Girl Dinner Diaries | Reading Reddit Stories

Summary

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Smosh Reads Reddit Stories

Episode: "Girl Dinner Diaries | Reading Reddit Stories"

Date: August 1, 2026
Host: Shane Topp
Guests: Amanda, Courtney (Smosh)

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Episode Overview

This episode dives enthusiastically into the "Girl Dinner Diaries" subreddit, hailed as the "women's bathroom of the Internet"—a space for women and femmes to vent about their lives, share struggles and triumphs, and crowdsource advice. Alongside amusing real-time descriptions of meals (the eponymous "girl dinners"), Shane, Amanda, and Courtney unpack stories about heartbreak, friendship, revenge, and the nuances of contemporary womanhood, all with Smosh’s trademark irreverence and warmth.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Is "Girl Dinner"?

• Introductions (00:00–03:10): The hosts banter about their own quirky girl dinner choices, from pizza with pineapple, jalapeno and green bell pepper (Amanda) to protein-and-random-fruit combos (Shane).
  • Quote: “High fat date, cheddar cheese, two IPAs and a joint—that’s the answer I was looking for.” – Courtney (02:45)
• Defining ‘Girl Dinner’: Not strictly gendered, but more about the improvisational, often scrappy or hodge-podge meals that define independence or comfort.
  • Quote: “Girl dinner can be like a bunch of little things put together or a lot of one thing.” – Amanda (02:09)

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2. Story 1: The "Hey Girly" Cheating Bombshell

• Scene Setting (04:15–08:10): The hosts read a post where the OP receives a dreaded “hey girly” text, learning her boyfriend of four years has been unfaithful for months.

  • Reddit Story Summary: The boyfriend started therapy and claimed to change, but had actually been conducting a near-five-month emotional and attempted sexual affair, all while gaslighting the OP and even inviting the other woman abroad.

  • Emotional Response: Amanda and Courtney focus on the betrayal, gaslighting, and the extra pain of having the "other woman" be the messenger.

  • Quote: “He’s not genuinely sorry about what he did. He’s sorry he got caught. And he’s being so helpful and more because he’s guilty.” – Amanda (10:49)

• Discussion on Forgiveness & Trust (13:39–17:54):

  • The hosts share personal takes on making relationships work after infidelity, emphasizing how long-term trust is likely irreparable after such a sustained deception.
  • Notable metaphor: “I call these guys Tarzan—they refuse to release one vine until they have a firm hold on another.” – Reddit commenter, read by Shane (16:48)

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3. Story 2: “My Gym Crush Liked Me on Hinge!”

• Scene Setting (19:51–22:27): The OP details her long-standing silent admiration for a gym regular—who then matches with her online. Their story is retold with excitement and hope.
• Hosts’ Reaction: Joy, validation, and a mini-discussion on gym etiquette and the hazards of approaching women in that setting.
  • Quote: “Can we talk about the fact that he noticed you and still decided not to bother you? That’s a green flag right there.” – Courtney (25:20)
• Update (27:01):
  • OP meets him; discovers that while he’s lovely in person, their personalities don’t fit. She reflects on the growth in self-awareness and self-worth.
  • Quote: “I believe my big love is out there and I’m bloody 30. Everything that must be will be. Good luck to all the muscle mommies out there.” – Reddit OP, read by Shane (30:05)

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4. Story 3: Creative Pet Names & Potato Pizza

• Intro (33:05–35:21): Lighthearted discussion on nicknames for romantic partners, with the Reddit poster seeking creative alternatives to “baby” or “daddy” (which she wants to avoid).
  • Hosts riff on their own relationships—Courtney’s husband is occasionally “Big Daddy” but only around their child, and “baby” is a go-to but other nicknames are scarce.
  • Quote: “Handyman is never going to make your man melt, I’m sorry.” – Courtney (35:21)
• Community’s Best Nicknames: The gang revels in the replies—Muffin, Pookie, Pants, Sugabean, and “Girlfriend/Boyfriend” as enduring in-jokes.

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5. Story 4: Excluded from the Group Chat

• Scene Setting (40:51–44:49): A poster discovers her friends have a secret group chat without her, excluding her from hangouts and birthday parties—likely led by a jealous ringleader.
  • Quote: “They made a separate one so I don’t feel bad and, like, I’m missing out. Even though she could drive me. We live five minutes away from each other.” – Reddit OP, read by Shane (41:28)
• Analysis: Amanda commends friends who keep extending invites regardless of constant cancellations; Courtney laments how adult friendships can be just as painful as romantic betrayals.
  • Quote: “Things with friends—friend breakups, friend deceiving—is almost more heartbreaking than romantic [betrayal].” – Shane (45:53)
• Update (49:36):
  • The OP’s “real” friend leaks proof that the ringleader literally compared her to a parasite. Hosts are appalled by such toxicity.
  • Quote: “If you’re ever in a situation where someone is speaking ill of another one of your friends—be the good friend and check on that friend.” – Amanda (51:57)

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6. Story 5: “What War Was This Cannon In?” (Awkward First-Time Sex Comment)

• Scene Setting (52:57–54:50):
  • OP, flustered by the size of her new partner’s anatomy, blurts out, “What war was this cannon in?” much to his delight.
  • Quote: “I was shocked, excited, scared, all at the same time. I completely froze, and the only thing my brain managed to produce was ‘what war was this cannon in?’” – Reddit OP, read by Shane (53:56)
• Hosts’ Response: Peals of laughter, celebration of the joy in awkward intimacy, and personal anecdotes.

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7. Story 6: Dad (50) Engaged to a 23-Year-Old—While Divorcing Ill Wife

• Scene Setting (57:26–59:12):
  • The OP’s father leaves her mother (who was institutionalized at the time), then gets engaged to a woman her own age. He manipulates family finances and possibly forges legal documents.
• Reaction:
  • Hosts are horrified, especially at the emotional and legal abuse involved.
  • Quotes:
    • “He did this all last year while my mom was in a mental hospital and made her sign divorce papers over text with no lawyer present.” – Shane (58:54, quoting the post)
    • “If someone did that to my mom, I would not be talking to them again.” – Shane (62:03)
• Legal Insights: Listeners chime in with questions about notary fraud and exploitation.

