conuly: (Default)
conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote in [community profile] agonyaunt2023-10-08 05:31 am

Yes, I really believe this is a real letter by a real person about a real problem he really has

Dear Annie: Here's my situation. In my last year of college, I met the most beautiful and intelligent girl I've even known. We instantly hit it off and began dating. We have so much in common and share the same values and goals for life. Because we were attending college out of state, we didn't meet each other's parents until graduation. All six of us got along well.

Fast-forward two very busy years deciding where to live, buying a house, getting married and landing two incredible high-paying jobs in our career field, we are now living "the dream."

We settled down in my wife's hometown and often see her parents on Sunday for dinner. Six months ago, we were at her parent's home for Sunday dinner as usual. Her two younger siblings and their dates joined us. While we were eating, her father's phone beeped with a particular sound indicating a message. This is one of those sounds where "if you know, you know." When I heard it, I instantly knew, and he instantly went pale as a ghost when I looked at him. Nobody else even noticed this or stopped the wonderful conversation. Because I'm a very secretly closeted bisexual man with very limited experience with men, I recognized the beep from a particular gay hookup site I used a few times before meeting my wife. Since meeting my wife, I've not looked for men to hook up with ever.

Here's where it gets complicated (and you can probably guess where this is going). A few days later, I saw her father at the hardware store. He invited me to go to a small coffeehouse to talk. He knew I recognized the beep that night and wanted to discuss it. Turns out that he is a very secretly closeted gay man. He and my mother-in-law married very young due to a pregnancy, and he didn't know himself very well sexually yet. He stays in the closet, plays it straight because he loves his family and career and wants to keep all of it for himself and for them. I understand this completely because I'm in the same boat. Neither one of us had ever suspected the other of having homosexual tendencies. We were both surprised by the other.

The following weekend, I went up to my father-in-law's cabin with him alone, not unusual, but this time we made love. We both knew this might happen, and neither of us tried to stop it. We spent the weekend together and had the best time connecting while both feeling incredibly guilty about it. This new aspect of our relationship has continued for the last six months and, fortunately, nobody suspects anything, but it's wearing me down. I know I can't have my cake and eat it, too, but I don't know how to "quit him," as Jack Twist would say. Also, it doesn't help that he's a very handsome, fit and muscular man in his early 40s. He never lost his college athlete physique. Please advise how to stop this relationship. -- Guilty and Bewildered


Dear Guilty and Bewildered: You are right about one thing: This relationship must stop.

Sit down with your father-in-law and agree on how and when to come clean to both your wives, ideally sooner rather than later. They will no doubt be devastated and blindsided by this news -- and it will take immense courage on both your parts -- but you have few alternatives. Your wife and MIL deserve complete honesty and transparency; you and your FIL also deserve to proudly be who you are without having to hide. Sweeping this under the rug, even if you're able to, will only lead to continued guilt and unhappiness, in your marriages and with yourselves.

Link

cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (Default)

[personal profile] cimorene 2023-10-08 10:04 am (UTC)(link)
Some of these details are really bizarre, but I can't figure out why you would put them in a fake letter any more than in a real one, unless this letter started life as a pitch for a tv movie.
Edited 2023-10-08 10:04 (UTC)
cereta: Me as drawn by my FIL (Default)

[personal profile] cereta 2023-10-08 12:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I think I might have seen this movie, actually.
blueinkedfrost: (Default)

[personal profile] blueinkedfrost 2023-10-08 10:02 am (UTC)(link)
AITA for asking my fiance's daughter to be a bridesmaid/groomswoman?

I'm (M20s) marrying my husband (M40s) soon, and I'd really like his daughter (F20s) to be part of the ceremony! We asked her to be a bridesmaid/groomswoman, but she started screaming at us and slammed the door in our faces. AITA?

P.S. I used to be married to the daughter, then we got divorced at about the same time my fiance was divorced from his wife (daughter's mother).
minoanmiss: A detail of the Ladies in Blue fresco (Default)

[personal profile] minoanmiss 2023-10-08 12:10 pm (UTC)(link)

These two letters have killed me. lies on the ground dead

blueinkedfrost: (Default)

[personal profile] blueinkedfrost 2023-10-08 07:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks!
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)

[personal profile] redbird 2023-10-08 01:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Talk about burying the lede.

He knows why she started screaming at them, and snuck it into a P.S., as if people would say "you're good, she shouldn't scream at you" and not change their minds when they realized this was "AITA for asking my ex-wife to be part of my wedding to her father?"
dissectionist: A digital artwork of a biomechanical horse, head and shoulder only. It’s done in shades of grey and black and there are alien-like spines and rib-like structures over its body. (Default)

[personal profile] dissectionist 2023-10-08 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
I’m 99% sure it’s just a satirical revision of the letter into an AITA post, and it’s hilarious.
blueinkedfrost: (Default)

[personal profile] blueinkedfrost 2023-10-08 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, satirical in intent.
lethe1: (bh: riiight...)

