Laurie Notaro
I love this woman's writing. Seriously...go read her stuff.
Meanwhile...a few words from Laurie...
"It really is my fault I tell myself. I need to learn to recognize and identify the danger signs when I see them, and not brush them off as "eccentricities," "love oddities," or "a sign that he is crying out for the help and the comforting of a codependent nurturer that only I, Princess Enabler, can provide." Bad boyfriends don't disguise themselves; their girlfriends do it for them. I was guilty of that. A bad boyfriend will stay as such, and rarely, rarely, will a good boyfriend wake up one day and defect to the evil forces. By the same token, a bad boyfriend will never, ever wake up one day and become a good one. You've got a better chance of finding a dead rat in a soda can and becoming a millionaire in the settlement afterward. A bad boyfriend will not change, because, simply there's no shame in it for him.
But there should be consequences, there should be penalties: he lies and I get to witness the tattooing of the words "Warning: Sever Emotional Danger Ahead: Use of this product may cause temporary blindness, hysteria, irrationality, low self-esteem, and could require psychiatric care of a trained professional at the rate of $120 an hour plus a $15 copay," preferably on his forehead."
Meanwhile...a few words from Laurie...
"It really is my fault I tell myself. I need to learn to recognize and identify the danger signs when I see them, and not brush them off as "eccentricities," "love oddities," or "a sign that he is crying out for the help and the comforting of a codependent nurturer that only I, Princess Enabler, can provide." Bad boyfriends don't disguise themselves; their girlfriends do it for them. I was guilty of that. A bad boyfriend will stay as such, and rarely, rarely, will a good boyfriend wake up one day and defect to the evil forces. By the same token, a bad boyfriend will never, ever wake up one day and become a good one. You've got a better chance of finding a dead rat in a soda can and becoming a millionaire in the settlement afterward. A bad boyfriend will not change, because, simply there's no shame in it for him.
But there should be consequences, there should be penalties: he lies and I get to witness the tattooing of the words "Warning: Sever Emotional Danger Ahead: Use of this product may cause temporary blindness, hysteria, irrationality, low self-esteem, and could require psychiatric care of a trained professional at the rate of $120 an hour plus a $15 copay," preferably on his forehead."