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8. Story 7 (Finale): Encouragement from the Future

• Scene Setting (63:49–66:49):
  • A woman turning 40 celebrates a life of fulfillment she could never have imagined during the dark days she once posted about, offering a stirring message of hope, healing, and boundary-setting.
• Takeaways:
  • Quote: “You are not unlovable. They are unable to love. You do deserve and can have and will have better. But first you have to stop hanging out with and pouring yourself into the bad.” – Reddit OP, read by Shane (65:36)
  • The Smosh group reflects on the power of reflection, trusting your gut, and not letting fear of loneliness keep you in damaging relationships.
  • Quote: “People say life is short, but life is actually so long.” – Courtney (68:44)
  • Quote: “The past is not supposed to be your passport. It’s a season you can close the chapter on.” – Courtney (68:45)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “That’s how you get that body, honey. Two IPAs and a joint.” – Courtney (03:07)
• “Girl dinner was gorgeous.” – Courtney (19:22)
• “Animals: I also do it with my son, too. I’ll be like, I’ll call him Coley Bear. Michael, get your ass in here!” – Courtney (40:35)
• “My sweet monster’s too long. It’s very long. … What are you doing on the toilet for so long?” – Courtney (38:22)
• “If you forgive him, in his mind, you are giving him a pass to cheat again in the future. 100% guaranteed.” – Reddit commenter, read by Shane (18:02)
• “Frozen Walmart taquitos, seasoned with tears.” – Reddit OP, read by Shane (41:31)
• “What war was this cannon in?” – Reddit story (53:56)
• “If you feel unloved, belittled, it’s because you are.” – Reddit OP (65:36/65:42)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Girl Dinner Banter & Subreddit Intro: 00:00–03:10
• “Hey Girly” Cheating Story: 04:15–18:48
• Gym Crush Matching on Hinge: 19:51–27:01 (update at 27:01)
• Pet Names & Potato Pizza: 33:05–40:51
• Excluded from Group Chat: 40:51–49:36 (update at 49:36)
• “Cannon” Comment (/awkward sex talk): 52:57–54:50
• Dad/23-Year-Old Affair & Divorce: 57:26–63:30
• Final Reflection: “Future you, hang on, it gets better”—Limoncello Cake: 63:49–70:56

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Conclusion

“Girl Dinner Diaries” is more than a food thread; it’s a communal table for vulnerability, candor, and wild storytelling. Throughout the episode, Shane, Amanda, and Courtney move seamlessly between raucous jokes (often about butts or penises), astute emotional insights, cultural commentary, and sincere support for women supporting women. The stories are sometimes shocking, sometimes tender, occasionally cathartic—but always honest.

Whether you’ve had triumphs, heartbreaks, or those slapdash “girl dinners” that are more about survival than cuisine, there’s room at the table.

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Final Takeaway

“Life is so long. The past is not supposed to be your passport… it’s a chapter you can close.”
— Courtney (68:44)

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Recommended Next Step:
If you loved this, join the "Girl Dinner Diaries" subreddit, and don’t forget to plate your sushi, taquitos, or potato pizza with pride.

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Transcript

[Shane]

This episode of Reddit Stories is sponsored by Doordash. Got you delivered, Doordash. Hello and welcome to Smosh Reads Reddit Stories. I'm Shane and today's theme is Girl Dinner. We are actually specifically focusing on a very new subreddit, probably one of the most popular right now. It's one that I have been seeing a ton of posts from and I'm a big fan of. It's called Girl Dinner Diaries. It's being referred to as kind of the women's bathroom of the Internet for people to share anything that's going on in their life and get advice from. From their fellow women and femmes. And I'm joined by. I'm not sure what I'm joined by right now. I don't know what's going on. Amanda and Courtney are here.

[Amanda]

Woo. Hi, Shane. Two good girl dinners.

[Courtney]

Two good girls dinner. If I was a girl dinner, I'd be bolognese mini sauce. Yeah,

[Shane]

we're starting here.

[Courtney]

Beanie stuff. You get it all over yourself. And a glass of wine. That what you asked?

[Shane]

Yeah, I guess. Sure. Courtney, do you want to follow that up?

[Courtney]

Yeah. What would be your girl dinner?

[Amanda]

Court pizza.

[Courtney]

Oh, my God. Okay. I'm just saying, that's so millennial.

[Amanda]

Help.

[Courtney]

What? You are millennial.

[Amanda]

Don't flavor.

[Courtney]

Except what kind of pizza? Pineapple.

[Amanda]

Yeah, Pineapple, jalapeno, green bell pepper.

[Courtney]

Shut your mouth. That sounds awesome.

[Shane]

That's so random.

[Courtney]

That's so random. Random pizza. What would you have? A ra. A burger.

[Shane]

Well, I'm not a girl.

[Amanda]

And a burger.

[Shane]

I'm not a girl, so I don't get to have dinner.

[Courtney]

Bitch, you're in girl dinner. So tell us what your dinner is.

[Shane]

Okay, fine.

[Courtney]

Earlier this year, we did battle bracket girl dinner. I won. Thank you so much.

[Amanda]

You did win.

[Courtney]

But we had a lot of amazing girl dinners.

[Shane]

I feel like that version of girl dinner, though, is like the. Like, what do you do in a scrap? Whatever. Like, what do you do? Scrap. Don't have much time. Whatever.

[Courtney]

A scrap.

[Amanda]

It's a struggle meal or a.

[Shane]

Cause you said bolognese, so I'll say a shrimp scampi.

[Courtney]

Okay, okay. Bolognese was fake. I'm so sorry. My real girl dinner was like dates and cheddar chees and stuff. What's yours?

[Shane]

Whoa, that sounds amazing.

[Courtney]

Yeah, no, and it won.

[Amanda]

So. Yeah, Girl dinner can be like a bunch of little things put together or a lot of one thing.

