Agreed?
The stress, commotion, and fluttery-girly talk of pre-engagement and pre-wedding may seem completely trivial. But to the gals (and a few men--one of whom is a Brit, by the way,) on this forum, the angst is real, and the support is real. It''s not a coven of yes-women slavishly chanting tacit approval for every hairstyle, dress, ring, proposal, or whatever perceived frou-frouness.
Maybe it''s an American thing.
Maybe it''s a girl thing.
But it''s a highly sensitive thing, and it''s very easy to perceive attempts at humor as mean-spirited when they don''t seem to take into account the very spirit of this forum.
A lot of the relationships of the LIW clealy haven''t had the straight trajectory of Mr. and Mrs. Furthermore. Lucky them for the smooth sailing, but....not everyone takes that path.
We get the humor thing. We are women and men from all walks of life and, despite appearances, not just a bunch of naive Yanks taking ourselves too seriously. This forum is one small part of our lives, and not all of it....and if virtual support and relationships aren''t REAL, then I wonder what to say about all of the Internet-dating spawned marriages both on PS and in the world. They''re real to me, and to many here.
A friend of mine used to say that "honesty without compassion is cruelty."
The stress, commotion, and fluttery-girly talk of pre-engagement and pre-wedding may seem completely trivial. But to the gals (and a few men--one of whom is a Brit, by the way,) on this forum, the angst is real, and the support is real. It''s not a coven of yes-women slavishly chanting tacit approval for every hairstyle, dress, ring, proposal, or whatever perceived frou-frouness.
Maybe it''s an American thing.
Maybe it''s a girl thing.
But it''s a highly sensitive thing, and it''s very easy to perceive attempts at humor as mean-spirited when they don''t seem to take into account the very spirit of this forum.
A lot of the relationships of the LIW clealy haven''t had the straight trajectory of Mr. and Mrs. Furthermore. Lucky them for the smooth sailing, but....not everyone takes that path.
We get the humor thing. We are women and men from all walks of life and, despite appearances, not just a bunch of naive Yanks taking ourselves too seriously. This forum is one small part of our lives, and not all of it....and if virtual support and relationships aren''t REAL, then I wonder what to say about all of the Internet-dating spawned marriages both on PS and in the world. They''re real to me, and to many here.
A friend of mine used to say that "honesty without compassion is cruelty."