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Son Meets Disappointing Bio-Dad For The First Time, Asks Internet For Advice About Meeting The Rest Of The Family

It takes a lot of work to go and find your biological parents when you're adopted, and how disappointing it can be if you find out they aren't who you think they are.


u/MuNaMunaHuman told his story:

I [14M] met my father for the first time yesterday. I'm really disappointed and I don't know if I want to met the rest of them anymore.

I just got home and I had a day to think it over, I dunno anymore. I really did not enjoy meeting my dad, Zack, and I am just not sure anymore.

Zack is really immature for a 39 year old. He told me he likes to go to night clubs, bars, talk to young girls, etc, he's a frat boy that never grew up. He's just not what I was expecting. He told me that he could give me pointers on how to get 5 girls in 1 night. He comes off as such a douche. He's so in your face and loud. I don't know if I want to meet the rest of the family.

TL;DR: I don't know if I want to meet the rest of the family.

Here was some of the advice he got.

One

Giphy

Can I just say I absolutely adore this response? Congrats for being a sensible person.

You are under no obligation at all to see anyone in this ruckus, but who are the rest of the family members you would be meeting?

Regardless, if you do not want to meet them, for whatever reason, just say you are not ready to reintroduce 'family' to your life. Family are the people who you choose as you family - you don't earn being family by blood. You owe nothing to these people, regardless if they share blood with you or not.

nopromisingoldman

Two

Giphy

By all means, don't if that's what you want.

I met my dad at 16, now 28. First meeting was okay. Met his mom, sister, and my niece and nephew not long after. Overall okay people that love each other. I spent a weekend with him for my birthday and it was a little awkward. I was being shy and wasn't ready to really open up to him.

I was suppose to fly out state to meet the rest of my family...it never happened. He completely cut off all contact. I wrote him a letter expressing my feelings, had a phone conversation with him after that. The gist of that convo was him telling me that he didn't think I cared (because of my shyness towards him). I started bawling, my mom got pissed and started yelling at him. It was bad.

There's more to it. We tried a few other times over true years to connect. But meh. The last time I saw him, his lovely mother was telling me that she doesn't blame my mom for me not being around.... puh-fucking-lease. They wanted nothing to do with me then as an innocent baby, and not now as a grown as woman.

Good thing is that I met my half brother...not through him, naturally. He told me about him at 16, I never forgot. At that time, he was telling me how he told my brother about me, and they were trying to find a gift to get me. I eventually found my brother on Facebook at 23. Turns out our dad lied to me, my brother never even knew I existed. His mom, which is a really awesome woman, let him know that it was true, she just never knew how to tell him.

Well, I ended up moving out of state to get to know my brother for half a year. He's awesome, his family is awesome and welcomed me with open arms, and I am so glad that I got him out of this ridiculous shit factory of a situation.

Oh, yeah, my own dad blocked me on Facebook after we agreed to meet and have a drink together. His lovely mother also makes no effort to be a part of my life either.

This was a learning experience.

If I were you, learn your heritage from him and get any medical history. Phone numbers, addresses, meet your family. The only reason why is because if some health issue happens to you or any children you have in the future, you can try to contact them if absolutely necessary. Other than that, go your separate ways if that's what you are feeling.

Lol was not trying to write a wall of text.

CaptainLeelu

Three

Giphy

So, I'm 31. I met my dad when I was 13. I have been nothing but increasingly disappointed by my father's, well, everything since that time. I'm pretty sure he's a sociopath trying to fit in with the rest of the world. He treats my half siblings orders of magnitude better than he treats me. I cannot express to anyone how much I wish I could go back and tell 13 year old me not to meet him. I know all of his family, they're not that much different than he is, and they kinda explain him. All of my favorite people from that side of the family are in-laws and weren't raised in those environments.

I will say this, how: I got to meet my dad's dad, with whom my father spent very little of his childhood. He's passed away now, but the 13-14 years in which I knew him were some really good ones. I consider him to be the silver lining to the shit-cloud that is my family.

So, what would I do now that I know what I know? I would dive in, find the people worth their salt, continually have them in my life, and exclude those who aren't. I would be crystal clear to all people where they stand and why.

pat1million

Four

Giphy

God, your dad sounds like my mom. I met her when I was fifteen, and she bought me thongs and cigarettes.

I got an amazing half-sister (though I never call her that) out of the meeting, and that was about it.