[Courtney]

Yeah, yeah, whatever. She just said go off that.

[Shane]

You got that the only thing. Because you know what I eat 6 ounces of chicken. The only thing I can compare it is like, I have a chicken breast that I've cooked. So I eat the chicken breast and then I just go through the fridge and I just eat random berries. When I don't want to make a dinner, I'm like, well, I have chicken breasts. I need to get protein. And then I'm like, oh, there's a red pepper. Let me eat that. And then I'll be like, there's a carrot. Let me eat that.

[Amanda]

I was gonna eat a red pepper, please.

[Shane]

I'll just eat all the fruits and vegetables that I find.

[Courtney]

You are incredible, honey. I'm like, all.

[Shane]

I'm like, I need to be healthy. High fat date, cheddar cheese, two IPAs and a joint.

[Courtney]

And that's the answer that I was looking for. Yeah, thank you.

[Shane]

That's how you unlock the DLC for Hades. And by dlc, I mean I just get to enjoy it more.

[Courtney]

That's how you get that body, honey. Two IPAs in a joint.

[Amanda]

Get it, sweetie? All right, tell us about this subreddit more.

[Courtney]

I'm obsessed. Okay. Emily just described this subreddit. I'm obsessed with it. I want to do so much with it.

[Shane]

Yeah, it's a really incredible subreddit. Right. It's truly just a place for people to vent about their life. Meant to get advice from fellow women. So this covers a variety of stories ranging from winds, sad stories, feral rants, you name it.

[Amanda]

Feral rants.

[Shane]

Feral rants. Oh, yeah, it gets intense. The ones that I've come across, there's been a lot of heartbreaking ones that I've read. And of course, all these stories are accompanied by a photo of the dinner that they're having or the meal that they're having. It could be breakfast or lunch.

[Courtney]

Courtney and I will describe the picture. If you are only listening audio.

[Shane]

Yes.

[Amanda]

In great detail.

[Courtney]

In great detail.

[Shane]

Should we get into our first girl dinner?

[Courtney]

Yes, Daddy. Do you like that? Okay, okay, I'll switch out.

[Shane]

Do you like that?

[Courtney]

Yes, sir.

[Amanda]

Copy, Papa.

[Courtney]

Go ahead, dad. Father. Captain.

[Shane]

Captain. Captain. Father. All right, this first post comes from Girl dinner diaries. And this was posted yesterday. As of recording this, I got. Hey, girly. Texted. Oh, and then here is the dinner.

[Courtney]

That's a plague text.

[Shane]

Oh.

[Courtney]

Oh.

[Amanda]

Okay.

[Courtney]

This is, like thought out.

[Shane]

These are not. I feel like on this subreddit, they are not. Like I said, it's not last minute put together. These are. This is amazing. Some really good dinners.

[Courtney]

We have salmon.

[Amanda]

We got some sushi. Takeout we got a salmon. Salmon sushi salmon with like some cucumbers, like a cut roll. And then these look like some beef bulgogi rolls. Cut rolls. Amazing.

[Courtney]

And then this looks like whipped cream, like stashi or ice cream.

[Amanda]

She must have a soft serve machine of some serve.

[Courtney]

I don't know what that is.

[Amanda]

That could be like some creamy rock shrimp or like.

[Shane]

Ooh.

[Courtney]

And then this is like raw. This is like red onions with some mayo.

[Amanda]

There's something under it.

[Courtney]

Anyways, it's basically sushi delicious.

[Amanda]

Delicious sushi takeout for a delicious.

[Courtney]

That's like a girl meal.

[Shane]

Yeah. We were one month away from our four year anniversary. We moved in together in December. They started chatting in January, and he apparently ended things with her late May. Every solo hiking trip, solo camping, going to the track alone. They were all with her, took her on the dates. I was embarrassingly begging him to take me on. Okay.

[Amanda]

Oh my God.

[Shane]

For some context. Cause I mean, I feel like we.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Amanda]

Yeah. The hey, girly text.

[Shane]

The hey, girly text means that the woman that her boyfriend was cheating on with her, the other woman, the other woman texted her out of to be like, hey, hey, girly, your boyfriend's cheating on you.

[Courtney]

Cheating on you. Oh, that's so.

[Amanda]

That's devastating.

[Courtney]

Oh, man.

[Shane]

So he told me it was a lapse in judgment during a mental health crisis, which I knew he was having and trying desperately to help him. Our relationship got rough. He barely even looked or talked with me. Then he started therapy and it was like a switch. My boy was back and as loving as ever. But that was April, not two fucking weeks ago. He told me he started it because he was planning on breaking up with me because things got so rough, but he didn't have the heart to actually do it. He thought getting another girl would make it easier to leave me. Until he realized I was the one he was really in love with.

[Amanda]

Oh, my God.

[Shane]

They kissed and he would place her hands on his boner, but she refused to do anything more until he made it official with her. He wouldn't for her. He said he never planned. He said he never planned actually having sex with her. But when I pointed out that he literally tried to initiate multiple times with her, that he realized he would have. What a fucking joke. Part of me wants to think that it was a bad mental snap. After all, he did take full accountability only after I brought it up. And it is seriously not like him to do something like that. I am close with his mom and called her and even she couldn't believe me and she's a no bullshit kind of lady. He knows how badly he fucked up and I did lose my shit on him a bit and he took it all. He told me he'll do absolutely anything and is 100% devoted to me and f our relationship going forward. Another part knows there's really no going back. I could maybe forgive it if it was once or twice, but for almost five months and blaming it on the mental health episode you had two months before you ended it with her, saying you're going out with your friends and then spending romantic dates with her just to come home to me. As if our relationship is perfect for months. He's in another country for the next 1.5 weeks. He offered to fly back immediately but I told him not to. Oh yeah, he also invited her to go to this country with him, but knew she would say no. I can't help but read all the Reddit threads about people coming back from cheating. Some people have made it work. They say it takes a lot of effort from the cheating side and it seems he's hitting every point they needed for forgiveness so far. But all these examples have been from a drunken one night stand, not months of romantic dates and future planning. To top it all off, I just had leg surgery two weeks ago and still can't walk slash drive anywhere. He was so loving and caring during my recovery, before he went on this trip, did everything I needed, plus more Anyways, I had a bunch of sushi yesterday cause I got my stitches out. I can't really eat anything tonight, so it's a mixture of salmon and beef. Oh, so it is salmon and beef.

