Talk therapy is an important step in dealing with gender issues and sorting out whether transition is the way to go, and what that should look like, and how to handle the problems that come up in the process, including stigma, etc. The key is finding a therapist who knows their stuff.

It really depends on what markers they are looking at, and how exclusive and historically deep those markers can be traced to a geographic location to establish ancestry. The reality is that while many people in Europe stayed put, quite a few didn't, and the more data is gathered, the more they are finding that various historical events had greater genomic impacts (i.e., resulted in more intermixture of populations) than previously thought. One example I came across recently: https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/ancestry/irish-viking-norman-dna It could be that some of those actually-Norwegian markers are in the database on which your DNA profile was analyzed as indicating British Isles ancestry. Or, it could be that your great-grandfather was adopted. Or they may have come to the U.S. from Norway, but may have migrated to Norway from somewhere else first. There are a lot of possibilities. I would probably get analyses from a couple of other companies, to compare. Often they analyze different markers and have different aggregate data sets for comparison, so your results could be significantly different.

My overall reading goals are to take in a mix of fiction and nonfiction, spiritually enriching, informative, and fun selections; to keep up with the Druid book discussion/study group I'm in, to put eyes on words not related directly to work more often than last year, and to read books that I bought ages ago and still haven't read. My currently reading list: The Stand (unabridged) by Stephen King (on audiobook; it's over 48 hours long, so this will definitely take me more than a week, as I listen to audiobooks on my commute and when driving for work, about 6-10 hours a week). Update: I'm now on Chapter 72, with just 48 minutes left on the audio book! Looks like I'll finish this week! The Táin translated by Ciaran Carson Update: I've finished through chapter seven. I'm reading the end-notes as I go, too. Odin: Ecstasy, Runes & Norse Magic by Diana L. Paxson (this is one of those "bought ages ago and still haven't read" books) Reading on Kindle. I haven't made progress on this one in the last couple of weeks. Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor Almost done with Chapter 30, 93% done with the book. George Carlin Reads to You by George Carlin. Started this one riding in the car with my co-worker. There's 3 hours and 25 minutes left on the audiobook. It's possible I'll finish this one if my coworker and I carpool to court again. Next Up: I think I have one of Kamala Harris' books on hold from the library on audiobook. I picked up The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin on Audible (not available on audiobook from my local library). I still feel like I need to finish some more of my current reading list before I go looking for more, but the following have been added to my "want to read" list: The Uninhabitable Earth by Davis Wallace-Wells (This will fit the "science" category of my 10x10 challenge). Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport My 10x10 challenge categories: 1. humor 2. science (nonfiction) 3. fantasy & science fiction by new-to-me authors (Thank you to those who made suggestions, I'll be going back to refer to them later!) 4. LGBT 5. classic fiction 6. folklore (The Táin will satisfy this) 7. religion (nonfiction) (Odin: Ecstasy, Runes & Norse Magic by Diana L. Paxson will satisfy this) 8. law (nonfiction) 9. modern fiction in translation (i.e., originally published in a language other than English) 10. books by women of color (Stone Sky met this requirement) The books must of course all be separate selections, though they may fit into more than one category, they cannot be used for more than one, so that I read 10 books for it. Books I've read for the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge this year (most recently completed first): 3. American Like Me by America Ferrera. 2. The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin (third book in the Broken Earth series) I heard a great Science Friday talk with the author about this series last week! FEBRUARY 27, 2019SciFri Extra: A Night Of Volcanoes And Earthquakes With N.K. Jemisin (Scroll down the podcast's page to the date find it). 1. The Sky-Blue Wolves by S. M. Stirling