StrangerSkies

Five

Giphy

Few things, he has no clue how to be a parent because while a sperm donor he isn't a parent. Your reaction already at 14 makes you more mature than this guy, who is my age age by a few years and the rest of us cringe at this sad display of a 'man'.

I think you had a mental picture of what your dad would be and god he did not even get close to it. You were not wrong for this, it's natural and he is WAY immature for his age anyway.

The five girls in one night comment shows his lack of respect for people and I think that's part of the disgust! (Your mom did a good job you are mature and can spot a loser, lots of women can't do that :p)

You do not owe this man or his family anything. Have you talked to your mom about this? If he calls I'd tell him I was busy when he tries for future meet ups. The good news (?) is he flaked for 14 years so I doubt he would consistently keep trying, especially if you were the one originally reaching out for the meet up.

Duckyjammies

Six

Giphy

As a person who met my bio dad at 36, I understand. He was not someone I wanted to invite to my home or meet the rest of my family, but I did meet my 1/2 sister out of it. She is amazing! Neither of us has a strong relationship with him, I only talk to him maybe twice a year, she sees him and talks to him more than that. But without him I would not have my incredible sister who I can not imagine living without now. Do what makes you comfortable and don't feel pressure to have a relationship with anybody. If you feel adventurous, meet some more of his side of people and maybe meet a cool person that you might have a great relationship with. Remember you don't have to, if you don't want to.

Wolf_of_Seattle

Seven

Giphy

It sounds like you're a bit more mature than the average 14 y/o and he doesn't know how to interact with teenagers at all.

I met my biological father when I was 16. I was super gung-ho because my mother had died a few years before and I was craving/needing a parent in my life. It wasn't bad, he had cleaned up his life and was a decent human, but he never filled the void either.

We took things way too fast and the first time I met him in person I also met his wife and 25 of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. It's a loving family but that was super overwhelming.

It's okay if this guy doesn't feel like 'Dad' to you and it's absolutely okay to not seek that sort of relationship with him. Don't try to force him into that position either because it just leads to frustration. It's best to take it slow. It's okay to say 'I'm not ready yet.' You don't have to meet his family alone. If your Mom can't go with you (when you feel ready, of course) see if another family member you like will go with you. Any decent human being would understand you needing that sort of safety net.

My biological father died last year, 14 years after I met him. At best we were acquaintances that talked on holidays. I don't regret having tracked him down. We found some common ground over the years and a couple instances of 'the apple didn't fall far from the tree.' I feel fulfilled in the sense that I know where I came from but still occasionally grieve what never was.

You've got time to navigate this. You can even take a break, try again later and reassess.

TentacledFreak

Eight

Giphy

I had exactly the same experience when I met my Dad. It was such a disappointment. He also told me that he didn't see me as a child as he felt I should have made more of an effort... As small children often go out out of their way to book appointments with their father. He is a drunken, stoner loser who has never grown up.

I met up with him a few more times over the years, but decided it wasn't for me. I am almost 30 and haven't seen my father in over ten years now and I don't regret it. I know it's tough having your hopes shattered, but if he was a decent dad you wouldn't be meeting him for the first time at 14. You are under no obligation to meet him again, and if you change your mind you now know where he is.

Effulgentmagnificent

Nine

Giphy

Unfortunately this is so common (boys building up ideas of what their real father's are like and then being dissapointed) it's a common trope in media now. Fresh prince of bel air had an episode that was really emotional. Basically, there's a reason he wasn't in your life until now. Good men, no matter the circumstances would have made an effort to be in your life. Relationship with your mother non withstanding.

Mobile_pasta

Ten

Giphy

My mother is/was an abusive narcissist. My father left when I was 12. I don't blame him, not even a little bit. What I knew of her then was enough to say that, and that was thru a child's eyes who didn't have full understanding of the situation. It was still enough but I'm sure there was more.

I later found out a lot of what she had told me about him had been a lie. I had been lied to and brainwashed and turned against him. I contacted him. He was so happy he cried. He answered all my questions, and wanted to know all about who I had grown up to be. I was 24 at the time.

We went to dinner the next week and it was a little awkward but very nice.

Sadly, this has no happy ending.

He remarried and my stepmother did everything she could to push me away, convinced for no reason that I didn't like her. She was in the hospital once and I asked my dad to ask her if I could visit. He relayed that she said she didn't want people seeing her sick. I said I understood, because I did, and to let her know if she changed her mind and felt up to it, I would still love to see her.

