I know I'm going to be downvoted, but ultimately you did abandon you child. It wasn't out of malice, but it had the same effect. It's time to talk an active part in your son's life and stay there. With some time and consistency, you can get a good relationship going.
There are no rules on whether or not a person should or can keep past photographs and other data from the relationships before, and the reason for keeping them probably has nothing to do with them having feelings for that person still. It just may be a record of your partners life which he has the right to manage and record however he likes.
This is why I keep pictures and other data like that although I started to throw some of it away because of bad relationships and I’m just ready to let go of the information (not the person whom I never looked back on again. I don’t care about the person but I like to hang onto information and data and stuff for a vague “just in case”. I don’t know why but it doesn’t mean I like the person. I keep a record of my life with photos, passwords, etc And I don’t feel like it’s my boyfriend’s place to insist I dispose of the record of my life. If that were always OK to do and always done nobody would ever have a record of anything that happened before the current partner and that’s crazy.
Ultimately whether or not he has photographs in other data of his past relationship it doesn’t change how he feels about you so if he gets rid of the stuff you would like him to dispose of he still going to have the same feelings he had before he did that and so it’s not gonna change anything in reality. So I just wouldn’t ask him to do that because it’s really not your place I don’t feel. However he shouldn’t of said he would do it and acted like he was going to and then not done it because that is disrespectful. He probably doesn’t want to get rid of those things for valid reasons but you insisting probably makes him feel like he’s doing something wrong even though really he’s not so he’s stalling for time and trying to just avoid the whole thing. It would be nice if you could tell him that it doesn’t matter anymore because it’s not gonna change anything and you’re a big enough person to carry-on without needing to have him do something like that to give you the confidence in your relationship that you should already have.
You sound heartless and I feel bad for him. His mother raised him well. She deserves it for that alone. While you wait for your ‘basic life’ parents to die so you get the inheritance – which they could have spent by now but I am sure you convinced them it’s not a good time to sell or something
I’ve heard before that men should spend 10% of their annual salary on an engagement ring before. This is probably some marketing campaign but it is what I’ve heard. Honestly it sounds like she hasn’t really though this through at all since her reasoning is ‘that’s how it works.’ What are you financial goals? How much will she be contributing to a wedding? Do you even align on your financial values? Does she spend a lot of money on you? How much money does she make?
Would she be okay with covering the difference of the ring if you have a certain budget? If you are to be married you should be able to have these conversations. If you can’t even discuss a budget for a ring, there are bigger problems.
if she were to temporarily dye her hair one solid color for photos then do it again to have her other hair back, it would fry her hair because she would have to bleach it again afterwards
I have the HPV virus, and it gave me a growth in my mouth which thankfully wasn't cancerous but it let me know it was there.
The virus can lay dormant for long periods of time. My wife and I have been together for nearly 15 years and I'm pretty confident neither of us have been cheating. It's likely from partners I have had before her.
It doesn't make the other stuff ok, but it might not be this which has directly given you it. It could have come from a previous partner that either of you have had.
He dumped a lot on you all at once. If this isn't your thing that's okay. It's also okay to leave him and find someone whose values align more with yours. Therapy is great, but it's not the magic bullet that so many people on here think it will be. There's a very real chance you can't go back to how things were before, because things aren't the same. And they never will be. And it's okay to grieve that, and to not be okay with that.
I know I'm going to be downvoted, but ultimately you did abandon you child. It wasn't out of malice, but it had the same effect. It's time to talk an active part in your son's life and stay there. With some time and consistency, you can get a good relationship going.
There are no rules on whether or not a person should or can keep past photographs and other data from the relationships before, and the reason for keeping them probably has nothing to do with them having feelings for that person still. It just may be a record of your partners life which he has the right to manage and record however he likes.
This is why I keep pictures and other data like that although I started to throw some of it away because of bad relationships and I’m just ready to let go of the information (not the person whom I never looked back on again. I don’t care about the person but I like to hang onto information and data and stuff for a vague “just in case”. I don’t know why but it doesn’t mean I like the person. I keep a record of my life with photos, passwords, etc And I don’t feel like it’s my boyfriend’s place to insist I dispose of the record of my life. If that were always OK to do and always done nobody would ever have a record of anything that happened before the current partner and that’s crazy.
Ultimately whether or not he has photographs in other data of his past relationship it doesn’t change how he feels about you so if he gets rid of the stuff you would like him to dispose of he still going to have the same feelings he had before he did that and so it’s not gonna change anything in reality. So I just wouldn’t ask him to do that because it’s really not your place I don’t feel. However he shouldn’t of said he would do it and acted like he was going to and then not done it because that is disrespectful. He probably doesn’t want to get rid of those things for valid reasons but you insisting probably makes him feel like he’s doing something wrong even though really he’s not so he’s stalling for time and trying to just avoid the whole thing. It would be nice if you could tell him that it doesn’t matter anymore because it’s not gonna change anything and you’re a big enough person to carry-on without needing to have him do something like that to give you the confidence in your relationship that you should already have.
Maybe quit dating a human embodiment of dog shit?
You sound heartless and I feel bad for him. His mother raised him well. She deserves it for that alone. While you wait for your ‘basic life’ parents to die so you get the inheritance – which they could have spent by now but I am sure you convinced them it’s not a good time to sell or something
Where do you see this relationship going?
I’ve heard before that men should spend 10% of their annual salary on an engagement ring before. This is probably some marketing campaign but it is what I’ve heard. Honestly it sounds like she hasn’t really though this through at all since her reasoning is ‘that’s how it works.’ What are you financial goals? How much will she be contributing to a wedding? Do you even align on your financial values? Does she spend a lot of money on you? How much money does she make?
Would she be okay with covering the difference of the ring if you have a certain budget? If you are to be married you should be able to have these conversations. If you can’t even discuss a budget for a ring, there are bigger problems.
if she were to temporarily dye her hair one solid color for photos then do it again to have her other hair back, it would fry her hair because she would have to bleach it again afterwards
I have the HPV virus, and it gave me a growth in my mouth which thankfully wasn't cancerous but it let me know it was there.
The virus can lay dormant for long periods of time. My wife and I have been together for nearly 15 years and I'm pretty confident neither of us have been cheating. It's likely from partners I have had before her.
It doesn't make the other stuff ok, but it might not be this which has directly given you it. It could have come from a previous partner that either of you have had.
He dumped a lot on you all at once. If this isn't your thing that's okay. It's also okay to leave him and find someone whose values align more with yours. Therapy is great, but it's not the magic bullet that so many people on here think it will be. There's a very real chance you can't go back to how things were before, because things aren't the same. And they never will be. And it's okay to grieve that, and to not be okay with that.