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People Who Went Missing When They Were Young Reveal What Happened To Them

People Who Went Missing When They Were Young Reveal What Happened To Them

People Who Went Missing When They Were Young Reveal What Happened To Them

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It's every parent's worst fear. Heck it's every person's worst fear regardless of age. To discover you have a Missing loved one or to BE the missing loved one. There are countless tv shows, movies and books covering the topic. Whose heart doesn't sick at the sight of a missing child poster? Some see it as a fear greater than death. At least with death there is a knowing and a closure, not a happy one but a closure none the less. And to be a missing or to be lost and not be able to find your way to safety is a nightmare come to life.

Redditor _u/PrimarilyMarten wanted to know... Redditors who have gone missing but were found. What happened? Pay attention people this could be any one of us.

DON'T BE SPITEFUL, JUST WALK HOME!

My mom reported me missing one midnight. We were staying at a hotel a few miles from home (long story), we got into an argument and she kicked me out and told me to walk back to the house. I was 15. Instead of doing as I was asked, I said f*** this and messaged my theatre director, one of the only adults I knew, and said I was outside at night and that I wasn't safe. I spent the night at her house and the police were looking for me. I made sure my older brother knew where I was, and went to school the next day. Police took me home after I went to her house a second time.

WAITING FOR DEATH AT THE LOG...

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Back when I was around 7 or 8, I was at this family camp during the summer. I would hang with this group of boys who were all a few years older than me and always thought "OH BOY, I get to hang with the big boys." So anyways there was this place people called "the secret hideout," where it was just a little hut made of sticks and a fireplace that you could find by going into the forest a little bit. Me and these dudes go to the secret hideout place and for some reason decide to find another. So we just walk deeper into the forest until we find a place and we're like _"cool, this is the second secret hideout, let's go find another." _Once we find the third secret hideout we decide to go back to camp and had no trouble finding our way. But as soon as we got back, I went to my cousin and was like _"Dude you got to come with me, there's like 2 more secret hideouts" _So me and my cousin go to the secret hideout, then I proceeded to lead the way to the second secret hideout. On our way to the third secret hideout I get completely lost and start crying and the both of start going mental. We're just two little kids frantically running through the forest having no idea where we are. Eventually I'm just like _"okay, let's just sit on this log and wait until we die" _and my cousin was like _"that sounds good."_ Apparently, that's actually what you're supposed to do if you get lost, you're supposed to stay in one place and wait for help. So me and my cousin have possibly the most intimate conversation about all the things we'll miss when we're dead. Eventually my family notices were gone and my dad eventually finds us. But yeah I essentially welcomed and accepted death at the ripe age of seven.

WHERE'VE YOU BEEN?

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Happened twice. First time was comical second was quite serious.

When I was 5 or 6 my best friend lived a few houses down. We would see each other every day and do normal kid stuff. I guess he went on vacation one week and me being 6 didn't quite understand that... I took off on my trike and was determined to find him. I pedaled at least two miles before a concerned adult saw me and called the police. My parents were quite relieved!!! And took away my bike. Still friends with that neighbor and it's a joke that comes up every now and again.

So now for the not so funny part.

This happened when I was 22. I'll spare all the details, but my life literally fell apart. My father died and we were very close. My girlfriend dumped me because I was having trouble getting over the loss. I failed a bunch of classes in college and was told not to come back. My life was crumbling. I wasn't suicidal, but I felt this urge to leave. I hopped in my car and drove until the gas ran out. I found a cheap motel and spent the night. Then I kept driving the next day, and the next. I turned my phone off. No contact with anyone. Not quite sure what I was thinking, but it felt good to just keep moving. I was in a Waffle House one morning around 4am. Met a fellow traveler and we exchanged stories. I spilled my heart out to this random stranger. He gave me a hug and just listened for hours. He bought my breakfast and just said, _"Go home, kid. This too will pass." _I had a good cry and drove home. A lot of people were very worried about me. My mom was convinced I killed myself. It was extremely selfish. But whatever happened in those 5 days I was off the grid seemed to set me straight.

BLESS YOU REDDIT!!

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Not me but my brother, and Reddit found him for us.

My brother moved to Hawaii and from there Iceland. One day we stopped hearing from him, like he vanished off the face of the Earth. He had stopped posting on social media, he had stopped contacting all his friends (even the ones his family didn't know). It was always a possibility that he was going off the grid for some reason, but last we spoke everything was fine and normal. Still, we thought he would pop up somewhere, as he was an extensive world traveler and often went incommunicado for periods of time. A year goes by, we are more worried. What if something happened to him? Why wouldn't he be on social media anymore? Why would he cut contact with his entire network of friends and family? He had never done that before. There was no fight or drama. The last conversation he had with my mom was about Christmas presents. We start looking for him. We message everyone we know he knows. We message his best friend, who gives a VERY cryptic response neither denying or confirming anything. This gets us worried, why is this guy being shady? Last we knew these two were travel the world together. My mom email bombs his best friend, who refuses to respond. We wait another year. Nothing. We are starting to think he might be dead. My mom files a missing persons report, and the police find no trace of him. I start posting missing persons reports. We scour the internet. We find nothing. Another year. I haven't seen him in 5 years now. I think ill never see him again. Half my family is convinced he died somewhere abroad. He hasn't filed any W2s or Pplied for government services oranything in the US in 5 years. Another year. My mom hires a private detective for 10k. The guy can't find much, he is worthless. I start posting on Scandanavian subreddits, because that was the region my brother was last seen in. I basically make a missing persons poster with his pic and all his info. A week later someone sends me a message, they had seen my brother!

