point at which he said he didn't know that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. Also the part right after that, where he said he was in love with my best friend.
Luckily, best friend is awesome and never felt the same way towards him, so I was confident things would never happen, but still... pretty crappy to hear that out of your boyfriend's mouth. jaiex
25. Ah, See, It's The Claws.
I had my wife cheat on me... ended up meeting someone who was "perfect" and just thought I had hit the karma jackpot. She liked literally all the same things as me.
When I asked about her past, I'd hear stories of what sounded like abuse - but it was always implied (like "I was so scared, I thought he was going to hit me"). Then one night she went mental on me - started getting mad about me wanting to visit my daughter who was in the hospital- she wanted to go on a date instead... started throwing glass at me and it was like rain... I pushed her away and just got out.
She called and started threatening me; since I had "hit her" (in falling on her) my options were come back to the house or she would call the cops and report me... I hung up on her and called the cops instead.
By the time the cops showed up, she had bruises on her neck; she self inflicted them to claim I had done it - just hadn't called the cops yet - my hands showed no signs of aggressive force - plus the back of my neck earned her a trip to prison.
It was at that point I realized how duped I was - I KNEW she was the reason for her previous divorce.
I think this question implies any divorced person is flawed - that isn't fair - if you ever dated and broke up with someone, you are in the same exact boat - divorce just often gets messy because there is legal follow up.
24. Always Listen To The Best Friends
Giphy
I briefly dated a divorcee. Till a common friend told me he was still married and often used that as a sympathy card to get women.
I'll clarify- This guy is 26. He got married very young to a woman 7 years older than him and apparently instantly regretted it. He had been building up the marital troubles story for a while now and recently started telling everyone at work he got a divorce.
I work with him and had no reason to doubt it. Unfortunately for him, I am good friends with someone in his university circle who knows his wife very well. When I found out, I confronted him and he started claiming he was in love with me and hadn't had the courage to ask his wife for a divorce yet but would do it soon. Pretty much the exact same line he had used on another girl a few weeks ago.
23. You're Not As Clever As You Think
I realized at the very beginning when he started arguments for no reason and slept away from home within the 1st month of the marriage.
22. Fun Times, Indeed
Giphy
Sounds like an ex from years ago. He'd pick a fight with me out of nowhere. One time he backed me in a corner demanding to know why I never took the bus. (What???)
Next thing you know, there's a knock on the door and it's one of our friends coming to pick him up. Usually they were going to a movie or something, but I was never told he had made plans ahead of time. I also was told I couldn't go with them because they were going to go to a bar afterward and I was only 20. Not sure why I still couldn't go to the movie. One time a friend who was even younger than I was went with them.
Every time this happened, he'd pick up a girl at the bar and bring her home. Not even go to her place, but bring her back to our place. And I wasn't allowed to be mad because he'd say he thought we were broken up over that fake argument he dragged me into before he left. Fun times.
21. Ghosts of The Past
I dated a divorcee for a hot sec. She was actually a really wonderful lady, but she obviously had some lingering feelings about how things had gone with her ex. The first time this came up was: one night we were at a bar and I ended up in a fairly intense, fun conversation about music with the (male) bartender.
She got weirdly upset about this and started dropping lines like 'well maybe you just want to go home with him' and 'it's obvious you guys are into it'. A bit later, when she found out my brother is gay, she got weirdly passive aggressive and started saying enough offensive things that I eventually broke up with her.
Turns out her ex-husband left her for a man.
20. Stalkers On The Rise
Giphy
Well I didn't marry him, but my ex boyfriend was divorced, and he made it seem like his ex wife was evil. He said that he gave everything to her, even quit his job to move to Georgia with her (they both previously lived in Minnesota). He said he had paid for all of her bills and makeup and clothes and even paid for couples trips and she took a different guy with her on a lot of them, leaving her husband behind. The marriage ended when she went on a trip to New Orleans with her friends and didn't come back.