[personal profile] lethe1 2023-10-08 10:25 am (UTC)(link)
Uhuh.
watersword: I'm not a very good writer, however/but I'm an excellent rewriter. (Writing: rewriting)

[personal profile] watersword 2023-10-08 01:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"Dear Penthouse, I never thought it could happen to me...."
jadelennox: due South, Ray/Ray confrontation: "It never seemed quite right to hold it all at bay" (due south: v/k jealousy)

[personal profile] jadelennox 2023-10-08 03:33 pm (UTC)(link)

yuppppppp.

adrian_turtle: (Default)

[personal profile] adrian_turtle 2023-10-08 03:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Distinctive beep? WTF? Grindr just makes its own distinctive beep on every phone no matter what the user tells the phone to do? That would be an amazing movie all by itself.
azurelunatic: Vivid pink Alaskan wild rose. (Default)

[personal profile] azurelunatic 2023-10-08 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
On Android I get the opposite problem: beeps I've customized falling back to the system default, and I'm extremely mad about it.
Edited 2023-10-08 22:13 (UTC)
mommy: Wanda Maximoff; Scarlet Witch (Default)

[personal profile] mommy 2023-10-08 05:35 pm (UTC)(link)
"Don't fuck your in-laws" seems like an extremely low bar to go over, even for people who cheat on their spouses.
movingfinger: (Default)

[personal profile] movingfinger 2023-10-08 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)
This is even better than the letter from the person who realized they'd been doing threesomes with their date's parents.
shanaqui: Mitsuru from Persona 3. ((Mitsuru) Unimpressed)

[personal profile] shanaqui 2023-10-08 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)

We both knew this might happen, and neither of us tried to stop it.

Ah, yes, an irresistible force occurred that forced tab A into slot B (or whatever) and you just didn't try to fight it. No one actively did anything here. It just happened.

harpers_child: melaka fray reading from "Tales of the Slayers". (Default)

[personal profile] harpers_child 2023-10-09 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
See they were in the kitchen deep frying some fish for dinner, and had taken off their clothes so they didn't get oil spatters on them, and slipped on the oil on the floor ...
castiron: cartoony sketch of owl (Default)

[personal profile] castiron 2023-10-09 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
Forget the rest of the letter; I'm stuck on the hookup app having a distinctive beep that other users will recognize. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's really bad design for an app to potentially out people in environments where they might not want to be outed. You can't assume that the only people who'll know the sound are other current users of the app.
blueinkedfrost: (Default)

[personal profile] blueinkedfrost 2023-10-09 07:08 am (UTC)(link)

I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's really bad design for an app to potentially out people in environments where they might not want to be outed.


This is likely a reference to the real dating app Grindr, which is known to have a distinctive sound that other users recognise. Like you say, it is a risk. It is possible to change the sound if you are a user who does not want to be outed.

dissectionist: A digital artwork of a biomechanical horse, head and shoulder only. It’s done in shades of grey and black and there are alien-like spines and rib-like structures over its body. (Default)

[personal profile] dissectionist 2023-10-09 02:15 pm (UTC)(link)
While some apps (including Grindr) have their own tones, apps generally either have to ask for permission to send notifications when the app isn’t open and/or one can go into the settings and remove notification permission. It would be real careless for anyone to leave on real-time notifications for any app they use to cheat, much less a cheater who is super in the closet to leave Grindr set to notify.
dissectionist: A digital artwork of a biomechanical horse, head and shoulder only. It’s done in shades of grey and black and there are alien-like spines and rib-like structures over its body. (Default)

[personal profile] dissectionist 2023-10-09 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, there could be some unconscious self-sabotage at play. Or cowardice, if they want to end things with their current partner but don’t have the guts to confess and break things off. Setting it up so the partner finds out about the affair and does the work of ending things is truly a shitty way to go, but I do know someone who did such a thing, and I’d expect he’s not the only one in the world.
melannen: Commander Valentine of Alpha Squad Seven, a red-haired female Nick Fury in space, smoking contemplatively (Default)

[personal profile] melannen 2023-10-09 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)
I have read enough scenarios where people recognize each other by the Grindr beep that I wouldn't be surprised if some people leave it on deliberately as a sort of active gaydar, assuming that anyone who might recognize it would be safe to come out to.

That said, that's a very bad assumption and those scenarios also all sounded more Penthouse letter than real. But it's at least an established trope in imaginary stories for closeted gay men.
dissectionist: A digital artwork of a biomechanical horse, head and shoulder only. It’s done in shades of grey and black and there are alien-like spines and rib-like structures over its body. (Default)

[personal profile] dissectionist 2023-10-09 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
The whole thing felt very Penthousey, but especially the “he’s kept his ~*~muscular physique~*~ and he’s only in his early 40s”. Though in many ways that makes it even creepier - aside from the fact that this is supposed to be his father-in-law, LW is two years out of college (which can often mean just a two-year program - LW would likely be 22-24 at the time of the letter) and this dude nearly double his age is going after him? If this letter were true, his FIL would be a lying cheater with no boundaries, someone comfortable with a nearly incestuous relationship, and a middle-aged creep pursuing a young adult.