We are freaking out. The person explains that he was in Norway, and had worked with my brother doing construction. This Gentleman was from Michigan, but owned a business in Norway, so could kind of weed out the BS in my brothers story. My brother was telling people that he was adopted (he wasn't) and that his family had stolen him as a baby. (We didn't.) He said my brother seemed kind of mentally off, with a lot of conspiracy theories and rambling thoughts. I thanked this guy PROFUSELY. It was so nice to know my brother was alive.

Still, this isn't proof positive. There is no picture of my brother, and by the time this guy messaged us my brother had moved on. Reddit dude told us where he my brother had said he was going next. We contact our local police with this new info. They message the police force in Upsalla, where my brother had said he was going. The police there know where he is! They go to his door and let him know his family is looking for him. He tells them he knows, and doesn't want to talk to us. They check his passport to make sure he is actually my brother. This is the best/worst news we have had. It was now 7 years since we had talked to him at all.

A couple months later my brother sends me a Facebook message! He hasn't directly contacted me in almost 8 years. He wants me to remove my Reddit post about him being missing, it was showing up when you Google searchd his name. I say I will and try and start a conversation with him. Slowly we being talking again. He agrees to taken to the rest of the family. We keep in contact for the next 2 years and I go visit him in Sweden. The year after that he moved home.

So thank you Reddit, for finding my brother :)

HI HOE SILVER!!

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My brother (when he was a toddler) got put down for bed at night. My dad worked nights and I guess my brother decided he missed dad... grabbed his hobby horse and let himself out the door. Some neighborhood people called the police because this little kid wearing only a diaper was "galloping" down the street on his horse on a stick.

THE WICKED WITCH LIVES!!!

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My stepdad was really sick when I was 4. We lived next door to his mom, my evil step grandma. While my sisters went to school I had to stay with her because my mom stayed at the hospital with my step dad. Evil Grammie was mean as a snake and haaaated me. She refused to turn cartoons on and I didn't have any toys with me, so when she went to take a shower I escaped from her house and broke into my house next door. To this day I cannot remember how I got into my house, but I hid in the bathroom cabinet behind the towels. I'm guessing hours pass, I hear people in the house calling for me. My step-Aunt says _"If I was her momma I would whoop her!" _So I stayed in the cabinet until I heard everyone leave. Including cops. Once it was quiet I called for my mom to come help me out of the cabinet. I ended up not being in trouble because my mom was sooo pissed at Evil Grammie and Auntie because I was missing for a while before they called her.

DON'T BE TOO LITERAL...

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When I was in second grade... so I was 6 years old I think, the teacher got mad at me for something I can't remember now. The teacher tells me to get out of the class. I go outside into the hallway but I was pretty upset and just left. I walked out of the school and walked straight home. We only lived about 1/2 mile from the school. I went straight into my bedroom and just started playing with star wars stuff. About three hours later my frantic mother came rushing in from wherever she had been... apparently there had been quite a ruckus kicked up looking for me. My defense at the time was that the teacher told me to leave. So I did. They made me go back to school the next day.

JUST ONE LAST CHAPTER....

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In pre-K I loved to read. One day the teacher told us to line up to go to chapel (Christian school) but I was deep in a picture book and didn't hear. They left me and didn't notice I was gone until she was counting heads after lunch hours later! I got in soooo much trouble but never understood why it was my fault as a 4 year old that the teacher didn't check the room before leaving it.

WELL THERE'S A DATELINE EPISODE...

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My dad had my uncle babysit my sister and I for the day when I was ~4 and sister was 2. It was awesome, we got to hang out on his boat and eat ice cream all day. When he took us home really late I remember my mom was hysterical and a cop was there. Dad had told mom that he got rid of us and she would never see her kids again and refused to tell her if we were dead, alive, or if he even knew. The cop took us away that night and ultimately mom's parents raised us for a few years while my parents got their shit together independently from each other.

FIND COFFEE...

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Got really drunk, woke up face down in the snow in the woods in Montana. I'm not from Montana and this was my second night there. Found the lake that we were staying on and used the moon to find the house where we were staying. Walked in the door at around 2:30 am to a group of relieved friends.

STAY CLOSE...

