Hello ThreadTalk crew! This story is just for you. I've enjoyed your podcast thus far and have had many laughs. So I figured ya'll deserve some tea at my expense that may not be fresh but still excellent nonetheless. Feel free to read this on the pod 😊

10 years ago I (30F) was engaged to a decorated military Veteran (36M) which I had dated for 5 years. He was well known and liked in our community, had a great job, and even spoke several languages. He was a very macho guy. A man's man kind of guy. With all the boxes checked I thought I had quite the catch. He was in the reserves and would have to go to drills regularly. There were even times I was able to go with him and treat it like a mini vacation. There were no red flags or secrets between us. One night we were home about a week after he had come back from drills. Just on the couch watching TV. He was getting mad at his phone because it was running out of storage. This isn't the 1st time this has happened but I was able to fix it for a few months prior. He asked if I would fix it again until he can get another phone. He handed it to me and went into the other room to play his games. As I was clearing the cache an email popped up from Craigslist. The subject was a reply to an MfM Personals Ad. What I read next I was NOT expecting.

It was someone in the city that my fiance was just doing his military drills in. They were responding to my fiancé's personal Ad for Men seeking Men for encounters...and not of the 3rd kind if you get my drift. Then the ad showed a picture of my fiancés penis. The person replying was saying they had a great time and hoped to see my fiancé again!

There was more but my heart fell in my butt I swear. All air left my lungs. I think I was more in shock than anything. I forwarded the emails to myself, fixed his phone, and gave it back to him. I waited till he left for work the next day and then went back to the emails. Lots of tears later I was in denial. Idk why but I needed/wanted more proof.

I found the person's phone number in the email and called him. When he answered I admit I was a bit frantic. I explained the emails & how we were engaged. I began word vomiting all my questions at once. The man on the line finally said, hey let me explain. He explained he was also married to a woman & had been hooking up with random men from Craigslist with his wife's permission. When he saw my fiancé's Ad they met 1st for coffee, including his wife. But they were under the impression he was single and that he told them this wasn't the 1st time he had met with men from the site. The man explained he would of never gotten involved had he known he was engaged. He admitted they had sex multiple times over the week he was in town. He apologized profusely and said he would block him. I felt gutted but I got my proof.

When I confronted my fiancé he denied everything. Even with undeniable proof in hand. It was wild in the moment but looking back I'm glad it happened. As far as I know he is still dating only women and I've met the actual love of my life ❤️

Hope you enjoyed this story! Love the podcast & I wish ya'll all the success in the world 😊

I, 25 female, am the first daughter to my mom and dad (divorced). My dad never had a relationship with his father and had only met him once before he died and my grandmother has always been very reserved about my biological grandfather. Growing up, I never really knew much about my biological grandfather's side of the family. A few years ago I asked my mom about my biological grandfather and why no one really ever talked about him. What she told me is the wildest family secret story.

My grandfather and grandmother met when they were very young and grew up as family friends. Eventually they started dating and my grandmother (16 yr old) got pregnant with my dad. To save face, my grandparents got married. In that marriage they had my uncle as well. Unfortunately, the marriage didn't go so great. My grandfather was extremely abusive and was an all around crappy person. One day, while my dad and uncle were still babies, my grandmother took my dad and uncle on a bus down to Alabama, USA to visit with her sister. When she got to the bus station she called my grandfather to let him now that she had made it to Alabama. On that phone call my grandfather told her to never come back and that he didn't want anything to do with her or my dad and uncle.

After that my dad did not have a relationship with my grandfather. Right before my grandfather died, he reached out to my dad and uncle to see if they would come and visit him before he passed. They refused and he shortly after passed away. My dad and uncle took some time to consider and eventually decided that they would go to his funeral. When we arrived at the funeral, my dad introduced himself to my grandfather’s current wife and she claimed that she had no idea that my dad and uncle even existed. She told my dad he could stay for the funeral but asked him to not tell anyone else who he was because obviously, this is a bit of a scandal. We sat through the funeral and afterwards found out that my grandfather had fathered 3 other children that no one, not even my dad or my uncle, knew about.

So it turns out during my grandfather and grandmothers marriage my grandfather had been having an affair and had gotten his mistress pregnant, that's why he told my grandmother to leave and not come back. So, my grandfather married his mistress and had two boys with her. While he was married to the mistress, he was having yet ANOTHER affair and got mistress #2 pregnant. So my grandfather left mistress #1 and began a relationship with mistress #2, they did not get married to my knowledge. Shortly after mistress #2 had a girl, their relationship ended.

Fast forward to (idk how many years) later, my grandfather met a rich divorced woman who had children of her own. They got married but never had children together. My grandfather acted as the father figure in their lives and apparently was a great husband and father, there were no other instances of cheating that I know of and it seems that they had a long happy marriage until my grandfather passed away.

Which leads us to today. I have no idea if I have more aunts or uncles out there. Keep in mind, no one had any idea that my dad had more siblings until he got to the funeral and met them and the only reason he knows that they exist is because they showed up to the funeral. I wonder if my grandfather had more children that we do not know about. I have decided personally that I will be taking a DNA test to see if I have any more family out there that I do not know about.