About a couple weeks into our relationship, he began to get EXTREMELY possessive over me. I figured it was because he had been through so much with his last relationship, so I tried to overlook some of it, but it got so intense that he printed out a list of rules that I was to obey, which I obviously refused to accept. I wasn't allowed to go anywhere without telling him, he had to have visual evidence of my work schedule. It was ridiculous. So, logically, I broke up with him. But he was relentless. He kept showing up at my house and work and it was just embarrassing. Finally I threatened to get a restraining order and he left me alone.
A few months later, I get a Facebook message from this random woman who is asking me if I'm okay. I'm like, yeah why?? Like, who are you, ya know? It turns out that she was the "crazy ex wife," except that they were never really married. They were dating for a bit, and when she refused to let him pay her rent, he BOUGHT THE HOUSE FROM THE OWNER and would not accept her rent money. He bought a lot of trip tickets and used his key to go into her/his house to put them on her coffee table. She never went on any of the trips.
She moved, but he found her apartment and would leave love letters in her mailbox. He threatened her friends on Facebook, forbidding them from "stealing her" from him. Finally she got her OWN restraining order and moved far away.
So yeah, this still creeps me out because sometimes I get a feeling that he's stalking me, but I know it's probably just paranoia.
19. It's Always About The Other Person
Didn't actually marry the divorcee I dated, but came close. Fortunately, I realized beforehand that she was completely selfish. Everything was always about what she wanted and she found subtle ways to de-value anything I wanted or that was good for me.
She also had been hiding a bad temper from me (which came out finally toward the end). After the breakup, she tried spreading lies about me to all our mutual friends to make herself look better. Fortunately most of them were aware enough to realize what she was doing. Definitely dodged a bullet.
18. Sometimes, It's Obvious
Giphy
When I woke up at 3am to pee and she was in the living room texting some dude. Kinda went downhill from there. t1me4change
17. Who's To Blame?
It took me a year and 8 months to leave him. He was emotionally and verbally abusive. He became angry easily. He would make hurtful "jokes" and then say I was being too sensitive and that he's just a blunt person so deal with it.
16. Four's A Crowd
Probably the first weekend when she had a threesome I wasn't a part of...
15. Red Flags
My parents are divorced and both got remarried. My mom found it beneficial to attend a "divorce care" group at her church. She ended up going out with the guy who ran the group and seemed like a great dude. When I asked her about him, she told me he had been divorced himself 2 separate times himself already which was a pretty huge red flag to me, but apparently not to her.
Fast forward 12 years and he's been unbelievably emotionally abusive to her. There was also a point when my brother and I were teenagers where we literally weren't allowed to live with them anymore (because he felt threatened he wasn't the man of the house). She says she's happy still which is truly all I want for her, but it's pretty frustrating when a 13 year old can see the red flags my 40+ year old mother couldn't.
[deleted]
14. Netflix and Chill Out
When we both stopped caring about date night, each other and fighting over who should wash the dishes. The house was a mess and we were both eating delivery food every single night since everything was dirty.
[deleted]
13. All The Little Things Added Up
Giphy
My ex of about 2 years was in the process of a divorce when we met. His wife was crazy and the reason for everything wrong in his life (this should have been my first clue to run but I was young . . . eh, ya live and learn). He had kids, and I would go to sporting events for them and his ex-wife would be there the vast majority of the time, too.
We started to get along and he HATED that. I didn't get that - wouldn't it be easier for the kids if her and I had a good relationship?? Oh no - we would compare notes on HIM and it would ruin OUR relationship! (We quite literally never talked about him). My eyes started to open here.
I was using his computer once and his google calendar opened - and there was an event on Valentine's Day the next week - which he had told me we were not doing anything for due to money (which of course was his ex's fault . . . ). So I opened it (OK, shouldn't have been snooping) and the event was "Day ExGirlfriend Broke My Heart" - now this ex of his was prior to his 20 year relationship with his now ex wife. So I figured out that he never let anything go. Apparently Ever.
A couple months later our relationship was staring to decline on its own (he went over to a friends house without me, in the middle of a planned date night - and I didn't care that he left. I was mad he took the dog though), we got in a fight and he told me I was starting to sound like his exwife.
To which I responded "If we are saying the same exact things, and are such different people - dont you think the issue is YOU?!" I realized at that exact moment that he was a narcissist who was never going to change or grow up. I moved out a week later. I still miss the dog.