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When I was around 8-10 years old my mom would drop my dad, a few of his friends, and I off on a part of Oahu in Hawaii that was all jungle with no people/buildings. We'd hunt, fish, and surf all day every day with no communication to the outside. My mom would pick us up 5-7 days later at a pre-designated spot/time.

One of the times 2 days before pickup I wandered away from camp and got lost. I had my pack and surfboard with me. Ended up camping alone for a night and surfed a few times by myself. The next day my dad found me and we never told my mom.

I honestly had a blast, would do again if I was 10 still.

JUST SAY NO!

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My best friend and I went to a party in Portland, Oregon on a Friday night. I lost track of him at around 10 and didn't hear from him all weekend. I receive a phone call on Monday afternoon from him saying he was in Chicago.

Moral of the story: don't do drugs.

UNDER THE PILE...

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My parents were shopping with me when I was 4 or so years old. I disappeared from right next to them and they couldn't find me, had employees searching for me, yelling my name etc. My mom was frantic. They were about to file a report and do the whole Amber Alert business when I popped out from the middle of one of those round clothing racks, happy as could be because nobody found my hiding spot.

They were not pleased with me.

FULL CIRCLE...

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Not technically missing but..

When I was about 10, I went to walk to my friends house for the very first time. I usually go with him or other friends and never really played close attention to the route, but thought I will just 'remember.'

As I got about 3/4 of the way there, I suddenly arrive on a street I have NEVER seen before, this was before I had a phone, and as English was my second language having arrived in England a year before, I couldn't even ask for instructions properly.

About an hour of walking around in circles, a woman with a push chair saw me and asked if I was lost, I wasn't able to ask her for directions, I had no idea what street my house was in, no idea about my house's phone number, so she just took me to the local supermarket and from there I knew the way home. - after that, my step-dad made me memorize his mobile number, home number and address

OH FATHER...

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My father had kidnapped me from my mother when I was 6. She had kicked him out of the apartment and just told me he was staying with my grandmother for a bit.

He picked me up early from school and took me to the beach. I thought it was just a fun trip to the beach with my dad. He basically spent most of the time nodding off. Two police cars pulled up and my father just got on his knees with his hands up. He was handcuffed in put in one car and the cops in the other car just told me they were taking me to my mom.

I didn't find out what actually happened until I was 17. My mom kicked my father out because he was abusive and on some drug (Thinking back on it was probably Heroin). He picked me up early from school then called my mom from a payphone (It was the early 90s) saying if she didn't let him back in the apartment he would sell me and she would never see me again.

WHEN YOU'RE EXHAUSTED...

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So I fell asleep on a cot inside of a display tent in a sports supply store when I was about three or four...

It didn't help that I was my parents first kid.

WHAT DID WE DO BEFORE CELLPHONES?

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Not me but my uncle.

Where he went to college there was a few train tracks that ran near campus. Trains would roll by pretty slowly, one night him and a friend drunkenly jumped on a train fully intending on jumping off close to their house. They passed out and woke up in a train yard 2 hours away from their college.

This was 25 years ago so no cellphones, took them 2 days to hitchhike back, they called their parents but friends thought they got abducted on the wrong side of town.

WHERE'S TARZAN?

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Got lost in the jungle for 2 days. Had the national guard find me. 6/10, would do again.

IT'S WINTER... SHUT THE DOOR!

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I was a baby and it was winter. My mom left our front door open and I crawled out.

She freaked out, but a few hours later the mailman brought me home.

Signs Someone's Gotten Way Too Deep Into Conspiracy Theories

Reddit user sheerduckinghubris asked: 'what is a sign someone is way too deep into conspiracy theories?'

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Photo by Agent J on Unsplash

About 10 or so years ago, my brother got really into the Illuminati. He spent hours reading and researching and knew everything about the Illuminati. He could recite lectures when asked. I used to tease him about being a conspiracy theorist.

Then, I met a new friend of his. My brother and his friend bonded over their obsession with the Illuminati, but I never teased my brother again. That's because, after meeting his friend, I realized I had it easy.

My brother's friend constantly talked about the Illuminati. He'd find a way to bring every conversation back to the Illuminati or relate every action or word of the Illuminati. My brother only talked about this when asked. His friend didn't even need the slightest prompting.

That was when I first learned that people who are really deep into conspiracy theories show signs that they're deep into it. I'm not the only one who knows this. Redditors know that there are signs people show when they're deep into conspiracy theories and are eager to share what those signs are.

It all started when Redditor sheerduckinghubris asked:

"What is a sign someone is way too deep into conspiracy theories?"

No Tech Please

"An extended family-member-in-law keeps the Wifi router and all other TVs and communication devices, aside from their cell phones, in their house unplugged. If you want to use them while visiting, you have to ask permission, plug them in, then unplug them when you are done. They’re legit afraid of 5G and other radio waves on their physical and mental health, and seriously believe that” the government” is listening and tracking everything they do."