I got really busy and missed the thread for week eight. Phooey. My overall reading goals are to take in a mix of fiction and nonfiction, spiritually enriching, informative, and fun selections; to keep up with the Druid book discussion/study group I'm in, to put eyes on words not related directly to work more often than last year, and to read books that I bought ages ago and still haven't read. My currently reading list: The Stand (unabridged) by Stephen King (on audiobook; it's over 48 hours long, so this will definitely take me more than a week, as I listen to audiobooks on my commute and when driving for work, about 6-10 hours a week). Update: I'm now on Chapter 59, with 10 hours left on the audio book. The Táin translated by Ciaran Carson Update: I've finished through chapter seven. I'm reading the end-notes as I go, too. Odin: Ecstasy, Runes & Norse Magic by Diana L. Paxson (this is one of those "bought ages ago and still haven't read" books) Reading on Kindle. I haven't made progress on this one in the last couple of weeks. Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor On Chapter 30. George Carlin Reads to You by George Carlin. Started this one riding in the car with my co-worker. There's 3 hours and 25 minutes left on the audiobook. Next Up: I think I have one of Kamala Harris' books on hold from the library on audiobook. I picked up The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin on Audible (not available on audiobook from my local library). I still feel like I need to finish some more of my current reading list before I go looking for more, but the following have been added to my "want to read" list: The Uninhabitable Earth by Davis Wallace-Wells (This will fit the "science" category of my 10x10 challenge). Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport My 10x10 challenge categories: 1. humor 2. science (nonfiction) 3. fantasy & science fiction by new-to-me authors (Thank you to those who made suggestions, I'll be going back to refer to them later!) 4. LGBT 5. classic fiction 6. folklore (The Táin will satisfy this) 7. religion (nonfiction) (Odin: Ecstasy, Runes & Norse Magic by Diana L. Paxson will satisfy this) 8. law (nonfiction) 9. modern fiction in translation (i.e., originally published in a language other than English) 10. books by women of color (Stone Sky met this requirement) The books must of course all be separate selections, though they may fit into more than one category, they cannot be used for more than one, so that I read 10 books for it.

Sounds like he's trying to cut off his nose to spite his face. Your attorney sounds awesome and very astute about the interpersonal stuff! I hope he doesn't fire his current attorney and she can manage him into a reasonable settlement soon. You definitely deserve to be shut of this mess without shortchanging yourself!

She has had constipation in the past when she was younger. That might be it. We may try a run of Miralax, see if that helps before going in for expensive testing. The urination incident was not a little bit of leakage, though. It was a flood. She realized she needed to go, stood up, and there it went. It is to date an isolated incident, though.

DD has started having accidents. 2 BM, one urination so far over the last few weeks. When it happens, she doesn't feel she needs to go until right before it just...comes out. Without her control. Once it happened while she was just chilling in the car waiting for me, and twice (the BM incidents) happened at school. She recently started a new medication, but the prescribing nurse says it's not a side effect of the new med. At this point, we're going to schedule her an appointment with a new PCP (her old one up and left the practice she was at so we need a new one). She has fibromyalgia, migraines, anxiety, ADHD, and mood disorder NOS. She doesn't need this on top of it all. Anyone have a clue what this MIGHT be?

Perhaps we should have athletes do like they did in ancient Greece--wear nothing. Then there would be no double standard.😏

A person (especially a highly anxious one) can, in my experience, feel like they are being gaslighted when they are simply encountering some combination of their own faulty memory, the faulty memory of the person they think is gaslighting them, and miscommunication. This happens a lot with my teenager. Me: You were supposed to do XYZ and I told you if you didn't then the consequence would be ABC, so now ABC is happening." Her: "You never said that!" Me: I told you on Day 1 and texted you a reminder on Day 4 that you you had until today to do XYZ. Go back and look. Her: I never got that text! Review of phones may reveal that either I thought I sent the text but it didn't transmit, in which case I roll back the consequence and give her another chance because of the miscommunication, or that the text is there, in which case her likely reaction is: Her: "But I forgot! That's not fair!" And we go through with the consequence. And probably I try and give more reminders the next time.🙄 If I was gaslighting her, I would continue to insist that I'd told her and follow through with what to her is a very capricious consequence, even when my extraneous proof that I told her proved I was mistaken--a gaslighter would just say they also told her out loud and she shouldn't have needed the reminder anyway, it's all her fault.

I will get isolated images into my head, but it doesn't run like a movie. Like, I'll have an idea of what I think the character or described scenery looks like, but it doesn't run like a movie. The closest I'll get to "movie" is when I'm reading an action sequence. Then I'll tend to visualize the moves described, but again, it's not really visual like a movie is, more like...a sense of it that's not visual but still shows movement. Like, prioperception (your sense of your own body's movement and position in space), only of the action. It's enough that if it's badly written so that I can't follow it in a way that makes sense to me, I will notice. I will add that when I was younger, I tended to think in written words, rather than "hear" what I'm thinking or reading in my head. This is despite thorough phonics instruction. I can read aloud just fine, but when I read to myself, I don't "hear" it any more than I see/visualize it. I don't think in writing so much anymore, except when I'm planning in my head something I'm going to write. This is all to the good, as I have gotten better at focusing on/absorbing things I hear (though still weaker on recall of visual input), which is important in my line of work.