[Courtney]

Yeah, that's what I Holly, that's what we said. The girl can't walk, she gets a hey girly text. Her boyfriend's not even there that she can approach, like talk to him person to person. What makes me what I really want to know is, did the other woman know the whole time that he had someone else?

[Shane]

Yeah, you got to wonder. I mean, I mean. Cause they weren't official.

[Amanda]

No. And they would only place thine hand

[Courtney]

upon thine boner and she'd go, not until we're official will I curl my hand and make a bone upon thigh.

[Shane]

That means this woman told her about this. She's like, hey girly. Just letting you know that he'll put his hand on my boner. Or I'll put my hand, he'll put my hand on his boner. But I'm not doing anything.

[Courtney]

I know honey, but like, let Me just see the size.

[Shane]

But let me get a lay of the ladder.

[Courtney]

Let me get a lay of the hat. My Thy hat wrap around thy boner.

[Shane]

This episode of Red Stories is sponsored by DoorDash. DoorDash makes showing up for the people you love easy. Got you delivered Doordash. Order now. It's that time when hunger encroaches. Some might call it girl dinner. Others might call it unique cravings. But you order not just that pizza you've been craving, but that antacid tablet that your roommate needs for their usual heartburn. And while you're at it, why not throw in crinkle chips and sour candy? DoorDash makes it easy to create the perfect girl dinner or the perfect meal for you. I love using DoorDash for last minute grocery items. It's easy to navigate in the app and find the perfect spots near me when spending time with my friends. DoorDash makes it easy for us to have a good time making dinner together or dining in for the night. I use the ratings to decide what new spots to try. We love trying new restaurants together. We do it like every week. Basically. DoorDash makes showing up for the people you love easy. Got you delivered doordash. Order now. Back to the show. So he's on the trip that he invited this other woman to go on

[Courtney]

with him and he knew that she would say no. So what is that about?

[Amanda]

Yeah, I don't care about that shit. He's just saying shit. That's empty words.

[Courtney]

Yeah, totally.

[Shane]

It all gives that he got caught. And so all this stuff.

[Amanda]

He's not sorry. He's not genuinely sorry about what he did. He's sorry he got caught.

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Amanda]

And he's being so helpful and more because he's guilty.

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Amanda]

So like there was some time where he kind of got away with it for a while. Broke up with the other woman. Scotch free.

[Shane]

Five months.

[Courtney]

That's a long time to be going

[Shane]

on full romantic dates.

[Amanda]

That's an affair. And then dates that she wanted to go on. Op wanted to go on those dates so bad. And this guy would go, no, but that's a good idea. And then go and take somebody else.

[Courtney]

Yeah. So horrible. And he blamed it on like a mental health thing, which is like, okay, valid, but five months. And she said that she was trying to work on it with him. So it sounds like he really was not working on it with her and just like trying to get away and avoiding it with somebody else regardless. It's like, I'm so devoted to you. It's like, well, it's clear you're not.

[Shane]

But he was also saying he was doing all of this because he was, like, planning on breaking up with her.

[Amanda]

I know that this.

[Shane]

That. That. Cheating on her to make it easier to break up with her, but now he's saying, no, you're the love of my life. No, it's made me realize you're the love of my life.

[Amanda]

It's like what Arasha said, where it's like, oh, my God. Wait, I love my wife.

[Shane]

Yeah. It's like all of this kind of doesn't matter now.

[Courtney]

This is. This is so sad.

[Shane]

None of the excuses hit if you were caught. Like, if you come first to confess, it doesn't. You don't even say anything.

[Courtney]

Like, did he invite her on this trip with him?

[Amanda]

Well, she probably couldn't because of the surgery.

[Courtney]

Oh, yes, of course.

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

So he just left her. Left her there.

[Shane]

If this other woman hadn't broken off with him, texted her, whatever, he would have continued doing this forever. So she needs to operate on knowing that. It sounds like she is very much

[Courtney]

in line with, like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Shane]

She's saying it's over, but I also get. It's hard for me.

[Courtney]

It's really, really hard.

[Amanda]

Also, even when he was being honest about having, like, mental problems and being like, oh, like, trying to work through them. No, he was never honest about any of it. Because those issues and that distress can come from having an affair and being dishonest with your partner. Like, he was lying and then double lying.

[Courtney]

Do you know what I mean?

[Shane]

Absolutely. He got caught, and then he's coming up with excuses that really don't track with everything. It's also, like, it's the unfortunate thing too, of, like, okay, so whenever things get hard, are you gonna completely abandon me?

[Courtney]

Right?

[Shane]

Like, all right, so we clearly can't work, right?

[Courtney]

Also, stab in the heart to have. It's really, like, embarrassing and painful to have the other woman be like, hey, girl, I got your back. It's like, wow, okay. The other woman has to get your back and reach out to you and tell you what your partner is doing.

[Shane]

She has more respect for her than

[Courtney]

her, and she doesn't even know her.

[Shane]

I know.

[Amanda]

And we don't know if the other person knew that he was.

[Courtney]

Well, she knows.

[Shane]

She eventually figured it out, but we don't know because now they're kind of broken up. So it's possible she found out and that's why she's no longer seeing him and everything. It's clear like she says she's read tons of stories online of other stories about infidelity and stuff and how they go and how some people can move forward, whatever. I mean it's not.

[Amanda]

But it was all ones where it was like a, a one night thing, not an entire affair.

[Courtney]

OP is doing the work. OP is like researching. She's like, why did this happen? Why is this happening? And I think we do read a lot of cheating stories on Reddit and it is true. It's just like sometimes it is like a one thing but five months is. And I think maybe she got validated when she read a lot of other Reddit stories just like.