Well, than I "didn't like her" because I didn't come visit anyway. After she had asked me not to.

They lived about a half hr away from me. They would mention they had been in town, and when I said "Hey, why don't you call, we could grab an ice cream or something" he said "Well we don't want to bother you, you're so busy with school." I would say "I'm busy now, but could we meet up Thur?" if I were busy when they called.

When I graduated, they came, took 1 picture, said "Well, you probably want to go be with your friends...." and left. My friends were all going to lunch. With THEIR families.

I tried talking to my Dad about how I felt I didn't matter and how I felt he didn't want to even try to develop our relationship. He said nothing. We were on the phone and I had to ask if he was still there.

It never got resolved. No acknowledgement I had spoken even happened. We plodded along for a couple more months until there was another incident where I wasn't even thought about. My step brother's bday. I didn't even get an invite because it was "just a small thing for family".

So I wasn't even a cousin anymore. I was his god damned child and I wasn't family.

I lost it that time. I screamed at him. That while I understood why he left, and didn't resent him for it, neither had heever made ONE overture to get in touch, he was so happy to have his only child back that he couldn't even consider her family, this was a mistake. He finally spoke. He said "I just feel like every time we talk all I get is a list of complaints. I've never been the type to drudge up te past, I was hoping we could just put that behind us but I guess that's not possible with you. You were raised by your mother after all, it shouldn't surprise me."

And that's when it finally hit me, if he saw my abusive, insane, manipulative, childish, substance abusing mother as a suitable partner, he couldn't have been healthy either. And he had onviously chosen another personality disordered manipulator as his second wife.

So f*ck em.

I'm not glad I tried to reconnect with him. I wish I had realized that even if he thought I still hated him, as the parent, if he cared, he should have tried somewhere in the span of 12 years. That very probably as an adult, I wouldn't be thinking like the 12 year old he knew.

But no. That would have required effort and he wanted me to just shut up and be his kid when it was convenient for him and call it "moving forward" even tho I got none of what I needed during our attempt at a relationship. I wasn't expecting Daddy. I was grown. I was expecting a Father, tho. An adult with whom I could have an adult family relationship.

I wish I had never called. I wish I hadn't envisioned some great reunion and making up for lost time. Because I should have known that wasn't reality.

finmeister

The Stupidest Things People Brag About

Reddit user algebra_lover asked: 'What is the stupidest thing people brag about?'

It's never attractive to gloat.

Even if someone is incredibly skilled at something, or accomplished something incredibly impressive, it's better for others to commend their accomplishment, rather than doing so themselves.

The only thing that can make gloating and arrogance even less attractive is if they're bragging about something that isn't even that impressive to begin with.

Even so, some people simply can't help but boast and congratulate themselves, even whether or not the thing that is making their head grow with impressive speed isn't remotely worth congratulating.

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42 Disgusting But Interesting Facts
Photo by dylan nolte on Unsplash

Remember that kid in elementary school who would do anything for a laugh? He'd eat worms or roll in the dirt if it meant the attention of the class. Gross, right? Is there anything that could be more embarrassing?

Well, it's possible that budding clown had the right idea. It turns out human beings have a natural predisposition to be fascinated by the gross and disgusting—and if you agree, boy do we have some facts for you.

1. If it doesn’t cure you…

Boiled toads were once thought to cure for rheumatism. Not salivating at the thought of ground up boiled toad? Try this: rotted mice were fed to children to cure bed wetting.

The next time you catch yourself complaining about the 21st century, take a moment to say a prayer for the poor child who peed the bed 400 years ago, and got to eat a mouse as a result. Maybe go thank you parents now. They may not have been perfect, but things could have been a lot worse.

2. The grossest thing in your house?

Apparently it's not just your phone spreading the nasty...

Kitchen sinks contain more bacteria than either garbage pails or toilets! How gross is that?

We all have that one sponge (it's the one so brown it blends in with the dishwater) which should have been retired long ago. Maybe this fact is enough for some of us to finally put it out to pasture.

3. They do what on your food?

macro photograph of blue fly on plant's stemPhoto by Philip Veater on Unsplash

Flies eat feces and transport a wealth of bacteria, including typhoid and dysentery on their bodies. That’s not the worst of it. When they land on your food, they also vomit a mixture of saliva and enzymes to break it down so they suck it up using their tongues. And their eggs? They lay them on dead flesh to hatch maggots.