I know plenty of people who maintain family type relationships without contributing to the global population. People who live with and take care of their parents as they age, people who help take care of and provide for nieces and nephews (without necessarily having any legal obligation to do so) people who form proxy families with peers and with younger people in friend/mentor situations; people who simply settle down as a couple with someone, without kids but with companionship (one friend I have in mine remained consciously child-free, but was married at one point and after divorce and a break from being in a LTR has been in a long-term live-in relationship for over a decade; she's in her late 40's); people who choose to live in polyamorous, multigenerational, or other extended/expanded family households (ex: my younger sisters shared a household for a number of years. One was married, the other a single mom. The married one has a child now, but that niece came along several years after this arrangement started); people who only have one child but who go on to help care for grandkids; people who adopt. There are at least seven people in the world who call my mother "mom" and she only gave birth to 3 of us. If the laws would catch up and let more than 2 people at a time adopt/take legal responsibility to act as guardian for a child (with the consent of existing parents of course), there would be more security available for such arrangements, to the benefit of the children involved. The "modern" nuclear family is an accident of history, and not the only answer to how to have families, keep people connected in families over the life course, and raise children. It's not even a very good answer, with the way elders and childless people can fall through the cracks, the lack of safety net when reality falls short of the ideal, the importance it places on sex over any other kind of loving human interaction, and the remaining vestiges of ownership of women and children that cling to it out of the patriarchal feudal system that preceded it..

In my state, this scenario could very well result in charges for the guy--and for the parents that let her date him in the first place.

I dated a 31 year old when I was 18. we had a similar level of maturity, similar religious beliefs, similar relationship and work ethics. I was in the Navy, while he was a civilian, and what we did not have was similar views of respect for authority and the need to follow the letter of the law even while no one was looking, so it didn't last long. I had a high school friend who married at 18 a man who was 31. They're still married last I heard, with 2 grown kids. A few months shy of 18 is not that drastic of an age waiver. Now, my ex-stepdad's 3rd wife was younger than one of my sisters he helped raise (and definitely young enough to be his daughter herself). That was a train wreck waiting to happen and definitely creepy. It also didn't last a year, so there's that.

In your shoes I would look some more to see if you can find a virtual high school that does block scheduling.

This (2nd parent adoption) is actually a very common adoption scenario. I have 2 adopted siblings. I may have more if my 2 adult foster siblings who have thought about it actually decide to go through with asking my mom to adopt them. I hope they do!

In a house that size, with a decent living area, I'd be comfortable inviting 50 people. More, if the weather was likely to suit outdoor entertainment and you have a patio/yard to use as part of the party space.

The last TWO weeks I thought I'd posted an update on my progress, but it was still sitting in the reply box on the previous week's thread! Oops! My overall reading goals are to take in a mix of fiction and nonfiction, spiritually enriching, informative, and fun selections; to keep up with the Druid book discussion/study group I'm in, to put eyes on words not related directly to work more often than last year, and to read books that I bought ages ago and still haven't read. My currently reading list: The Stand (unabridged) by Stephen King (on audiobook; it's over 48 hours long, so this will definitely take me more than a week, as I listen to audiobooks on my commute and when driving for work, about 6-10 hours a week). Update: After leaving it for a bit, I came back and had to backtrack because I lost my place! I'm now on Chapter 46. The Táin translated by Ciaran Carson Update: I've finished the fourth chapter. I'm reading the end-notes as I go, too. Odin: Ecstasy, Runes & Norse Magic by Diana L. Paxson (this is one of those "bought ages ago and still haven't read" books) Reading on Kindle, I have finished 4 chapters. Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor On Chapter 25. George Carlin Reads to You by George Carlin. Started this one riding in the car with my co-worker again. Next Up: I think I have one of Kamala Harris' books on hold from the library on audiobook. I picked up The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin on Audible (not available on audiobook from my local library). I still feel like I need to finish some more of my current reading list before I go looking for more! My 10x10 challenge categories: 1. humor 2. science (nonfiction) 3. fantasy & science fiction by new-to-me authors (Thank you to those who made suggestions, I'll be going back to refer to them later!) 4. LGBT 5. classic fiction 6. folklore (The Táin will satisfy this) 7. religion (nonfiction) (Odin: Ecstasy, Runes & Norse Magic by Diana L. Paxson will satisfy this) 8. law (nonfiction) 9. modern fiction in translation (i.e., originally published in a language other than English) 10. books by women of color (Stone Sky met this requirement) The books must of course all be separate selections, though they may fit into more than one category, they cannot be used for more than one, so that I read 10 books for it.