"I always remind them that “the government” is literally other humans that you can interact with, possibly your neighbors that sit on elected and voluntary boards and councils, and not some arbitrary anonymous “the government” entity."

"Them: But but “they’re” poisoning our water!"

"Me: Who? You mean Bill, the director of public works? Let’s call and ask him."

"Them: You can’t just call “them.”"

"Me: Actually, you can, let’s call Bill and ask him if he’s poisoning your water, and while we’re at it, let’s call Tom the major and ask if he’s trying to mind control you."

– jklolffgg

Social Media Signs

"I have a friend from college who has gone down this route. My only reference at this point is the rants he posts on Facebook. But everyone starts out the same: "Facebook keeps taking this down and flagging it because they don't want you to know the truth........""

– CoolHandRK1

"I'm sure this friend has no problem with the cognitive dissonance of "private businesses should be able to do whatever they want" and "I'm being CENSORED by SOCIAL MEDIA.""

– HaveAWillieNiceDay

Too Far Gone

"I think when they start fearing 5G or saying the earth is flat/stop brushing their teeth...I'm good."

– unmistakably

"Wait what stop brushing their teeth?"

– notaveryuniqueuser

"I could be wrong but I think they are scared of fluoride."

– ConnerennoC

"yep. that AND they think their diet makes it so they don't have to brush their teeth. YOU'RE WRONG. I CAN SMELL YOU."

– unmistakably

"This reminds me of how Steve Jobs insisted that he didn't need to bath or wear deodorant because his fruitarian diet flushed his body of mucus so he couldn't smell bad, but everyone around him could smell how utterly wrong he was."

– lesbowski

Signs Of A Shot

"I have a buddy from college who lost his mind during COVID. Now he posts all sorts of weird things on FB. Any time anyone of note dies it’s, “I bet they got the jab! No one just DIES for no reason!”"

– Prsop2000

"I’m a funeral director and embalmer and I had a guy call me one day and ask if I had seen white threads in the blood of people who had died and gotten the Covid shot. MFer how the hell am I going to know if they got vaxxed or not? I had another dude tell me conspiratorially that he knew I was seeing the white threads in blood because other funeral directors had told him that. Uh no they didn’t."

– PsychoticMessiah

Check Out My Ride

"Stickers all over the car."

– harajukukei

"I’ll do you one better. Saw a white beater car with conspiracy theories written all over it in sharpie."

– Ct-5736-Bladez

"My neighborhood has one...I always give it a wide berth..."

– breakermw

Eels, Energize!

"They have conspiracy theories that you’re not ready for."

– Telrom_1

"Like throwing your used car batteries into the ocean so the electric eels can charge."

– One-Permission-1811

"Where do you think the electric eels get their energy from?"

– unsmartkid

Free Thinkers

"They wear a "Warning: Free Thinker" tee shirt to Costco."

– flibbidygibbit

"Ironically mass produced and bought by "free thinkers.""

– mr_remy

"They need a Costco card to shop at Costco. Doesn't that concern them? Why does Costco need to know their names and addresses and keep records of their purchases?"

– CoralSkinRot

Cheeto Hands

"When professionals like doctors and historians are lying but some rando on YouTube in his basement with LED lights in the background and Hot Cheeto cheese on his fingers is telling them the REAL truth about (insert topic here)."

– Late_Comedian_5269

Medical Quacks

"What I find even worse are the (very few, but loud) doctors and other professionals who fall down the rabbit hole and give a bunch of false information. They become a beacon to other nut jobs.

Which is crazy because these nut jobs have 0 trust in doctors but once they find a crazy doctor who shares their opinions, they suddenly trust that one specific doctor."

"The regulatory boards need to remove these doctors who spread harmful messages."

– DantesEdmond

"This happened with the "autism is caused by vaccinations" doctor. He was stripped of his medical license for the insane amount of damage he did with that campaign."

– agolec

"They often do strip them of licenses or whatever the equivalent is in what field they're in. The problem is that for many conspiracy theorists, that's simply proof that the "expert" is right and "they" are trying to hide it by attempting to destroy the person's credibility. Unfortunately, people can delude themselves into believing almost anything."

– CityofOrphans

It's Always Them

"They say something like "It's all a distraction. You see, they don't want you to know what's really going on.""

"Then when you ask them what they think is "really going on", they laugh and call you a "sheeple".

– BubbhaJebus

The Flat-Earthers

"When they install satellite dishes but don't understand how the satellites stay in space because the earth is flat."

"True story when I had satellite internet installed."

– Dijiwolf1975

Chicken Little

"They all have a look in their eye's that screams "the sky is falling". Hyper aware, anxious, paranoid, easily triggered."

– buffslens

Talk Talk Talk

"Don't worry, they'll tell you."

– FishAndRiceKeks

"Yes. And every video they post is from a dude sitting in a car. Just endless dudes in trucks and cars, that's who they get their news from."