TLDR - a million little things finally connected in my mind and I realized he was narcissistic and manipulative. 7 years later and I would still love to sit down with his ex wife and hear her side of the story.
12. Finally Free
Short and to the point; I got full custody of my kids, she got probation and a 3 year no-contact order, that is a very long story. My girls are absolutely thriving and happy, she's moved somewhere we don't know where but we don't care. We never have to see her or hear from her, the girls went through a mountain of fear and the granddaddy of all emotional roller coasters on the way to being freed from her and excited about what's next forever. I met the most amazing woman alive and I wake up daily with a smile.
So the ex convinced the dude she was cheating on me with she had a hysterectomy, which she didn't, and ended up pregnant. The reasoning behind that I'll never know. Funny thing about that is I had a vasectomy, so she had some explaining to do, but I already knew deep down, I just didn't want to go into the life sucking process of divorce. I ended up broke and living with my folks, but now things are great. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
My kids still pseudo stalk her on social media, and I guess she's got one baby now and is pregnant again. Good for her. Hope she's happy, we are.
11. Bad Dog
My husband had an engagement that ended before we met, and the reasons always seemed weird to me - something about her trying to get rid of their dog and getting into a huge fight with his mom when she made a snarky comment about the dog thing, and then getting her mom and sister to call and harass his mom about the fight. Big, ridiculous argument that ended with them deciding they weren't going to work out. They'd been together for like four years.
Now I completely get it. Well, not the part with her mom and sister, but the rest of it. The dog was awful - peed everywhere, was very dominant and aggressive (like biting/drawing blood aggressive at times), and old enough that he was very difficult to train since they hadn't done it when he was a puppy. The dog now lives with my mother-in-law because it's not safe to have him in a home with babies. And my mother-in-law is anightmare, but my husband and his ex saw her multiple times a week whereas we see her once every couple of months.
10. Any Way To Get The News
Giphy
I dated a divorcee for quite some time. She never told me she was divorced, which really wouldn't have bothered me. I ended up finding out about her past from one of the several people she was cheating on me with.
9. Bye Now
That sort of happened with me. I got to the home of a date, and a dude my age answered the door. He introduced himself as her ex-husband. I figured he was just there to pick up the kids or babysit or something, but turns out he lived there because they couldn't afford two households plus kids.
Shortest dinner date ever.
[username deleted]
8. Didn't Want It To Be Anyone Else, For That Matter
I'm a divorcee who dated a divorcee. He got drunk on his bday and told me, "I see why your husband left you" right after I'd given him a $250 watch he'd been wanting
I eventually left because a.) I realized he was a rebound that had lasted waaaaay too long, and b.) he was going to eventually hurt someone with his drinking and driving and I REALLY didn't want it to be me.
7. Working Day And Night
When we had a kid. My husband has always been a workoholic. It didn't cause too many problems when it was just us, but was a lot harder to manage once we became parents. It's easy to feel like you are doing all of the work and I started resenting my husband.
My husband and his ex-wife had two kids close in age. She was essentially a single parent to them throughout the day. He did cut back his hours slightly when our relationship started to suffer and even that was a lot. I understood why the divorce happened. I considered it at points during the relationship.
6. But Isn't 3rd Time A Charm?
Giphy
It took me years. I was husband number 3. I should have known that someone who gets married 3 times by age 35 probably has a few areas for improvement.
5. Pretty Wacky?
I recently dated a girl that had just come off a marriage with a man. She wanted to try women and we went out a couple times and started dating. In bed she was very aggressive. I told her to stop and she kept on.
I eventually broke her off of me and locked myself in the bathroom, calling the cops and waiting till they arrived. Apparently she had a criminal record and her husband had divorced her for attacking him when he would come home from work.
[username deleted]
4. Past Actions Speak For Themselves
Giphy
Probably the part before she was divorced and came on to me and hooked up with me. Should be no surprise that we are now divorced as she also cheated on me.
Yeah I should have known better.
3. Brian Broke A Brain
About a year after I signed the divorce papers (divorced my ex-wife for cheating on me), I met the guy she'd cheated on me with. I actually didn't know him by sight, but apparently he'd seen a few pictures of me- like the ones in my bedroom.