[Amanda]

Well and it got even more validated by the comments that are on this post, I'm sure.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Shane]

And it's interesting cause this is a story where they he was not sleeping with this other person. But what's almost somehow worse is these elaborate romantic dates.

[Amanda]

Yeah, it's like, yeah, that it's like where it's like, oh, it was mostly emotional then.

[Shane]

It's so much physical.

[Amanda]

But the fact that she had to walk him through why he was trying to make it physical. He was fully willing to go there and like, yeah, it's tough. Maybe that's partially why OP was like maybe trying to make it work because it hadn't gotten that far. But it's like regardless, this person was like, it's two identities. Like you don't know this person when they're going that far.

[Courtney]

Like that it was definitely cheating even if they didn't get physical. Oh yeah, come on. A boner touch, buddy. Yeah, come on.

[Shane]

You're trying to have her shift gears. Come on. Come on pal, shift gears.

[Courtney]

I will go into two and I will reverse. Second gear, fourth gear. He's like, don't drive the car. And she's like, I won't. I'm just checking out the gear. I don't know why she. Where is she from? I don't know.

[Shane]

I don't know.

[Courtney]

I changed it up.

[Shane]

Comments on this Someone said I wouldn't want to be with someone who one lacked enough respect for me to end things with me before beginning a new relationship and two didn't have the courage themselves to end their relationship before beginning a new one. It's not honesty if the truth comes out in breadcrumbs only because you already know the answer to the questions you ask. You deserve better.

[Amanda]

So cowardly.

[Shane]

That is well put.

[Amanda]

I think it's so cowardly to do anything but just be honest with the person and break up with them. Whether you choose to cheat or even just choose to stay in something that you're clearly not happy with, that person deserves better. Then just be honest. Don't waste any more of your guys time. And just to go to somebody else is just like, come on.

[Courtney]

Yeah, but I love this other girl. Honestly, I don't know how long she knew, but if she just found out and decided to reach out. Good on you, girl.

[Amanda]

Yeah, I'm wondering, what is this other girl's girl dinner?

[Courtney]

Yeah, what's her girl dinner? Is it just all meat, like beef?

[Amanda]

One hog. Sorry.

[Courtney]

Drumsticks of turkey.

[Amanda]

I'm sorry.

[Shane]

Someone replied to that comment saying, I call these guys Tarzan. They refuse to release one vine until they have a firm hold on another. It's sad chicken shit behavior. He's going to do it again and drag her along anytime he has another mental break.

[Courtney]

Like Brendan Fraser. Tar sand.

[Shane]

That's Georgia, the jungle.

[Courtney]

Shut up.

[Shane]

This guy, That's a different guy. Shut up.

[Amanda]

Didn't she say that this guy broke up with the other woman and time had passed?

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Amanda]

And then eventually got the hey, girly text. But that means time had passed and that this boyfriend had invited this girl she broke up with on this trip. So it wasn't over.

[Courtney]

So he's still like, he was still there?

[Shane]

Yeah, he was trying to grip my eyes.

[Courtney]

So he was Tarzan, like this with two vines. He was in the middle of the jungle.

[Amanda]

You know when you're hanging on to two of the swings?

[Courtney]

Yeah, it was crazy.

[Shane]

I also think my take on like this type of situation is it's like, cool, maybe he's for real. But now she's gonna forever go, Were there other affairs before this one?

[Amanda]

Of course.

[Shane]

Yeah, of course. And. Or is there gonna be more? It's like, oh, no matter how much I want, my trust is gone forever. So this just simply can't work because

[Courtney]

she would have never found out maybe if the girl didn't reach out to her.

[Shane]

Yeah, it matches exactly.

[Courtney]

And that's the power of girl dinner, man. It just connects you.

[Shane]

Someone said, I would tell you to run, but with your leg surgery, I suggest you calm and safely get away at your own speed. If you forgive him, in his mind, you are giving him a past to cheat again in the future. 100% guaranteed. Someone said, I can give you a piggyback ride to get the fuck away from him. Someone said, I was a Reddit success story coming back from cheating. I married him and he tried to cheat again. Please don't waste your Time, Right.

[Amanda]

Literally sad.

[Shane]

Someone said he fucked around. Now make him find out.

[Amanda]

Yeah. It is so rare to see a genuinely long term success story.

[Shane]

I would say it's certainly the extreme exception.

[Amanda]

Yeah.

[Shane]

Like, I wanna have faith in those things. But I would say it has to be so extreme. It has to be a lot of work, a lot of work together. It has to be very specific circumstances.

[Courtney]

But to me, it's a. Because he didn't even tell her.

[Shane]

Oh, this one? Yeah.

[Amanda]

This. This is.

[Shane]

No.

[Courtney]

If.

[Shane]

If you are. If you are. I'm talking about in general, like, whatever. But if you are caught, you are not the one who's telling your partner and they find out. It's. You have to just give them the. Give them the respect of being like, I know this is over.

[Courtney]

It's done.

[Shane]

Like, don't do the thing where it's like, we can make this work. Like, that makes you even more of an asshole.

[Courtney]

Yeah, sure.

[Shane]

What?

[Amanda]

That.

[Shane]

Oh, my God, your shoes untied.

[Courtney]

Hold on, everybody.

[Amanda]

10 out of 10 girl dinner, by the way.

[Shane]

But yeah, the girl dinner was good.

[Courtney]

Girl dinner was gorgeous.

[Amanda]

You ever try a bulgogi roll?

[Courtney]

I don't know what that is. Well, it's bulgogi beef is bul.

[Amanda]

Beef Bulgogi, which is typically more.

[Shane]

That's more like Korean food than a sushi cut roll.

[Amanda]

It's a fusion.

[Shane]

It's a fusion.

[Amanda]

Tis a fusion.

[Courtney]

I've had it in a beef roll and it's delicious.

[Shane]

Oh, bulgogi rocks.

[Amanda]

You gripped the beef roll.

[Courtney]

Oh, yeah, I did. I was like, honking. That's like what that guy wanted. Okay, I didn't get it. Faithful woman.

[Shane]

Here we go. Our next girl dinner.

[Amanda]

Yes. Yes, yes.

[Shane]

My one year long gym crush liked me on hinge.

[Courtney]

Ooh, a gym crush is spicy. Cause you are working out in tight spandex.

[Shane]

All right. This is far more of a girl dinner here.

[Amanda]

Okay. Okay. Okay.

[Courtney]

Oh, okay. Okay. Tupperwares. We love it. Hummus.

[Amanda]

And those little cucumbers.

[Courtney]

Thick cucumber, uncut.

[Amanda]

She's gripping.

[Courtney]

She's uncut. Uncut, sweetie. One carrot.

[Amanda]

So it's carrots.

[Shane]

Cucumbers.

[Courtney]

And it's one carrot. And what's that other. It's two big ass carrots. One.

[Amanda]

Nope, that's two.

[Courtney]

Two big ass cucumbers.

[Amanda]

But little cucumbers. They're short. They're little, right?

[Courtney]

They're short and thick.

[Amanda]

They're like the little ones.

[Shane]

Me at the grocery store looking at baby carrots. Look at these huge carrots Whoa.

[Courtney]

Oh, you know what's funn? She writes exactly what it is.

[Amanda]

Oh, there's. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Baby cucumbers and baby carrots with hummus.

[Courtney]

Yeah, that's a nice healthy. We did a good job. We did great.

[Shane]

Okay. That's along the lines of my girl dinner. Cause I grab like vegetables and I dip them in hummus.

[Amanda]

Oh, you know what it is? You know why we were confused? Cause it's like wait, why is there two cucumbers in Tupperware?

[Courtney]

That's the lid.

[Amanda]

That's right.

[Courtney]

Containers.

[Amanda]

That's the lid. So there's two Tupperwares. So she, she took one out, she

[Courtney]

opened this up in a rush. She pulled out all the Tupperware, went read it.

[Shane]

She's freaking out.

[Courtney]

She's freaking out because her one year crush.

[Amanda]

Yes.

[Shane]

Oh my gosh. Here we go. Pre dinner snack. There's way more food coming, but I'm too excited to wait. Of hummus and baby cucumbers and baby carrots. I had a gym crush at my old gym for pretty much a whole year. It wasn't just that he's crazy handsome, unbelievably athletic and very stylish. Oh my gosh. No, no, no, no. It's that his form on all his lifts were perfect. My man's cares about doing things right. He made 140kg look like thin air. He could do multiple pull ups with 20kg chained to him in exquisite form. Really, it was like watching art performed in real time. He liked me on hinge. I messaged all my girlfriends asking if it'd be weird to bring up the gym because I've moved cities and haven't been there since February. They all egged me on to ask and well, he ended up bringing it up. He was like, are you the girl from X gym? I thought about saying hello a few times, but you looked like you wouldn't want a bar of it. And I nearly cried. I couldn't believe a man this handsome could ever notice little old me. Anyway.

[Amanda]

And he can read the room.

[Courtney]

Yeah, very good, very good.

[Shane]

Anyway, I need to work on the rbf, I suppose, but we are going on a date on Friday. We'll post update with outcome for those interested.

[Courtney]

This is, this is so exciting. I'm kind of obsessed. The way she said chained to him. My goodness, this woman should write a romance novel.

[Amanda]

You know a year too about those.

[Courtney]

Yeah, I do. Romanticies.

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Amanda]

Oh my gosh, that's so exciting. That would not have been weird to bring up at all. Like if, like. Oh, wait, I'm too. Are you the girl that.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Shane]

Excellent ice cream.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Amanda]

Are you.

[Shane]

Hey.

[Courtney]

Are you the girl that squatted so well, your butt.

[Amanda]

All of a sudden your bum was exploding.

[Courtney]

Your butt hit the ground and then lifted back up like it was.

[Amanda]

Yeah.

[Shane]

And you went back up. Not because of your legs. Cause of your butt.

[Courtney]

It was your butt. It was crazy.

[Shane]

Yeah. So is that you?

[Amanda]

Wait, is that you with the butt?

[Courtney]

I couldn't tell.

[Shane]

Oh, my God. Wow.

[Amanda]

That's amazing.

[Courtney]

Is that date.

[Shane]

Well.

[Courtney]

Are you fucking joking?

[Shane]

Why even give us. I don't know. I have to read comments and stuff.

[Courtney]

It's like giving us sauce.

[Shane]

You want to talk about this first?

[Courtney]

This is nothing to dip it with. Are you joking? That's like someone going like olive oil, a little bit of balsamic. Have a good night.

[Shane]

Have a good night.

[Courtney]

No bread.

[Shane]

Sorry. No bread.

[Amanda]

That's great.

[Shane]

I think him not talking to her at the gym was like a green flag.

[Amanda]

Yes.

[Shane]

It sucks. Cause, you know, you want to be able to approach people, but the gym is a tough spot.

[Courtney]

The gym is a tough spot.

[Shane]

It's a tough spot.

[Courtney]

I really do not want to be bothered when I'm at the gym.

[Shane]

No, same.

[Amanda]

No. I think an RBF is required at the gym.

[Shane]

Yeah. There's unfortunately too many annoying people at the gym.

[Amanda]

Yeah.

[Shane]

And I've worked out at so many different gyms and like, I don't get bothered. Cause I'm a dude. But like, I know women get bothered constantly.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Shane]

And that sucks.

[Amanda]

Yeah. And I think it's even just having that awareness that women get bothered at the gym. It's like, well, but I'm a nice guy, or maybe they. Maybe they'll be. Maybe they'll be cool with me. It's like having that awareness is huge.

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Shane]

I also work out early in the morning. I'm like, nobody wants to talk at 6:00am I'm like, everybody's trying to get to work.

[Courtney]

I don't know. I used to do Muay Thai very early in the morning and people were chatty.

[Shane]

People still do.

[Courtney]

People were chatty. Muay Thai is different though. Cause you have to partner up with people. So you kind of have to chat with random people. And I always kind of enjoyed it.

[Shane]

Yeah, I guess that's a little.

[Courtney]

It was nice. It was fine.

[Shane]

Yeah. No, when you and I talk about our gym experiences, it's so different.

[Amanda]

It is very different.

[Courtney]

Yeah, of course.

[Shane]

Extremely different.

[Courtney]

You don't have a butt like her, actually. That's not true. Yeah, you do.

[Amanda]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

I said I would stop talking about your butt. And I'm done. I'm literally done.

[Shane]

I just described my butt is being like, bow.

[Courtney]

Your butt's like, bah, bah.

[Shane]

Boom.

[Courtney]

That was a. Courtney's butt is like B. What's going on? What's going on?

[Shane]

Some comments here. Someone posted a photo of a, like, TV pastor praying intensely going, jesus, I see what you've done for other people, and I want that for me.

[Courtney]

Oh, I love that.

[Shane]

I love that someone said, can we talk about the fact that he noticed you and still decided not to bother you? That's a green flag right there. The gym is no place to hit on women. Yes, someone said. My gym crush found me on Insta last year and we've been together ever since and recently celebrated our one year anniversary. Go get it, girly.

[Courtney]

Get it, girly.

[Amanda]

Guys, you can meet people at the gym. Not like directly at the gym, but you can.

[Courtney]

Sorry. Yeah, later. What?

[Amanda]

You can meet people at the gym.

[Courtney]

Look at Shane. He's so respectful. He won't even laugh at it.

[Amanda]

Look normal. Look normal. Look normal.

[Courtney]

Do you know what's happening? Do you know where you are right now? Oh, my God.

[Shane]

Only guy to fail a sobriety test when he's sober. Turns out you're sober, but your vibes are off.

[Courtney]

Vibes are way off.

[Shane]

We're taking you in. Okay, update.

[Courtney]

What's wrong with you?

[Amanda]

Really?

[Courtney]

You're actually so. I was like, what? Why?

[Amanda]

So.

[Courtney]

Okay, now the garlic bread hits the table and the girls go.

[Shane]

Psyched you out. Here's the girl.

[Courtney]

The girls go crazy.

[Shane]

Here's the whole baguette. And I just frickin bow a baguette. That's not good.

[Amanda]

No, no. Then the girls would be like, which

[Courtney]

part do you want?

[Shane]

You have to eat it. Like Scooby Doo. Okay.

[Amanda]

By the way, your butt. Your butt is like, oh, whoa.

[Courtney]

Yeah. Cause it's been through shit. My butt has been through some stuff.

[Amanda]

Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[Courtney]

Meaning I had a child that's been sitting and, you know, whatever, just move the fuck. I'm grateful. I loved that.

[Shane]

So this update comes from four days later. Check out this girl dinner.

[Courtney]

Hey, new girl dinner.

[Shane]

That looks like a Bolognese of some sort maybe.

[Courtney]

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Wait, wait, wait.

[Amanda]

Because they're having a freestyle.

[Shane]

He's two guys.

[Amanda]

He's another gym guy.

[Shane]

Turns out he's two men.

[Amanda]

Oh, it's a dinner. Because it's.

[Courtney]

Oh, my God.

[Amanda]

24 hour pork ragu by my friends. Oh, my God. What's a friend's girls dinner?

[Courtney]

Plural?

[Amanda]

The girls are having ragu together.

[Courtney]

Okay, okay. It's for her support system.

[Amanda]

Pork ragu.

[Courtney]

I thought it was like, him, her, and whoever else was having the third bowl of ragu.

[Amanda]

No, it's the friends, it's the girlies together. And the parsley has yet to be put on.

[Courtney]

Yeah, a really nice cutting board too.

[Shane]

Okay, here we go.

[Courtney]

We like that.

[Amanda]

In great detail, we said.

[Courtney]

By the way, I really loved my butt sound. I really did appreciate it.

[Amanda]

And I didn't mean like, it's been through a lot.

[Courtney]

It's like, no, no, no.

[Amanda]

Whoa.

[Courtney]

Wow.

[Amanda]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

And that was it. Going like, wow, the world is wild and whoa, I'm still here. And I like that.

[Shane]

All right. Dinner from the other night because no appetite because I am sick. 24 hour pork ragu by my friends with homemade linguine by yours truly for three, because my support system is elite.

[Courtney]

Oh, no.

[Shane]

Guys, I'm so sorry for the delay. I was honestly tossing up whether to post this or not for fear of being accused of karma farming. And I can't edit the original post, nor do I know how to pin a comment. And perhaps someone can enlighten rather than tear me down. I want to keep things very vague because he deserves privacy. So prob. No juicy details beyond. We had fun, we might meet again. But limerence is an invisible hand that can greatly mislead. Someone commented that I needed to stop idolizing this man and that I was in danger. I'm glad to report I was absolutely not. He is very polite, but I believe at our cores we are very different people. And I'm not one to embrace opposites attract. Personally, I'm in a chapter of my life where I'd like for things to fit with ease. And I'm not convinced this is the case here. But everyone deserves a second chance. To all the men who called me a slut and berated me for only caring about looks, I hope this proves you wrong. Why were there men in the color?

[Amanda]

Because women aren't allowed to be happy.

[Courtney]

Why are there men? What the fuck?

[Amanda]

Get the men out of here.

[Courtney]

You can call us hot, you can call us too thin, too fat, whatever, but we can't call a man handsome chained up. Let us live, bitch.

[Amanda]

Go eat your fucking six ounce chicken.

[Courtney]

Chicken. Nothing against you, buddy.

[Shane]

It's them.

[Courtney]

All them. It's them. That's crazy.

[Shane]

How much is 20 kg again?

[Amanda]

Computer, tell me. Almost 20 kg.

[Shane]

Is that a 45 pound weight?

[Amanda]

Yeah.

[Shane]

Nice. That's impressive.

[Courtney]

Can you do that?

[Shane]

I don't know. A pull up with a 45 pound weight is really intense.

[Courtney]

Exactly.

[Amanda]

You can do so many pull ups, though, that I feel like maybe one big one will be okay.

[Shane]

Yeah, do one big one with perfect form. That's really hard.

[Courtney]

See, that's what you should say in the comments. Not calling this woman a slut.

[Shane]

Men are not supposed to be commenting in girl dinner diaries, but yeah.

[Courtney]

What's the matter? Get out of here.

[Shane]

The thing would have been funny is if they were all just calling, commenting about, like, form and weights and stuff.

[Courtney]

Yeah, all right. No.

[Shane]

To all the people who told me I had a whole year to shoot my shot and why did I wait when I could have taken action? You're actually right. I hope to be braver from this point going forward. And most importantly, of course, to all the support I got, which was entirely unexpected. Thank you. I do not want this underwhelming update to deter the romantics out there. I believe my big love is out there and I'm bloody 30. Everything that must be will be. And good luck to all the muscle mommies out there. I loved reading your personal stories of connecting with your gym crush, getting married, and living a full life together. May love like that find us all. Aw, yeah. Damn. That doesn't feel like a type of story that it's like, you need to go in and critique.

[Amanda]

Why would you dim your light?

[Shane]

It's like, oh, a guy like, we matched on Hinge. It's like, well, let me critique you.

[Courtney]

Let me tell you, ruin your day

[Amanda]

with my insecurities and jealousy.

[Shane]

Jesus.

[Amanda]

A little bit of joy.

[Courtney]

Seriously. And also, while we're at it, we need to get a camera on Emily. Because. Because I just want a camera to cut back to us and back to Emily. Being like,

[Amanda]

Emily came. It's crazy. Cause nothing happened.

[Shane]

Literally nothing has happened, girly. They matched on hinge.

[Amanda]

And it's so cool that, like, life can happen in that way where she had a crush on a guy and he happened to like her too. And then, you know, they found out that maybe, oh, we're different people. Yeah. Because it's true. Looks aren't the end all be all decider of whether a relationship will work.

[Shane]

Totally.

[Courtney]

So.

[Amanda]

And yeah, the fact that she debated on the update in itself makes sense, especially with how people are responding to her and her one brief nice moment.

[Shane]

Ugh.

[Courtney]

But, well, I'm glad that she has her bolognese. Her bolognese that's all you need to solve anything.

[Shane]

It's a ragu.

[Amanda]

I need some. I'm shut.

[Shane]

Hey, you're mouth. Hey, Amanda, get your shit together.

[Courtney]

It's a go. You know what? I'm done. Can we get Shane out of here? This is girl dinner, Shane, not dickhead dinner. Do we have to bleep all that for dinner?

[Shane]

I'm having dickhead and that's what the first guy wanted.

[Amanda]

What is the difference between ragu and bolognese?

[Shane]

Yeah, a ragu, it's cooked for a lot longer. It's in a wine sauce, right? And bolognese is more of a meat sauce. Tomato.

[Amanda]

You can't have bolognese.

[Courtney]

Get this guy a cookie. Am I right?

[Amanda]

I can't have.

[Shane]

They are very different. I don't know what. I'm not Italian.

[Courtney]

It's kind of like a square is a rectangle.

[Amanda]

But a rectangle isn't a square because a ragu is a generic term for meat based sauces.

[Courtney]

But bolognese is a specific type of ragu. So bolognese is part of the manufacturer. I have been learned of ragu.

[Shane]

Apparently I was wrong.

[Courtney]

I knew that.

[Amanda]

Like we knew you were wrong, Shane.

[Courtney]

By the way, ragu's the daddy, Bolognese the baby.

[Shane]

This feels like it goes back to the conversation we've had before where I've said that all pasta is the same.

[Amanda]

No. Oh, get out of here.

[Courtney]

You need to wash off.

[Shane]

Sorry. Different shapes.

[Courtney]

You need to get in a cold shower.

[Shane]

All right, cool.

[Courtney]

Get in a cold shower and wash it all off.

[Shane]

I don't care. I'll eat it all. It's delicious. I'm just saying it's all the same.

[Courtney]

Oh my God.

[Amanda]

I can't wait.

[Courtney]

Done with you.

[Shane]

Next girl dinner. Looking for innovative and slightly quirky nicknames to call boyfriend. What do you girls call yours? Check out, check out.

[Amanda]

Why would you say it like that?

[Courtney]

What do you girls call yours? Yeah, what happened there?

[Shane]

Next up, we're talking to the next big sensation in this country.

[Courtney]

We are looking at boiled potatoes for crust, tossed in air fryer for 20 minutes. Pizza. To me it.

[Amanda]

Potato pizza.

[Courtney]

To me it looks like.

[Amanda]

I don't know what that is.

[Courtney]

Like, it looks kind of like a drunk meal, you know, but it also looks like.

[Amanda]

But it actually isn't pizza.

[Courtney]

She tried to make it look cute.

[Amanda]

Yeah, look at the plating. She's got the sauce run.

[Courtney]

She has like a sauce run. Like a Top Chef sauce run.

[Amanda]

That's okay. This is okay.

[Courtney]

It just looks like A lot of.

[Amanda]

I think it must be.

[Courtney]

It is like a spices.

[Amanda]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

On a crust.

[Amanda]

On a potato crust with cheese on it.

[Courtney]

Anyways, good for her. That's incredible.

[Amanda]

Okay. I'm actually curious about the nicknames that people are providing. I don't really have a nickname for you. A pet name for you.

[Shane]

You go, shane.

[Amanda]

I literally do.

[Shane]

Hey, stupid.

[Amanda]

Shane.

[Courtney]

Hey, Shane, come to bed now. Stupid.

[Shane]

I'm like, okay.

[Courtney]

No, she would never say that. She'd go, shane, come to bed. Did she do that? She doesn't like that. She doesn't do that.

[Amanda]

I go, do you want to know what I do sometimes when he's staying up a little late? I'll come down and go top her bed, Shane. Okay, come on. Top of bed, