You don't want someone who can't tell the difference between having a different opinion and dismissing your opinion.

Awkwardness is when there's a risk of a perception gap between what you mean and what you appear to mean.

The sudden death of a partner while expecting a child is so universally understood as awful that I don't think anyone with any other weight to carry is going to get to same kind of sympathy - except perhaps people who lose a child.

There's nothing wrong with being happy somewhere, even if it's the little pond you grew up in, as long as you are in fact comfortable vs. bored.

Of course the thoughts and awareness are there, but it's all incomplete and often fanciful - kids know there's something to know, and they fill in a bunch of the blanks with their imaginations if their parents haven't had the conversations and/or established themselves as sources of information. It's rare that the kids know nothing at all, and the somethings they do know are often only partially right or flat-out wrong.

We all make deals with ourselves when it comes to the difficult people in our lives.

Moving is hard. Staying is easy. Logistically speaking, at least. And this is true whether you're doing or undoing something.