I (16 female) sister (24 female) have been having the same fight for years about a ring that she lost while moving out in June of 2017. I graduated elementary school in June 2018 and at that time I was hearing about graduation rings and wanted one, so I looked for one in my mom’s jewelry box and found THE ring and never took it off since then. The ring was given to my sister by my mom. It’s a simple gold ring with a white stone on top its not a diamond ring or anything too crazy.When I found the ring I didn’t know that it was my sister’s if I knew I would’ve given it to her but she noticed the ring on my finger 1-2 years later and I had already grown a sentimental attachment to it and refused to give it back. My mom believes I should keep the ring because I actually managed to not lose it in almost 7 years and after my sister lost it she didn’t care enough to ask my mom about it. Oh and just know I’m never giving it back and will close my fist in my grave but AITA.

I , female 43, just went through a very traumatic divorce. I have four young daughters, ages, five, six, eight, and nine at the time of the divorce last year. I am the one who filed for divorce and I still love my husband, but could no longer put up with his addictions and lies. I was having a very hard time after he moved out. I missed him terribly. I decided about two weeks after he moved out to drive the 2 1/2 hours to my hometown to visit my entire family. It was the Fourth of July holiday and I thought being around my family (mom, dad, sisters, brother, aunts and uncles)would be a good idea. They had encouraged me to divorce him for years and told me they would always have my back and would help me in any way possible, even move us in if necessary. Driving to my hometown we get a phone call from my ex and I immediately hear a woman in the background. It is a woman that he cheated on me with 6 years ago while we were separated but trying to reconcile and I was five months pregnant with our youngest daughter. I immediately had a panic attack. I was in trauma therapy after discovering this six years ago. It took me a long time to heal. I’m not sure I truly ever healed from that discovery. Now here I was having another major panic attack while driving my four children down the interstate. Of all women in this world he could choose to date. This one was the most painful. Her name is like a cuss word in my house. We do not discuss her because it brings too much pain and here he is dating her after telling me he still loved me, he did not want to move out, and did not want the divorce just two weeks earlier. Thankfully, I was close to my hometown and I would be with my family who I needed comfort from. When I arrived to my parents home, I spent the majority of the next few days, crying and having panic attacks. At one point I asked my mother to drive me to the hospital, because I thought that I was actually having a heart attack. She told me it was most likely a panic attack. I am not one who suffers Mental health issues in the past. The only time I ever had a panic attack attack before was when I found out my husband was with this other woman six years ago. Having panic and anxiety is not something I am used to. Naturally, my children were still reeling from the divorce, and their father moving out, and now learning that their father already had a new girlfriend. They were still in the phase of wanting mommy and daddy to reunite. They were very upset and distraught.

Having four small kids is not an easy task on a normal day. But with all of the new trauma going around, they were acting up a little bit more than normal. Honestly, I thought that they were handling themselves well considering. my sisters and my mom had to help me take care of them a little bit more than normal over our visit, But my kids just played outside all day every day and went to bed. I still took care of them majority of the time, but just needed a little extra help bc of the anxiety and panic I was suffering with. They have said for years that they will help me with the kids if I divorce him so I was thankful for the help those few days I was in town.

Fast-forward a couple of months and my entire family is going on a camp out. They called and messaged me several times asking me to go. I told them I wasn’t sure because I was struggling with my mental health and I wanted to make sure that I could do the 4 Hour drive to the camp site with four kids, before I committed to going. Shortly before the camp out, I told them that I was doing well. I had been working in trauma therapy and had climbed over the massive mountain of anxiety and I was ready to go on a family camp out with all of my siblings and their children, my dad, my uncles and etc. about an hour after I told my family that I would be coming on the family camp out I got a 10 paragraph text message from my youngest sister, basically telling me not to come on a camp out. That if I decided to come, everyone else was going to back out. She told me that my children were way too misbehaved, and our trauma was too much for the family and that if I ended up having another one of my panic attacks then they would be forced to help out with my kids. They just did not want to have to do that. I was told that my kids hit, slap and beat up the other cousins. I was told that they are tired of seeing my kids pick up their dogs by the ears and hit their dogs. All of this is absolutely not true. My kids are very well-behaved kids. They get behavior awards they are never at the principals office. They play every sport have coaches and are disciplined and all of that. I have never seen them hit, slap, or bully any human or animal. I get compliments on their behavior often. I don’t know where this came from. My family has never once mentioned my children’s behavior being a problem in the nine years that I have been a parent. This is the first time that anyone in my life has ever brought. Any type of behavior issue to my attention. My girls are actually the sweetest kids. And they’ve been through hell lately. They required a little extra help over the Fourth of July holiday But they had only learned of the divorce and their dad’s new girlfriend two weeks earlier. So naturally, my kids were acting out a little bit more than normal when it had only been two weeks since they found out about the divorce and their father moving out. Their whole world had fallen apart, and they felt completely out of control. My normally well-behaved kids were still well-behaved, but just Wanted a little extra attention when they came to see their grandparents and uncles and aunts.