– PreferredSelection

"I have a few friends who fell down the rabbit hole."

"The most tell tale sign is that it's literally all they will talk about. At all. Every convo you have? Back to conspiracies, Illuminati, QAnon, pizzagate, the elite, the NWO (not the wrestling kind...)... heavy fixation on Covid.... etc.. Every single one.

"Most of them sound VERY uneducated, but think they solved some master life puzzle. Some may be sovereign citizens."

"Another obvious one... I had one friend who ghosted me. I finally got a hold of him and asked him what's up and he said "well it's because you're a deep state spy.""

– BlackIsTheSoul

"There is this tour provided by this lady in Seattle visiting 90s Seattle music landmarks. It's typically small groups. Around 6 people when I did the tour."

"Most of them sound VERY uneducated, but think they solved some master life puzzle. Some may be sovereign citizens."

"In the middle of the tour, we stopped by a pub for a drink and just to talk. One of them was this US Army dude who tagged along with his wife. 3 minutes after talking about the places we just visited he started telling me his opinion on how certain events like 9-11 were actually perpetrated by the government."

– muthaflicka

"I nodded, and immediately got up and told him I wanted to check out the album covers being displayed on this wall."

"He was around 30-ish, fit, looked sharp and smart, and spoke eloquently about other things. Caught me off-guard."

– muthaflicka

"This is the answer."

"Most of these people have zero self awareness and will reveal themselves pretty early lol."

– nsfwtttt

Yup, that's the biggest sign (and the one my brother's friend gave me)!

Close up, mid-section shot of a bride and groom at the altar, his hands clasped, her's holding her bouquet
Photo by Luis Tosta

It's nerve-wracking to trust love quickly.

Some people wait years to marry and it still doesn't work out.

So who is to say what is the perfect time from "Hello" to "I Do?"

Nobody. That's who.

Maybe the heart really does know what it wants right away.

We'll never know until we try.

Courtship can be slow or rapid.

It's all a matter of the heart.

Redditor kiralynnkk wanted to hear from the couples who couldn't wait any longer to get married, so they asked:

"If you got married after less than six months of dating, what’s your story?"

I'm still single.

I waited for a while.

And I've jumped quickly.

So I'm at a loss.

You Know?

Winter Solstice Christmas GIF by Chippy the DogGiphy

"My friends met on Halloween, engaged on Thanksgiving, and married on New Year’s Day. They lived 900 miles from each other. Still married 30+ years later."

"Explanation: 'When you know, you know, y’know?'"

Smokey_Katt

Couldn't Wait

"We got engaged and moved into an apartment together after about 3 1/2 months of dating, but we didn't get married for another 6 1/2 months after that because of the time it took to make the wedding arrangements. So maybe that doesn't count, but it's close."

"As to why it was so quick, I guess we just knew we wanted to be together and didn't want to wait. We've been married 33 years."

catsaway9

When in Vegas

"My wife is from Eastern EU and was on vacation visiting family in my US city. We met on Tinder and met at a restaurant for drinks. I still remember exactly what she looked like walking through the door. She was even prettier than her pictures (stunning) and I loved that she was well-traveled and super intelligent. On the first day we met, I told her that she would be telling our grandkids the story."

"We ended up engaged at 3 months and got married in Vegas at 5 months. We're now just over six years married with two kids, and we dropped our oldest off on his first day of preschool today."

RepeatUntilTheEnd

The Click

"When I met my wife, we just clicked. we met in December, flew out of the country to meet her family in February, and moved in together in March. We will be celebrating our 6th anniversary next month."

HumorTumorous

"This is kind of how it was for my husband and I. Met early summer of 2016. Engaged by the end of summer. Married Feb of 2017 (visa process kind of had us rush that marriage bit since we had to marry within 3 months of me entering the country)."

"Just kinda knew. We'll be married for 7 years this February. Hopefully, it continues... lol."

SweetContext

Confessions

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"We were roommates. She confessed we had our first date, and it was just like we were supposed to be together. I always say that our first kiss felt like Chidi seeing the time knife - kind of terrifying because it was so wow, but an ultimately life-changing truth."

goatman1062

Ah... the roommate situation.

It's a gamble, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

At least you know each other first.

Decades Later

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"Started dating in October, found out she was pregnant in December, married in March. 37 years, two children, and two grandchildren later we're still together and happy."

RandomGrotnik

The Next Day

"Went to Ukraine to visit Chornobyl 7 years ago. The next day, sent out a bunch of messages on Tinder to everyone asking if they'd be up to give me and my mate a tour of Kyiv (which we always did, and never, ever hooked up - I'm too much of a prude for that)."

"This one lady agreed, we met in a bar for tea, hired a limo, drove around for 5 hours, and at the end of the night I told her I loved her, we met the following morning before my flight home (I ditched my mate and said I'd meet him at the airport)."

