All true. People do sometimes use the joke angle to get themselves off the hook, do also often hide their true venom in a joke, which I hate (it's just another kind of lie) and the one comfort... people who really care don't have the heart to take advantage. My husband did joke with me a bit when we were first married, and really hasn't in over 10 years. He did joke, when I asked, saying it was too easy
but I always figured he didn't have the heart to do it. I always got so lost and muddle and frustrated that I could see him quitting it as much for himself as me, but that's fine. It's the sort of selfishness I can live with! What I couldn't abide would be the sort of selfishness that thinks it's funny to use another person's weakness as your personal toy.
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"Pack up my head, I'm goin' to Paris!" - P.W.
The world loves diversity... as long as it's pretty, makes them look smart and doesn't put them out in any way.
There's the road, and the road less traveled, and then there's MY road.