My understanding of how NPD works is that there is a lack of self-awareness of why they are doing what they are doing. That is, they try and manipulate people into the place they have assigned in their orbit, but often are not conscious that that is what they are doing.

I was vaccinated against everything and a bag of chips when I joined the Navy. Six shots, three in each arm, right in a row, at boot camp in-processing. Later I got half the anthrax vaccine series. I have in the past refused to get a routine booster I was told to get on the basis of "you can't show proof of immunization, so get this shot." I opted for titers instead. We did some delayed vaccinations, and I need to check on exactly which Hep B vaccine DD got, or do titers for her at some point, because the school claims she needs a third shot but the CDC catch-up scheduler says that's not necessary if 2 doses of the adult formulation are given after age 11. In the mean time, I filed an exemption form because it's free and titers aren't, and it takes less time than tracking down old medical records from doctors we no longer see.

Out of curiosity, are you then not vaccinated against Measles or Mumps? I looked in to the history, and only the Rubella vaccine was developed using embryonic cells.

Not if the other end of the cell phone has an adult confident in the child's ability to solve their own problems. Recent text from DD: Mom, is there any money on my lunch account?" Me: Why? DD: Because I only packed yogurt and granola and I'm still hungry. Me: I recall we bought other things. Why didn't you pack more? DD: I was running late and in a hurry. Me: You usually get to school an hour early. Next time perhaps you'll remember to put more in your lunch since it only takes 30 seconds even when you are running late. I promise you won't starve before you get home from school. I'm not adding money to your lunch account, that money was already spent on the food we bought that you are supposed to take with you.

That statute in no way contemplates it being unlawful to ever under any circumstance leave a child under 12 alone.

I don't recall seeing JAWM in the thread title.

I pretty much just assume any text, video, or audio message I send over any app is about as secure as announcing something on the jumbotron at the Superbowl, with the main source of my security in that no one other than the recipient of the message actually cares what I have to say, including the government and the owner of the app.

This is absolutely a matter of "know your kid." I was a summer "latchkey" kid from age 10 onward. My mom continued to put my younger sisters in child care over the summer and didn't routinely let them be home alone for long at all until they were in their upper teens. Especially together and without an older sibling around. The way she put her reasoning was, with me (her firstborn), her biggest worry with me home alone (while my sisters were at daycare) was that the house would burn down around me and I wouldn't notice because I had my nose in a book. With my sisters, the concern was more that they'd set the fire. 😋 Also, at 10 I was NOT cooped up in the house alone all day. As long as I called my mom to let her know where I'd be and called to check in when I got home again, I could go play at one of several friends' houses (one friend had a nanny, the other's mom was a teacher so home in summer), or go to the park or city pool a few blocks away (with friends or alone, I had a summer pass), or go to the library (in which case I'd park my bicycle in the back of the print shop where my mom worked, which was across the street and half a block up an alley from the library), or go to the grocery store to buy candy (usually with friends, but sometimes alone). My boundaries were the 4-lane roads through town; I was not allowed to cross 23rd street, and could cross 4th only to go to the print shop/library. Other than that, I could also go for a bike ride and wander where I willed. My kids will regularly go places together on public transit, and have since DD was about 12. DD started riding public transit to and from school alone at just shy of 11, in 6th grade. DS has been walking to school on his own since halfway through K, and home again on his own since the start of 1st grade. He has to go through our condo complex, cross 1 street, and walk a block to get there. There's a park next to the school, and he started going there by himself occasionally when he was 5 1/2, until some nosy parker called the cops on him. Now, he's afraid to set foot outside our complex by himself because he's worried about being harassed by police. If not for his anxiety over this, he'd be allowed to roam anywhere within the 1/2-square mile bounds of 4-lane roads where our neighborhood is situated. By this coming summer I'd be encouraging him to go to the library on his own, if not for the policy that doesn't allow children under 12 to be in the library unaccompanied by an adult (his sister can't even take him to the library), since he'll be old enough to ride public transit independently at 8.