4. You can attract more with honey. Literally.

If flies didn’t bother you before, they almost certainly are about to.

Crime is a problem that has vexed rulers for millennia. After all, it seems some portion of the population is just always going to flaunt the rules. However can we stop the menace? Prison? The death penalty? Stern letters?

The ancient Egyptian King Pepi II had a more... ruthless solution. He would slather a slave in honey and the flies would flock to smell. Eventually, they would begin to feast. Suffice it to say, said slave never misbehaved again.

5. Who needs a pool?

As disgusting creatures go, the vulture comes in a close second to the fly. They live on rotted flesh – in fact they prefer it! And when a vulture is hot, they cool off by excreting (yes, pooping) on their own legs.

6. Gross by any measure

sanc1691 | Pacific hagfish (Eptatretus stoutii) in a hole at… | Flickrwww.flickr.com

The hagfish would make a gross list based on looks alone. But it qualifies in other ways too. It is blind, toothless and feasts on dead flesh. Hagfish look for openings in carcasses and then enter and eat the corpse from the inside out. For defense, they rely on mucus: when attacked, they can project up to 17 pints of it at their attacker.

7. What’s in that spitball?

Most people have seen images of hippos enjoying a mud bath. But the balls of goop they appear to be playfully flinging at each other are actually a disgusting mixture of their own urine and feces. The idea is to mark their territory and perhaps to humiliate their foes at the same time.

8. Gross is where the heart is

Frankenstein author Mary Shelley had a pretty gross secret hidden away in her desk: her dead husband’s heart. When her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, drowned in a boating accident, he was cremated, but his heart remained intact. Physicians believe it might have been calcified due to tuberculosis. Whatever the cause, it was eventually given to Mary and discovered in her desk when she died a few years later.

9. Would the dentist still recommend?

blue and white plastic bottlePhoto by 莎莉 彭 on Unsplash

Not crazy about the taste of toothpaste? Mint isn't exactly everyone's cup of tea...

Then again, it's not that terrible.

The Romans, for their part, used powdered mouse brains.

So consider yourself blessed.

10. Imported mouthwash

Looking for a fresher mouth? The Romans would use imported Portuguese urine, yes imported pee. It was so popular that Emperor Nero had to tax it and it remained a popular mouthwash until the 18th century.

11. The ultimate gross revenge

When he discovered that his wife had cheated on him with another man, Peter the Great had the man killed. He forced his wife to keep her lover’s head in a jar of alcohol in her bedroom. The head, still in its jar, is now kept on display at the Kunstkamera Museum in St. Petersburg.

12. One more flavour of mouthwash

gray and black turtlePhoto by Dušan veverkolog on Unsplash

Looking for a different flavor of mouthwash? Tortoise blood was also once used to disinfect the mouth and clean teeth.

13. What’s in your coffee mug?

Bodily excretions are the things that creep people out the most but consider this: 40% of office coffee mugs contain coliform bacteria – feces according to several studies. Takeout it is!

14. Extra protein

Everyone eats insects. The FDA’s Defect Levels Handbook states allowances for dietary staples. Foods like broccoli, canned tomatoes, and corn contain “insect fragments:" heads, antennae, wings, thoraxes, legs – and even whole bugs. Fig paste is allowed 13 insect heads per 100 grams; canned fruit juices can contain four maggots per litre; and 10 grams of hops can legally contain 2,500 aphids. Let's not get into the allowances for rat hair...

15. A side of larvae with that?

a rat sitting on a piece of woodPhoto by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash

Fine... we'll get into the rat hair. The FDA limits the number of rodent hairs that can be found in peanut butter to 5 per 100 grams.

16. Cannibalized airmen

In 1944, nine American airmen were shot down over the Japanese island of Chi Chi Jima. Eight were captured, chopped up, cooked, and served to Japanese officers in everything from gourmet stir fries to special skewered appetizers. The ninth man, who escaped, was George HW Bush who would eventually become the 41st President of the United States.

17. Massacre

The Asian giant hornet is two inches long with a quarter-inch-long stinger. It can inject venom that dissolves human flesh and can paralyze the nervous system. But even grosser is what they will do to honeybees. If they encounter a nest, they mark it to attract other giant hornets. Then they attack, chopping up the defenseless bees by dismembering them in a frenzied massacre that can destroy up to 30,000 bees in just three hours. They leave behind a pile of heads and limbs.

