DR. WALLACE: I am 19, soon to be 20, and my boyfriend is 21. We have been dating for almost two years now and we have decided to get married in the near future. We definitely love each other very much and we get along great on many levels.
My boyfriend has a very good job, and I work full-time at a growing marketing company. I’m paid well and even get some stock bonuses!
My parents respect and like my boyfriend a lot, too, but they don’t feel we have known each other long enough to get married. I say two years these days is pretty much like five back in their era! If we are still strong and steady after two years of social media, texts, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and so forth, I say we’re more than ready for what the world can throw at us!
My parents want us to wait another year because they feel that we don’t know each other thoroughly; they knew each other for five years before they tied the knot. I need a fresh perspective! Please tell me not to wait any longer so I can get married on my 20th birthday, which will be just before Thanksgiving this year.
I figure we are so in love that we’ve been ready for a long time now already. He’ll also never be able to forget our anniversary in the future! — Ready to double up, via email
READY TO DOUBLE UP: If you and your boyfriend feel comfortable getting married on your birthday, I feel you’re both going into marriage with your eyes wide open. It’s good that you’ve known each other closely for two years and that you’ve been able to navigate your relationship through the social media gauntlet so well thus far.
If you do follow through, I wish you both the very best and trust your groom-to-be will be fully aware he’ll need to “double up” on gifts each and every year that your birthday rolls around!
I THOUGHT I HAD ‘MUTE’ ON!
DR. WALLACE: Last year, when we had remote high school due to COVID-19, I answered a question in a Zoom class and then forgot to mute myself after our teacher moved on to another student’s question. I totally forgot about this incident until one of the kids in my class reminded me of it this year.
In the incident in question, I actually spoke “baby talk” to my mom as a joke, but it did not come off like that. I looked like a total nerd to our whole class! How can I get everyone to forget this ever happened? — Embarrassed on Zoom, via email
EMBARRASSED ON ZOOM: Simply accept that the embarrassing moment happened and move on. If anyone specifically brings it up in the future to you directly, just tell the truth, which is that you were “goofing” on your mom. Then ask that person if they have ever teased a sibling or family member in any way. And no matter what answer you receive, simply laugh and tell the person it actually was pretty funny in your home. Say, “You should have seen the look on my mom’s face!”
As we have seen and heard in the media, many adults have had far worse incidents on Zoom and other teleconferencing platforms that have gone way, way beyond a little humorous “baby talk!”
Laugh at yourself, say you’re not worried about it at all and change the subject to something you know that person is interested in. And after reading this answer, I trust you’ll be telling the truth when you state that you’re not worried.
Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected] To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