He walked up to me, introduced himself, and then started apologizing for being the one to break up my marriage. I was pretty much over it by then, but I was still pissed off enough to say something like "yeah, well, man it wasn't like you were the ONLY guy she was cheating on me with. I'm pretty sure she was with a dude named Brian the whole time she was with you."
He got real quiet, apologized again, and then left. A few weeks later, someone told me that he had moved out and was in the process of divorcing her. I'll never know for sure if it was my telling him about the other-other man that was the tipping point for him, but I like to think it was.
EDIT: Yes, there was a Brian (not his real name, although it hardly matters). I knew about Brian from a friend, and plus she'd admitted that there had been others besides the guy I confronted her about. Why he felt the need to apologize, I have no idea. Seemed like a nice enough guy aside from the sleeping with another man's wife thing. Did I do it for revenge? Not really. It was just a spur of the moment thing, mostly an knee-jerk response to an emotional situation. Sometimes you get to say the perfect cutting remark.
Sometimes you think of it in the parking lot after the opportunity is lost. I got lucky and didn't say something like "ah that's OK man" and regret it for the rest of my life. I used to feel sorry about it because it might have broken up a marriage, but if that marriage wasn't built on trust to begin with then chances are the infidelity was going to happen anyway (or again, if you look at it that way).
2. Rotation
Giphy
Wow, sounds like my ex-wife. Marry a guy, cheat on him... I was #3 and learned my lesson. #4 threw her for a loop though, he cheated on her before she got a chance and that messed her up. It was so satisfying to watch her completely lose it because she had never been on that side of the table. Every other time she had a guy lined up and now she's single and has no idea how to function by herself.
1. It's Over
Woo, okay. Story time. So my mom just got divorced from my dad my senior year of high school. She has always been the kind of person to be in a relationship, so she started immediately dating around (since my dad cheated on my mom multiple times). She met this guy on PoF, who we're going to call Tom.
Tom was a successful marketing guy with no kids, a steady income, and was divorced because "his wife cheated on him". Early in the relationship, my mom gets a message from Tom's ex girlfriend current boyfriend. She says that she needs to tell her some things about Tom, but my mom ignores her.
A year goes by and Tom seems normal. She moves in with him and so do we since he has two spare bedrooms. He's a cool guy who seems chill and really nice. He'll sometimes go through my mom's phone (she told me), but she thought that all the good things outweighed the bad.
Cut to Election Day, where things aren't going so well for my mom and Tom since they're both liberal. They drink and Tom throws a remote at the window. He calls the police on himself. My mom forgives him.
This is where things start to get weird. Tom starts acting crazier towards my mom, mostly via text message. On Christmas Day, she decides that we don't want to go to his sister's house because she's drunk. We open the trunk to his car to get the presents out and he drives away, with stuff flying out the back. He apologizes. My mom is suuuper weary at this point.
Cut to New Years where Tom is out of town. She texts him that she wants to break up with him because he's saying that it's my autistic brother's fault that the carpet on the stairs is falling apart. He says "get your kids out of my house." So the next day, we have eight people come over to move the furniture that's my mom's while he threatens us over the phone. That was in January.
Over the next few months, and still to this day, he sends crazy threatening messages to my mom. He also found out where we live so he could "take the shared BMW that they owned jointly and sell it," even though my mom has been begging him to take it.
She finally gets in contact with the lady's boyfriend at the beginning of the story. They share stories and she apologizes for not listening sooner.
Tl;dr: my mom dated a normal divorcee who turned out to be a complete psychopath.
[username deleted]
What could possibly go wrong?
It turns out there are so many variables that can contribute to making the bride and groom's celebration a major matrimonial miss.
Curious to hear examples of weddings gone wrong, Redditor lolf**kno asked:
"Those who have been to a ruined wedding, what happened?"
Dramatic brawls and speeches plagued these weddings.