18. Gross cures

white and brown pig on brown hayPhoto by Lauren McConachie on Unsplash

History is full of interesting cures. Ancient Egyptians crushed a pig’s eye and mixed it with red ochre (a common dye). They poured the mixture into a patient’s ears as cure for blindness.

19. Who loves jellybeans?

Who doesn't love a good jelly bean!? Colorful, shiny treats that are full of sugar... You just can't get better than that, can you? Even Dumbledore loved them (although the Harry Potter variety can get a little more nasty than our real world candies).

But perhaps our jelly beans don't have as many differences from Berty Botts Every-Flavor Beans as you think. After all, their colourful, shiny exterior is actually covered in a shellac, which is a compound made from bug excretions.

Yum.

20. The human snake connection

Before you read on, savor this moment. It's the last time you'll believe that you've got nothing in common with a snake.

Human beings can shed up to 40 pounds of skin in their lifetimes. Not so different from snakes really, just a lot more skin!

21. Twice in your life

a woman in a long dress holding a stick in a fieldPhoto by Timothy Dykes on Unsplash

It's a common misconception that people never bathed during the Middle Ages. They did. But then the Christian church authorities proclaimed that public bathing led to immorality, promiscuous sex, and diseases. In response, many curtailed their bathing. Queen Isabella of Castile proudly claimed to have bathed only twice in her entire life!

22. Where does it go?

Snot is gross. That much is a pretty universally accepted fact. Indeed, if you're ever looking for an opinion to share with friends and family that is basically guaranteed to be met with agreement, you almost certainly can't go wrong with saying that snot blows.

So what's grosser than snots itself?

Maybe that humans produce 1 liter of snot every day.

RIP tissues.

23. It seems pretty harmless but...

What’s gross about a sneeze? Well, first it is composed of snot. Second, it’s hard to escape! The spray from a sneeze can travel up to 30 to 60 miles an hour and fly up to 30 feet in the air.

When you move beyond how utterly gross that is, it's kind of amazing though, no? The things we're capable of... Behold, the marvels of the human body! We're so majestic.

24. Headless and still horrifying

File:Dusky Cockroach (Ectobius lapponicus) - Bærum, Norway 2021-07 ...commons.wikimedia.org

Cockroaches can survive for a week without their heads, and a decapitated cockroach can still wiggle its antennae.

When the nuclear apocalypse comes, the roaches will be laughing all the way to the burned out ruins of the bank.

And the Jellyfish will control the seas.

25. Gross defense

The regal horned lizard has a unique way of fighting off predators. It shoots foul smelling blood out of its eyes... straight into the attacker’s mouth. Don’t worry though, they seldom use this technique on humans.

26. Green is good. Or not.

The Prasinohaema lizard has green bones, green muscles and even a green tongue. It also has green blood that is extremely poisonous.

27. Supper anyone?

File:Vlad Tepes 002.jpg - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

15th century Romanian ruler Vlad the Impaler was the inspiration for Dracula and had a uniquely gross way of dealing with his opposition. He invited hundreds of them to a banquet and had them impaled on long sharp poles. His contemporaries reported that he also had a penchant for consuming the blood that dripped from of some of his victims, hence the Dracula connection.

28. A grisly graveyard

There are over 200 corpses of climbers and Sherpas on Mount Everest. The extreme weather prevents their removal and preserves them, creating grisly reminders of their sad demise.

Astonishingly, the bodies are actually used by some climbers as waypoints (or landmarks) to help guide them in their quest up the mountain. This is because if a climber dies, they are likely on the well-trod path to the summit.

29. Where that smell is really coming from

Disgusted by something that just smells bad? Consider this – you are smelling it because the molecules of whatever it is are actually sticking to the inside of your nostrils. In the case of farts, it's not poop you're inhaling... it's intestinal gas. Comforting.

30. Unwanted guests

black and white striped textilePhoto by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Doctors in India recently removed a 6-foot-long tapeworm by pulling it through a man’s mouth. Which probably went down in his diary as a really terrible day.

Tapeworms can grow up to 80 feet long by some reports and are often caused by consuming raw pork or beef.