"I flew back to Kyiv 2 weeks later for the weekend, we officially became a couple. I quit my job, sold everything I owned, and emigrated 8 weeks later and we married a month after that. We've been married 7 years, have 1 child, and a second on the way."

DruzhbyNarodiv

Here We Are...

"I knew him for 10 years before we started dating and finally when we got together we said we are never breaking up no matter what. We were engaged for 6 months and got married. 16 years later here we are."

swisscoffeeknife

"I met my husband in middle school. We never dated, but were always friends. Drifted apart, he had a kid with a crazy lady, and I watched from afar. Ended a long-term relationship and a month later I ran into him at the gym. Went on a date, moved in a month later, pregnant 4 months later, and married 2 months after that. 2 kids (plus my step), and we celebrate our 10 years next Feb."

jace191

Decades Later

Happy Anniversary GIFGiphy

"My parents got married on the six-month anniversary of their first date. They had their 65-year wedding anniversary in August."

SnooPickles7989

Happy Anniversary to all!!

Sounds like there are no time constraints on love.

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Photo by Adam Winger on Unsplash

No two family homes are exactly alike, but some households are wildly different, from how they're decorated to what the family eats to how the family members treat each other.

What's interesting is how two people could be best friends and lead completely different lifestyles when they go home, but their friend might never know that until they go for a visit.

Redditor mango-chocolate asked:

"What is the biggest cultural shock you experienced when going to someone else's house?"

Bad Hostesses

"This is the strangest experience I’ve ever had at someone’s home. I worked with this young Cuban gal as a waitress while I was studying at University."

"She mentioned that her sister needed some help with Math in her Nursing program so I offered to go over and tutor."

"I knew it was a multi-generational house with parents, adult children, grandparents, great-grandparents and babies. When I arrived at the house, only the sister was home."

"She invited me in and started unloading the refrigerator of leftovers and asked if I would like to have some of this, some of that, etc."

"I was genuinely not hungry but she was super persistent and made us some food anyway. She offered me a drink, but I just wanted water. She made herself a Cuban coffee and insisted I have one too."

"Then my friend comes home, and looks at us studying. In front of me, I have snacks, water, and a coffee."

"She begins screaming at her sister in Spanish. I can barely make it out, but she’s mad that her sister didn’t offer me anything to drink or eat. I explained I wasn’t hungry and I had two drinks in front of me, but she was still mad at her sister."

"Their parents came home and they started yelling about the same thing and accusing their daughters of being bad hostesses! I felt bad, and I somehow allowed five drinks to served to me and so much food, I was stuffed for the rest of the day."

"The whole experience was a weird combination of feeling guilty or like I may have insulted them, but also feeling loved and appreciated."

"When my friend introduced me to her family, she introduced me as the woman that would carry all her trays at work while she was pregnant so she didn’t have to lift them. I can’t believe she had even remembered that. I hadn’t until she brought it up. They made me like an honored guest in their home."

- mydogdoesntcuddle

"I’m Cuban. Not offering food or drink to your guest is extremely rude and shameful. And we mean FOOD AND DRINK. Not little finger sandwiches and tea. This even extends to a maintenance person that comes by, or a mail carrier, etc. it’s like grandma culture on steroids."

"Additionally, our intrapersonal communication style is extremely loud and can seem aggressive to others, so they might not have actually been yelling at each other."

"My stepfather is a white American from NYC, and when he saw the way my mother and I spoke to each other when we first started living together he’d constantly be worried asking why we were fighting; we’d have to explain we weren’t fighting, just casually talking."

- Asleep_Sherbet_3013

A Lack of Reading Material

"I hung out with my college roommates' family around Christmas. There were NO books in the house, none. This was early aughts."

"She told me her parents didn't want challenging books in their house to make the kids feel stupid."

"Her parents were professors at our college in the EDUCATION department."

"She (my roommate) and her siblings were f**king stupid."

- angel_inthe_fire

"I have always had a ton of books in almost every room growing up. It came as a shock going to someone's home and NOT seeing a book anywhere."

- GeekyBookWorm87

Loving Families

"When I was a teen, I was genuinely shocked to see that other families actually loved each other and wanted to interact and say nice things to each other."

"I kept expecting it to turn dark, and when it didn’t, I had no idea what to do and felt completely ashamed and out of place."

- MTBeanerschnitzel

Far Too Strict

"As a kid, I visited some friends who had scary 'yes sir/no sir' fathers who were quick to use a belt on them."

"None of those guys turned out well as adults, I might add."

"The funny thing is, my dad was an Army platoon sergeant, yet he was a jovial and easy-going father."

- p38-lightning

Empty Plates Only

"My friend's parents would make them finish their meals, even if they said they were full."

"The meals looked huge to me, and my friend was overweight. It felt depressing."

"If I was full at home, I'd never be pressured to eat absolutely everything if I didn't want to."