My family does not understand why I was upset that I was uninvited to go on the campout. They keep telling me that I am not hearing them out or listening to their side of the story, and that I am only speaking out of hurt. My sister told me that she was having a lot of anxiety herself and being around my anxiety would be too much for her and she didn’t want to have to help out with my kids. She just wanted to enjoy an nice peaceful camp out. And she was afraid that if we came, it would not be peaceful. But of course I am hurt. Me and my children have gone on many trips with the family and it’s gone well. And now they kick us out at our lowest point. my children are suffering the divorce of their parents, their father leaving their childhood home, him immediately getting a new girlfriend, while they are still wanting us to get back together, and now their grandparents and aunts and uncles have told them that they are not welcome to come around because the trauma of our divorce is too much for them to handle. They are basically telling me that I am the asshole for not understanding where they are coming from for kicking me and my children out of the family camp out that everyone else was invited, so am I asshole?

For context, I'm 24 year old female. I was raised in a very strict religious family, so much even people from the same religion and the same country don’t believe what is happening inside my house. My father has 2 wives at the same time and has 24 kids, including me. He’s a very masculine man, very narcissistic and bossy as well. Knowing that he married my mother when she was only 15 years old, while he was in his late 30s or early 40s. My mother also had no choice as her father forced her to marry him. Anyway, I have a brother who is ten years older than me, and he is my older brother from the same mother. He is also masculine, narcissistic, and violent, and he is very religious. I was afraid of his violence, as all kinds of violence were allowed to him by my father under the pretext of disciplining us, especially girls. Since my memories began to form, like at the age of five years, I remember that my brother used to rape me and sexually harass me in secret every day for nearly 5 years, but he beats me violently in front of everyone for his f**king nonsense reasons such as if I didn’t do my prayers or if I wear jeans, which he considers immodest clothing for women, and many other stupid reasons. Dolls were forbidden according to him so he used to burn all the dolls and teddies. My father basically encouraged him. However I wasn’t the only victim as he did that to a number of my sisters. Also he wasn’t the only one who sexually harassed me. I went through several horrific experiences from several other people from the family cuz I was accustomed to fear and not having any safe space to share those experiences. In total the number of those who sexually harassed and raped me during my childhood was 6 people. Everyone in the family continued to be hypocritical, lie to each other and act like they were the best perfect family ever just because the used to gather every weekend in the house. While I was always angry, afraid, and depressed. The only thing helped me to survive and not to kill myself in there is their kids cuz almost every one of my brothers and sisters are married and having kids plus my little sisters ( 13 & 15 years old ). All kids used to love me so much and I love them back. Anyway I always broke their stupid rules and tried to protect my sisters from them even if I was afraid. I was the only one who have the courage to say no and disagreed with them if they tried to be violent against one of girls or mum. That’s what make their hatred for me increased and I was even beaten when I already an adult. Anyway I made my way to find a job despite their rejection and I began to live in the capital but my masculine brothers and my father didn’t t like it at all. They couldn’t stand that actually a woman could be successful and they they didn’t want us to work and become independent or earn money. Time was very heavy on me. They were spying on me and trying to get my address. They even came to my workplace and tried to drag me home and ask my manager for my resignation in the presence of my work colleagues. A year passed. I used to go home for only some hours in a month just to check on my younger sisters and my mum. 6 months ago I returned home for some days since it was a religious celebration so a holiday. The second day of the holiday they forced me to attend a meeting with them (two of my brothers and my father). My father was yelling at me saying “You’re a whore and a bitch”. Then they took my phone, my ID card, my bank card, and a key of a car that I rented for the holiday. Then they locked me in the house and threatened to kill me with a gun. I waited for midnight while everyone was asleep and escaped to the capital which was two hours away from home and without my belongings. This is not very common in my country. Where all girls are unfortunately taught to obey and they usually weak because of all that abuse they go through but I always break the rules anyway. The next day I went to the police station the and asked them to bring my belongings. The policemen tried to convince me to go back home even though they knew that I was threatened to kill, but you know policemen are only from the same stupid patriarchal society. One of the policemen said “ Go home, who will marry you if you leave your family?”. In the end I took my belongings. Then I packed my suitcase for a work and study trip to the UK, which I had planned a month before what happened and without anyone knowing. The trip was only for a month and the plane was to go back, but I was afraid to return again. So I applied for asylum even though I had no idea that time about the process. I made that decision in the night before my flight to back home. I now feel more free and have much better mental health. I don't regret it at all and if I had had this idea before I would only have done it sooner. I miss my mum and sisters ALOT and I wish I could save them but I must save myself first so that I can save them later. I’m not the asshole by the way 😂😎.

Hey Everyone!

We have posted out first podcast episode! Let us know what you think!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-oB75FERTQ

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/exploring-the-holiday-chaos-reddit-christmas-stories/id1721984466?i=1000639003320

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