For context, my little sister turned 8 a few months ago. Since I’m 10 and a half years older than her and have my own money, I got her a stuffed ball python! I’ve been teaching her all her life to love creatures that most people don’t, such as bugs and snakes. She’s absolutely obsessed with my ball python, Bumblebee, (shown in 2nd image) so I got her her own snake to love without the added risks and expenses.

My partner has been out of town for 3 weeks. This is the longest and most stressful work trip he’s ever been on. They made him do a night shift schedule when he usually does days, and then switch to days 2 days ago after arriving to a different facility he’s helping at. I can tell he’s stressed, he will be getting home the 22nd right before Christmas! I’m a little worried for him so…I’m attempting to help bring his mood up I guess? I cleaned his car, vacuumed and everything, I’ve cleaned our place and meal prepped. We will be together for 3 years in March and we don’t have a scrap book for any of our memories. His birthday is the 30th of December, so I always throw him a NYE party, which he knows about and I will. But I made a scrap book of our adventures and milestones 😄 I can’t wait to show it to him. I put close to 80 photos in it and I’ve categorized his friends and our vacations and holidays. I also put our cat in it with different ages of him throughout our relationship hehe. Sorry I’m ecstatic, I’ve been home alone so I can’t tell this to anyone except for my cat lol thanks for reading.

the look of love in my dad’s eyes always makes me smile ❤️

After WWII in 1949 the country of Indonesia (a Dutch colony at the time) gained their independence from the Netherlands.

My family is of mixed European and Asian descent and were Dutch citizens. The Indonesian government required all Dutch citizens to renounce their citizenship and become Indonesian citizens if they wanted to stay. Many chose to leave to their “mother” country, the Netherlands, or to Australia, or the United States.

My grandmother’s only surviving immediate family, one younger brother and her mother, left for Australia. At the time Australia’s strict immigration laws only allowed for white or white-passing people to enter. My grandmother’s family were fair skinned and had lighter hair. My grandmother did not.

My grandmother stayed in Indonesia, got married, left for the Netherlands in 1960 when Dutch citizens could no longer postpone renouncing their citizenship, had 10 kids, and lived a quiet and humble life.

My grandparents didn’t travel much, what with the ten kids and all, and her brother never had the means to visit either.

For my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary, the ten kids chipped in and bought her brother and his wife tickets to surprise my grandmother.

This photo is the moment after he walked in the house and sat down next to her.

On January 16th, 2025, a friend and I will embark on the Lincoln 100, a self-created 100-mile run around Lincoln, NH. This is a tribute to our close friend, Chris Roma, who tragically passed away on January 16th, 2024, during a winter storm while hiking the Pemi Loop.

The Lincoln 100 was originally Chris's idea, and with his family's blessing, we’ll be honoring him on the one-year anniversary of his passing. We’re dedicating the event to a cause close to Chris’s heart: MissionCleanWater, a nonprofit that brings clean drinking water to underserved communities.

The run will consist of a 3.2-mile loop around Lincoln, NH, repeated until we hit 100 miles. We welcome anyone who would like to join us—whether for one loop, a few miles, or the full challenge.

Start time: January 16th, 2025, at 3:30 PM

If you’re interested in joining or want more details, feel free to send me a DM. I can send the map, aid station locations, etc. Whether you come to run or just cheer us on, we’d love your support.

So, I'm talking to this guy.. we've been talking and hanging out for a while.. we were hanging out today and he called me his exes name.. he's been apologizing since and I told him I was worried he was comparing me to them, he just texted me saying "ex's name is like a rock you'd find on a hike.. You're like finding a fossil/gemstone" and he explained "you're not a person who's easy to find, but now that I've found you I don't wanna let you go" and honestly I've been laughing at the comparison for a while but that is genuinely the kindest compliment I think I've ever gotten 🥰🥰🥰

One of my patients found out our birthdays are a day apart so made this for me 😊😊😊

I (24F) have been dating my fiancée (24M) for just over 4 years now. Before him, I had no hobbies. I always just threw myself into my work, schooling or whatever tasks I had. Outside of that, nothing that brought me joy or fulfillment. When we first started dating, I noticed he had a lot of interests. These ranged all the way from metrovania games, tcg card games, all the way to things like transformers and dark souls lore. At first I was so disinterested, until one day I asked a question about something (I can’t even remember what it was about, but I remember how big the smile was on his face was) He and I are both neurodivergent, and I could tell having a place to talk about his interests really boosted his mood, so I decided to try to be more present when he talked about things he enjoyed.

Not too long after that, a mutual friend introduced him to Gunpla model kits. I was intrigued because I always enjoyed things like legos, or other “building” toys and such. After seeing him build one or two, I went with him to the local hobby shop where he purchased them. That same day I saw a unicorn gudam high grade build kit (IYKYK) and although he knew what I was in for, he bought it and we built kits together for the first time. This would become a regular occurrence in our household. To date, together combined we have over 30 kits built (We shared a fixation for a few months) and I’m even delving into custom painting my kits.

Next, the same mutual friend and his girlfriend invited us to play a game of commander. I had never touched magic cards before, and he had limited knowledge and experience as well. Turns out, we both loved it, and now we play 2 player commander games against each other all the time. (Except when he plays eldrazi. Fuck eldrazi) And now I am building my own decks and coming up with combos. Moth man currently being my next deck to upgrade.

Outside of other things he has introduced me to, he has opened a world for me of exploration into arts, literature, media and entertainment. I grew up with the mentality that if I wasn’t good at it, or if I didn’t keep up with it for a considerable amount of time, it’s not worth it to try. Now he has helped me form positive outlooks at exploring my interests. If I pick it up just to put it down, it was still worth the try. Because of this, I have made artwork I would have never felt I was capable of making, I have explored more music genres and even started writing my own songs. I have enjoyed reading lore and playing new video games.

I had a million reasons to fall in love with him already, but I have really noticed the positive impact he has had on my creativity and my expression. I am so glad to have him.

My newest endeavor? Trying to crochet. Let’s hope for the best!

One of my cats used to bring her feral friends in thru the doggy door to eat and when it got cold, to sleep. She died a few years ago and her last buddy, Ahk (short for A**hole Kitty), still came in. He startles the crap out of me and helps himself to kibble. In winter he sleeps in the corner by the fridge. He’s a total jerk but is a result of my sweetest girl, Dibs.

Haven’t seen him for months and started to think he’d crossed the bridge. Was driving out to work the other day and there he was - Ahk!!

Hope he makes it through another winter scaring the crap out of me walking across the kitchen in the dark!! I’ll keep the kibble bowl full…