- nightsofthesunkissed

An American Breakfast

"I'm a first-generation American (Asian). Due to TV cereal commercials while watching Saturday morning cartoons, I grew up believing that White people would simultaneously have a glass of milk and a glass of OJ in the morning (as part of this complete breakfast)."

"You can imagine my disappointment the day after sleepovers at friends' homes."

- cloudedarcher

"My mom (white) literally did this. I'm not sure if she got it from commercials or something else because she had a weird idea of nutrition on other stuff too, but literally every morning my breakfast included an eight-ounce glass of milk and a four-ounce glass of orange juice."

"The combination is actually terrible. OJ and milk don't mix well in your stomach and drinking them together always made me feel uncomfortable, but it was the kind of household where I got in trouble for not finishing the whole meal."

"A pretty common weekday morning breakfast was a bagel with cream cheese and jam on both halves, some sliced-up strawberries, milk, and OJ. It's way more food than I'd eat for breakfast on a typical day as an adult and I was often uncomfortably full from it as a kid."

- SeaworthySwarth

Not So Messy

"I was raised by two women (my mother and my dad's wife) whose notion of cleanliness was such that rooms were sterile and it looked to me like the point was to make it look like no one lived in our house."

"By contrast, I was used to being called and feeling like I was a 'messy' person because none of those things are priorities to me."

"The first time I went into the house of someone who was truly messy... I'm talking leftover candles from a birthday party that happened two weeks ago still on the dining-room table messy, basement so full of junk the notion of separate rooms has been made abstract... it rearranged the way I looked at myself a little."

- BananasPineapples05

The Importance of Snack Time

"I remember going to a friend’s house after school we sat at the kitchen island and her mom gave us apple wedges with peanut butter and they talked about school."

"I was blown away that her mom just gave out snacks and was interested in her life, I thought it was probably a special occasion since I was there."

"Then I experienced snacks at other friends’ houses."

"I told my mom about the apple wedges and peanut butter once and she screamed at me and said if I wanted a perfect family, why don’t I go live with them? She worked full time and I cooked pasta for my brother and me most nights, there was nothing resembling snacks in the house. We just had meals and drank water."

"As an adult, I have a snacking problem."

- yokizururu

...Excuse Me?

"Back in high school, I visited a friend's house and had to use the bathroom."

"I asked her where the toilet paper was in the bathroom and she said, 'We don't really wipe our butts in this house.'"

- Silent-Bird-4474

Always Say 'I Love You'

"People not saying 'I love you' before leaving or hanging up the phone. I was always taught to say 'I love you' to family before hanging up the phone or saying goodbye."

"You never know when your last goodbye will be so let the last thing you say to a loved one be 'I love you.'"

"A tradition I continue to practice to this day. Yet I think I was the only one who did that in my friend group."

- Herpypony

"My family never said I love you growing up. I asked my mom about it not long ago, and she said her dad never told her, so she didn't know to say it to her kids."

"One of my sisters started saying it, and making us say it, when we were in our 20s. It felt so awkward and weird to say it, but I forced myself. Now, 20 years later, we always say it to each other, and it feels normal. I should ask my sister about why and how she got the idea to start saying it to us."

"It seems so odd to me now that my parents never said I love you to me or my sisters growing up. They showed us, but never said it."

- Zaltara_The_Red

Run Away!

"When my friend's Russian grandmother chased me with a shoe and yelled at me in Russian."

"I didn’t know why she was angry but all my friend would say is that it had something to do with where I put my shoes when I entered the house."

- ArmyRepresentative88

An Awe-Inspiring Breakfast

"I went to the neighbor's house for breakfast one morning before the bus. We were good friends. She's Hindu, and her family is as well."

"It was a culture shock to see and smell the amazing food we had that morning. It wasn't the normal pancakes, eggs, and bacon for Americans."

"I think it was potato latkas with some delicious green spread. God, I wanted to eat all of it, and her mom was so happy I loved it."

"Never before in my life had I had such a different breakfast for me. It was shock and awe I experienced."

- Apprehensive-Skill34

Different Cultures, Different Accessories

"I’m an international student in the USA. I lived with my grand uncle for six months, and one of the cultural shocks that surprised me was that he had carpeted floors in his bathrooms. And also the lack of bidets in America."

- cassiemoonnana

A Kid's Dream

"I went to a friend's house at maybe age nine and was floored that she didn't share a bedroom with her little sister. On top of this, she also had a double bed and a small TV in her room hooked up to a PlayStation 2."

- LittleMsBlue

The Love of the Family

"I learned that other people's parents smiled at them, were nice to them, and seemed to enjoy having them around."

"I rarely experienced any of that. I thought everyone's parents were angry all the time and didn't like them much."

- t_portch

"I had a friend over recently and she thought it was necessary to tell our teenage son how lucky he was to have parents who love him (this was after a few beers)."

"I was kinda taken aback by the comment, given the realization that some parents don't dote on their kids, including my friend. Apparently some don't..."

