Sangita Patel is Streets of Toronto’s new advice columnist and was previously an entertainment reporter with ET Canada. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two daughters.ย
Dear Sangita: My friend is getting married and I think itโs too fast. They got engaged after six months, and I feel like she doesnโt know him well enough. I want to be supportive, but I also want her to take a moment to think about what sheโs doing. Should I say anything? โ Runaway bridesmaid
Dear Runaway: It does depend on how long the engagement is. It could be a two-year engagement, it could be longer. Thereโs also the grey area of figuring out how they are together. Do they look like theyโre fully in love? Does it seem like sheโs found her soulmate and is in love with this person? I donโt think thereโs anything wrong with getting engaged early โ if you know it’s the right person, you know. Itโs possible, in her case, that she’s found her kindred spirit. I personally know someone who did get engaged after six months, and then they got married within the year. And now they’ve been happily married for 20 years. The question you might want to ask is did your friend get engaged because she felt the pressure that she needs to get married? I think instead of you telling her it’s too fast, it’s more helpful to ask those questions: Why did she want to get engaged early? Is she happy? What makes him so special that she knows heโs the one? This is all instead of outright saying: Why did you get engaged after only six months? You can ask her for her opinion instead and have that important conversation. She might say the reason is that she knows heโs the one for her. Or she may even say she just wants a wedding or just doesnโt want to be alone. If thatโs what you hear, then that can lead to the question of whether sheโs rushing into it too quickly.ย
You canโt be the one toย judge whether she knows him well enough โ you donโt know that! Maybe she doesn’t know his favourite colour, but that’s OK. That’s what she’s going to learn.ย
Dear Sangita: I am in the process of rebuilding a relationship with a parent who really hurt me. They believe itโs better to leave everything in the past and just move forward and ignore everything. I still feel like an apology is necessary to heal. I just want everything to be OK. What do you think? โ Searching for sorry
Dear Searching: A parent-child relationship is so complicated. Parents are growing and learning as they’re raising their child. There are going to be mistakes. But it depends what this mistake is. I don’t know how severe it is, but Iโll say that, for my parents, I donโt ask them for apologies because they speak their apologies in different ways. It’s more about showing up and giving me a hug.ย
Most people who are asking someone to say sorry, they want them to take ownership of it. You might be holding onto the term โsorry,โ rather than what you really need โ for your parent to acknowledge what happened. Your parent showing that they acknowledge what happened to you is way more important than that โsorry.โ If they apologize but they donโt mean it, whatโs the point?ย
If, as you say, you know your parent is not the type to apologize, then maybe you need to focus on that acknowledgement and ownership instead. Hopefully that will be what you need to help you heal.
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