31. Chew your hair? Chew on this.

Another set of doctors removed a 14-pound hairball from a woman. The woman suffered from trichophagia, a condition in which people compulsively consume their own hair. Before they discovered the hairball, she suffered from severe pain and had lost 84 pounds.

32. The grossest of jewels

How about a jewel made from a bundle of hair, vegetable fibers, and food that forms in the stomachs of humans and animals? They’re called bezoars, and Queen Elizabeth had one in her crown jewels. Other royals put them in their wine glasses, and they were even believed at one point to offer protection against poison.

33. Murder for parts

File:William Burke's skeleton.jpg - Wikimedia Commonscommons.wikimedia.org

Two men named Burke and Hare were responsible for a series of murders in the 1880’s. Their victims were used to provide body parts for surgeons to practice on. One of the men, William Burke, became a victim himself when he was hung for his crimes and his skin was distributed to collectors. Famous author Charles Dickens reportedly had a piece of Burke’s skin that he used as a bookmark.

34. What could he do with a hammer?

A performer by the name of Brad Beyers who goes by the show name “The Human Toolbox” drilled through his head with an electric drill. He has also hammered a nail through his face and hung a wooden board on it and pushed an icepick up his nostril.

35. Frogs bring vomit to a new level

Vomit is always gross but it's how frogs do it that makes it a whole lot worse. When a frog vomits, its entire stomach spews out and hangs out of its mouth. The frog then digs out the contents of the stomach and swallows it back down again.

36. But was it the chemicals or the smell that worked?

black crocodile on body of water during daytimePhoto by Rae Wallis on Unsplash

The ancient Egyptians used crocodile dung as a contraceptive. Early North American women soaked dried beaver testicles in alcohol and then drank the solution.

37. Frankenfish

It sounds like a comedy sketch, but the snakehead fish is also known as “frankenfish” because of its predatory nature and long rows of razor sharp teeth. A voracious predator, the snakehead consumes everything it encounters and can even go on land if it runs out of prey in the water. It has pseudo lungs that allow it to breath and propels itself forward across land by wiggling. It eats everything from other fish to small mammals and birds and will even turn on other snakeheads.

38. Cat ladies be warned!

If you die and your body remains undiscovered, your dog will likely wait a long time before it resorts to eating you. Cats on the other hand will only wait a day before they begin to consume you.

And they’ll start on the most tender parts, your face for example.

Nice kitties...

39. Literally giving the finger

File:Greg surrounded by members of the Dani Tribe in the Baliem ...en.wikipedia.org

The women of the Dani tribe in Indonesia cut off parts of their fingers to mourn the death of a loved one. The finger is tied with a string to numb it, and the stump is burned to cauterize it.

40. Dancing with the dead

Once every seven years, the Malagasy of Madagascar unearth their dead to dance with them. The ritual allows the spirits of the dead to join the ancestors after the body has fully decomposed.

41. An evil twin?

You’ve probably heard stories of twins being consumed by the other twin, but here is the gross truth. Most are benign tumors called teratoma. Teratoma tumors have been discovered containing human hair, bone and even teeth! Some contain organs and are thought to resemble small humans. Teratoma tumors are often formed at birth, although people often don’t realize they have them until later in life.

42. Can’t leave your phone? Consider this.

person holding space gray iPhone 7Photo by Bagus Hernawan on Unsplash

A London study found that one out of every six cellphones has fecal matter on it. And if that isn’t enough to get you to put it down (or at least wash it), an Arizona microbiologist found that cell phones carry 10 times more bacteria than toilet seats!

Now that we all know this, each of us is confronted with a pretty painful dilemma: is it still worth it to scroll the internet while we're on the john? I mean nobody wants fecal matter all over their hands... but... it can get pretty boring just sitting there.

A red neon sign that says Love Stories and it's reflection
Photo by Christian Lue

First dates can be very exciting.

Sure, you're nervous, and you're hoping this person isn't a serial killer, but that's all part of the excitement.

Imagine being interviewed later that you were on a date with a serial killer?

Podcast fame cemented.

But first dates are the chance for everyone to put their best lies... Sorry, best foot forward.

That's why certain behaviors can be alarming.

Don't ignore the red flags just because you're looking for romance.

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There are some childhood meals that never die no matter how much older we get, from grilled cheese sandwiches to chicken tenders.

But there are certainly ways to spice up and elevate those foods, especially with unique additions to the classic grilled cheese sandwich.

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