- MainInTheMT

"Same. I had a best friend who was from Croatia. Her parents loved her and her brother so much, and they definitely weren’t afraid to show it."

"Her dad would hug her every night when he got home. It was absolutely shocking to me."

"I also would intentionally go to her house after school because her mom would have a FEAST waiting for us."

- NuriMoons

You never know what you're going to find before visiting someone else's home, from different decorations and food, to different beliefs about how a family should treat each other.

In a way, it's heartwarming to know that these Redditors were exposed to these different lifestyles, perhaps especially those who didn't know that families could show each other love, so they might have higher standards for their relationships in the future.

Person fanning out wad of $100 bills
Alexander Mils/Unsplash

Working a first job is an important part of growing up.

Whether it's working a paper route (do kids even do this anymore?) or working at a video rental store (do those even exist anymore?) first-ever part-time jobs establish important life values and lessons to the youth.

Also, there's nothing that validates accomplishment at a young age more than being able to buy something with their hard-earned money.

Curious to hear examples of this, Redditor MisterChiTown92 asked:

"What did you buy with your first ever work paycheck?"

These generous Redditors found value in paying it forward.

Dinner's On Me

"It was 1976, I was making a whopping $2.50/hour at age 16 (20 cents higher than minimum wage, and it was an office job so I wasn't on my feet all day)....my family didn't have a lot of money (which is why I started working while in the 11th grade), so with my first paycheck I took my Mom and brothers out to dinner at Big Boy. I remember being all proud to say 'Get whatever you want, even the combo meal and a milkshake, it's on me."'

– Ouisch

Dinner Miscalculation

"I took my mom out to a fancy French restaurant. I had no idea how much it was going to cost, then plus tip, I didn’t even have enough! So she had to help me pay the rest. My mom still joke about that from time to time when we go out with the family."

"That was almost 25 yrs ago, damn time flew by."

– jonwtc

Gift For Mom

"I bought my mother a beautiful shawl. I never saw her wear it but it was in with her things when she died nearly 50 years later."

– WakingOwl1

These Redditors got to reward themselves with the things they enjoy most.

Creating Memories

"About twenty bucks of my first paper route earnings, for the pizza buffet and soft drinks, and some arcade games, with my best friend."

"While the shape I've been in has varied over the years, I've kept that stamina I built up hauling around damn near my weight in newsprint. For long endurance rides, hikes with a loaded-up pack, and running."

– ArmsForPeace84

Brand New Kicks

"I was 14 and got a job as a bus boy at a local BBQ joint. With my first check, I went and bought myself a pair of blue/brown Airwalk shoes. I remember how cool it felt to be able to buy something for myself and not have to ask my parents."

– johnnybmagic

Scoring Big Time

"A Playstation 2. Excellent buy, kept it for a over decade before buying an Xbox One."

– Birdo-the-Besto

"It was an Xbox 360 for me. Loved that console."

– HabeLinkin

"Still have a modded PS2. Had a hard drive with games on it too. It still turns on last I checked, I wonder if the hard drive still works..."

–DubaU

A Timeless Treasure

"My family owned a construction business, and my father had me on site for as long as I could remember. I don't remember the first thing I ever bought with what he paid me, but I remember the first thing I set out to buy and had to work for weeks to get the money for. It was a Lego castle set. $49. I'm almost 50 now, and I still have it."

– Spodson

Naughty Pleasures

"lol I bought a candy g-string so I could eat it off of my girlfriend while she was wearing it, and a black cowboy hat with spikes on it from Hot Topic hahaha"

dirtydickmf

Some recalled having to prioritize taking care of business over indulgences.

The Necessities

"gasoline and insurance to continue to be able to go to work."

– TurpitudeSnuggery

"I remember getting my first paycheck being so proud of it and my stepfather goes wow you don't have enough for gas. How are you getting to work for the next two weeks? Made me realize I needed to work more."

"I should also put in here that this was my first on the books paycheck. Made it feel a little different."

– truelydorky

Saving Up For Wheels

"Used to mow lawns and do odd jobs for cash when I was a kid. When I got my first 'real' paycheck that I had to cash at a bank, I saved every penny for several months until I bought my first car at age 16."

"Had zero expenses back then, which made it easy to save money. Fun memory."

– YupHio

Building A Wardrobe

"Clothes."

"I had to start working at the age of 12 because my parents could no longer afford to buy clothes for me."

– Opposite-Purpose365

I worked at a video game store in the mall when I was 15.

I was miserable being stuck behind a counter in a tiny corner store with hardly any adequate air circulation. Working with a personality-clashing co-worker didn't help things either.

But when I got my first paycheck, I remember thinking it was a major milestone and reward for enduring the unpleasant work conditions.

I used my first-ever earnings on a denim jacket from the Gap at the mall where I worked. I wore that stone-washed jacket with pride at school for years.

What was your most prized purchase from your first paycheck?