Catty Attendees And Booze
"Very beautiful wedding in a huge barn at this apple orchard. They must have spent a ton of money on the decorations and catering because it looked like something out of a magazine. The ceremony was great, the flower girl did her thing, the vows got everyone choked up. Everything seemed to be going well. Not even 15 minutes into the reception the mothers of the bride and groom getting into a full out brawl, hair pulling, red wine being thrown. Their sons jump in to defend their honor, chairs start being throw, tables are flipped, parents are grabbing children and running for their lives."
"​The bride and groom are horrified and leave immediately and head back their honeymoon suite. My fiancé and I left after this as well but we heard from some other friends that most people ended up staying and getting wasted at the open bar on the bride and groom's dime. Apparently, the fight started because one of the groom's sister complimented the bride's grandmother's dress. The bride's mom thought she was being sarcastic and called her a b*tch, then the drama ensued. Mind you they had all been pregaming the wedding pretty hard."
– AdmiralWackbar
Playing For The Drunk Uncle
"I played a wedding where as we started playing the set, everyone ran outside and nobody was to be seen for the rest of the night."
"I originally assumed it was because nobody liked us but the bride came in afterwards and said there was a huge fight involving multiple members of both families and everyone basically went home upset, injured or in a police van."
"We couldn't stop playing since we were payed and it was our job, and the only person watching was the drunk uncle dancing on his own asking for requests we didn't know."
– TornApartByLisa
Maid Of Honor Speech Goes Off The Rails
"Was a guest of friend of the bride, did not know anyone attending. Very expensive over the top place, several hundred guests of this very Italian wedding. Maid of honor grabs mic at the cocktail hour begins her speech, rambling, drunk. Quickly devolves to stating the recently deceased mother of the bride was against this wedding and that's basically what killed her. Plus Vinny will never give up sex workers. She is tackled by several people and dragged away."
"The happy couple is separated and divorced within a year."
– Rocky1268
This is what happens when bad luck crashes weddings.
Tumbling Into The Sunset
"I work at a golf course with a lot of history behind it. We do wedding venues inside the clubhouse and the actual ceremony is held outside by the historic water fountain and large pond."
"First problem was the weather. I live in the high desert and it was very warm. A solid 90 degrees that day and it was also pretty windy. So everyone's outside, no umbrellas, no ezups."
"The next problem, and probably the worst, was the golf cart incident. The bride and groom wanted to 'ride into the sunset' on one of our golf carts. Drive around a little bit on the golf course. To be fair, it is beautiful on the course during sunset. However the cart had somehow gotten a nail in the tire, tire went flat, battery on the cart went crazy and the cart ended up freaking out. It came to an complete stop from 15mph to zero. The wheels and mechanisms locked up, almost seizing. Both the bride and groom (fairly overweight mind you) both fell out and rolled over a few times. They were totally okay, just a few bruises and perhaps a bruised ego or two. So retrieving that cart was fun."
"And last but not least, the power inside the clubhouse went out to do the high winds. There was no after party available. Only the cake was cut, hardly any food was given out. Yeah, not a great day to cover for someone on your day off."
– Itsallover_
Foggy Memory
"I was not born yet, but my parents rented the observation deck on the Hancock building in Boston for their reception. Tallest building in the city, beautiful view. My dad pored over historic weather charts to figure out what day was statistically most likely to be nice out. Day of the wedding comes and of course, thick fog unlike anything they'd ever seen before. Couldn't see a thing out the windows of the room they had picked specifically for the view."
"Worked out well though, they were happily married for nearly 30 years before cancer took my dad's life a few years ago."
"There's one other funny anecdote from that wedding: The wedding was held in Kings Chapel, which is an incredibly historic church here in downtown Boston that's somewhat of a major tourist attraction. To close that on a weekend afternoon for a wedding, it turns out, was not very expensive. The tourists waiting outside to see the church didn't know that, though, and someone started the rumor that my parents were incredibly wealthy, maybe even Kennedys. As a result, there were tons of people taking photos of them when they left the ceremony. Not sure if any of them ever figured out that my parents were most certainly not rich or famous."
– mimicthefrench
Morbid Surprise
"I was best man at my sister in laws wedding (stepped in for the brother of the groom, that's another story entirely)."
"For a whole year of planning all the bride (SIL) wanted was a dove release while they said handwritten vows to each other. Very small, non denominational (most of the family are atheist anyway) wedding."
"Day arrives (early summer) and something is off with the bird handlers. They show up a bit late and are sourcing help from the wedding party to get everything in line. When the time comes to say their vows I help the handler carry the chest with the doves in it over to what is to be the altar where the bride and groom are standing."
"Vows are just about wrapping up and the handler gives ME the signal to open the chest. I open it and see 20-30 DEAD DOVES IN THE CRATE!!!! I immediately close it to try and limit who knows what happened. Too late. The look of horror on the bride's was all that was needed. We spent the next few hours trying to cheer everyone up but by the end of the reception the entire wedding party had organized and filed animal cruelty complaints on the handler. It was all anyone could focus on."
Tragic losses unfortunately befell leading up to or at a couple's nuptials.
The Wedding Guest Who Left Too Soon
"When I was 6 or 7 I went to a cousin's wedding. Everything was fabulous for little me, so much sugar everywhere, basically heaven. The reception was in a big community center that was reserved for the occasion. Went to the girls' bathroom, passing by the men's room to see my uncle on the floor. Went back to the main room to tell my dad my uncle was looking weird. Well, uncle had a stroke and had died."
"The bride spent the rest of the afternoon crying, and everyone except close family left."
"Bright side is the mariage is still going strong 20 years later, despite what happened that day."
– DecadentOrange
A Terminal Diagnosis
"Leading up to my friends wedding his father had been battling cancer after a terminal diagnosis. And it was touch and go whether he would be well enough to attend the wedding, in the end he was too unwell to attend despite wishing that he could."
"Just as we got to the wedding reception my friend was informed that his father had just passed away. It was devastating."
– boatson25
Wedding Crashers
"Happened to my classmate. He is successful middle level manager, divorced, about 35yo or so. Found a girl of his dreams but from a provincial poor town. The girl insisted to have the wedding in her town to show off her 'success.' The wedding is crashed by her old friends including male friends who are not that sophisticated and have some tense feelings towards the successful groom from the city. Somebody starts a fight in the middle of wedding, groom is trying to stop it and got stabbed in the back. Died right there. And he was my classmate."
– anarchyinuk
​An Unfortunate Trespassing
"The wedding was at a state park that's famous for its giant gorge/waterfall. I don't know whose idea this was, but someone suggested a photo overlooking this gorge and everybody was game. The wedding party went around a stone security barrier and the maid of honor literally fell off the cliff to her death. It was like 500+ feet."
– SingzJazz
With a lot riding on a wedding to go off without a hitch, the mounting pressure is one where something is surely to buckle.
And because wedding guests are usually inebriated and high on the buzz of celebration, they throw caution to the wind and make some choices they wouldn't make under normal circumstances.
People's ill-advised actions can have regretful consequences, but no one expects death to be an outcome.
Fortunately, the weddings I've attended or heard about from friends were not as catastrophic as the anecdotes mentioned above.
While the Redditors' stories are sorrowful, it gives me a sense of relief these devastating examples are rare occurrences.
Have we met? That is an actual question I asked a gift giver once. (Who shall rename nameless) Football tickets. FOOTBALL TICKETS?! Who? What? I can't.
Looks Familiar
Broad City Wow GIF by Comedy CentralGiphy"My own scarf. Yes, that's right, my mother went into my room took my only scarf, wrapped it and gave it to me like it was a new scarf."
Devastation!
"Thought I was getting a bike for my 15th birthday but my foster parents announced that they were sending me to a group home after living with them for 11 years. Devastation! That place was a wake up call. More independence then at my foster home but those kids had it really really bad, 12 year old heroine addicts, abuse... what the entire hell! I hurried up, graduated from high school at 16 and got the hell out of that place. I turned out ok, work in the legal field, live in Las Vegas. I did forgive my foster parents before they died."
The Forgotten One
"My brother and I worked for a farmer one summer, and he paid us with a used car. At the end of the next year, my brother graduated high school, so my parents paid me out for my half of the car, and that was his graduation gift. I gave them all a big discount compared to what it was worth. So like $500 for my share of a $2500 car."
"2 years later, and I needed $50 for some graduation fees, so I borrowed it from my mom until I could get to the bank. (Before mobile banking and ATMs everywhere.) Later, when my mom is telling me they invited all their friends over for a 'graduation' party, I asked if they had gotten a gift for me. "Well I gave you fifty bucks."
"I paid it back the next day, and she didn't blink. The 'graduation party' was just my parents friends, who said congratulations to me, but it wasn't really for me. A few years later, my little sister graduated, she got a car. They bought a used car for her, and our other little sister got the same when she graduated. My parents are mostly nice, and I never felt like they singled me out at birthdays or anything. Just my graduation seemed like I turned invisible."
Office Party Fail
"HR complaint from two subordinates fighting over how to throw me a surprise birthday party."
- BBoySlim
"I've never worked in an office environment, but the stories I've heard of people being required to buy a cake for the whole office and to celebrate their birthday with their coworkers would be enough to keep me in blue collar work for life, were it not for the fact that I love being active and working with my hands and could never sit at a desk all day anyway."
Basics
law school finals GIFGiphy"My Asian mom's gift was "no extra Kumon homework after school homework" so my birthday gift was that I didn't get extra homework from her."
Regifting is trash behavior. Do better. I'd rather you just say I forgot. Or... I just don't care for that much. But regifting? No.
season 4 lint roller GIF by Veep HBOUnlucky 13
"Stomach flu and my first ever period, at the same time. I think it was my 13th birthday."
- kelpself
"Omg, exact same story for me. It was my 13th birthday and my family took us kids to visit our relatives in Subsaharan Africa for the first time. I was sick, jetlagged, overheated and riding down a bumpy road in a Jeep driven by my dad in the complete darkness. We had just eaten at a restaurant where I found a giant scarab beetle in the bottom of my soup bowl. I have flashbacks to this day."
Lazy Thoughts...
"My grandparents have been gifting me (and my brother) the same set of three vice grips for almost 10 years. Collectively we have 60 vice grips. I don't know if they bought a pallet of them, or where they are coming from. GET A GRIP GRANDMA!"
"I had a friend who's father was famous for doing Christmas shopping at the last minute. One year she complained that she went downstairs on Christmas morning and found, sticking out of her stocking, a spatula. Her birthday was a few days after telling that story, so myself and her friends all decided to get together and get her spatulas for her birthday, as a gag gift."
"Well, when it was our birthdays she retaliated. Which lead to a counter-offensive. And soon a new tradition was formed. And guys, I have so many spatulas now. Everything from dollar store cheap plastic, to hand-carved spatulas, a golden spatula, and even a replica of the famous Malaysian fighting spatula."
"I've got seasonal spatulas. As in, today it's time to pack away the Christmas spatulas and bring out the heart-shaped Valentine's day ones, followed by the bunny-shaped Easter ones. We've also been passing around this clip from the Weird Al Yankovic movie UHF. "Spatula City, we sell spatulas, and that's all!"
Their ultimate whack-a-doo move...
"A pair of homemade custom pajamas. Only problem was that they weren't made yet. It was just the fabric and a promise to make them for me. I had to give the fabric back and I never got the pajamas."
"Holy cow my parents do crap like this. It's so freaking weird. Their ultimate whack-a-doo move was to give my wife and I a few acres of their property."
"Nothing legal just at our wedding they gave us a card that basically said 'have some land.' When the dust settled I asked what they thought we would do with it, they said build a home. I said ok, gonna need legal ownership for like building a house. They said sure we will get right on that. Then they decide to sell out and retire and never mentioned our wedding 'gift' again."
Gross...
Disgusted Steve Carell GIFGiphy"My grandma got me a hairbrush with a plastic horse head handle. The horse head was all chipped up and there was hair in the brush."
Bummer...
"My Godfather sent me a Birthday card each year which said, he paid 100 bucks to a bank account which I was supposed to get, when 16yo. He then got into alcohol, used all the money and died."
Oh for God sake, why even bother giving anything at all? Lint rollers, used brushes, homemade pjs... y'all ever hear of a gift card? Just put five bucks on it and call it a day. You can't hide cheap, so stop trying.
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I definitely wouldn't turn down an excursion to AREA 51. I'd like to poke around and get a sense of the place. I've never personally been up close and face to face with a "non-Earther." Not sure I'd like to be...
TV Truth
x files monkey pee GIF by The X-FilesGiphy"UFOs/Aliens are a cover for all of the secret projects that the government is working on. Actually stole that from the X files."
Birth
"How human birth parallels alien abductions:
- Babies are taken from their home (womb)
- They still developing sight, so they see bright lights and grey figures.
- They hear an "alien" language they don't understand.
- They suddenly feel cold after leaving their womb.
- They are in a surgery room being poked with tons of instruments.
Long story short: some people suggest that abductions are just people who had memories of their birth."
In the Mind
"I just don't think anyone will ever see this. But I think that UFO's are the projection of our unconscious collective mind. Everything that exists in reality, also exists, in our immaterial mind. Is it possible that the insides of our mind are also just one drop in the ocean of consciousness... and together we create the material reality were in, simply by experiencing it in a real way, inside-out through our senses."
Flyover...
"My father was an aircraft mechanic and fabricator for test and spy aircraft for the USAF. He spent 75-85 working with test aircraft. He said that when they were going to do a test, that could possibly be seen by the public, they would make a betting pool on how many UFO reports local authorities and flight towers received."
Under the Sea
sci-fi ufo GIFGiphy"I like the idea that some UFOs aren't machines. Instead they are some sort of Upper-Atmosphere Jellyfish. I found the issue of Fortean Times that had this article. Here's the cover: http://ft.gjovaag.com/q/images/a/ae/FT291.jpg"
- BigD1970
Interesting. There are some ideas we can look into. None of it proof, but possibilities. There are certainly plenty of future film ideas.
Like 2012...
"We are like that un contacted tribe and everyone agrees not to bother us."
"I've heard it explained from a channel (idk if you know what channeling is) kinda like this. First of all, we as a species tend to freak out, shoot first and ask questions later. Most humans would have a literal psychotic break. You have to believe in vibrational energy as it relates to our consciousness."
"The aliens (certain ones) are at such a higher level that it would be jarring for us to come in close contact with. We are slowly getting there but it's a process. Like 2012, end of the Mayan calendar, wasn't the end of the world it was the end of an energy cycle that we as the human race had never made it past before."
"Previous civilizations have been destroyed or destroyed themselves before they got this far. We passed a point where we are very unlike to destroy ourselves anymore. This doesn't mean we won't see some real bad hardships yet but we will keep progressing."
- falecf4
"train your eyes"
Dancing GIFGiphy"I was a firm believer in t em when I was in high school and kept googling theories and info in my spare time and during my study halls. They said their bodies were so lightweight or something that the reason why you can't see the evidence is that they disintegrate before hitting the ground."
"And then LOL it was so funny, some people would swear you could "train your eyes" to see rods... HhhahAHAHAHA. Like there were these experts. Video showed him walking around with a serious face, then pointing. And he's like, "that was one just there." "You can't see them, you have to be used to them... like me."
"I've spent many years immersed into hunting them finding them. That's why I can see them." And then one day China, who loves occult stuff, had like a lab that set up a nighttime camera to capture footage of rods at night... then realized they were normal bugs at overexposure. lol"
Lurking
"The Dark Forest theory. Basically the theory that the reason we haven't made contact is because all the other civilized life in the universe/galaxy knows not to broadcast their location. They've learned that there's something awful or predatory lurking in the dark forest of our galaxy, and that it's better if they keep to themselves."
Unknowns...
"That the universe is so vast that we haven't been discovered yet."
- neoastic
"This makes sense to me because traversing the distance to or from even our our stellar neighbors would require technology that is not known to us now or likely to be known by us anytime soon if it's even possible at all. To assume without evidence that aliens could possess this technology and have visited us does not meet my skeptical standards."
- KZED73
Back and Forth
back to the future great scott GIFGiphy"Time travel exists, and UFO sightings are actually future humans coming back to our time. That is why they are so discreet, and never openly make contact."
I hope time travel exists. Now that I'm onboard for. If aliens do exist... just come on out guys. We could probably use your help.
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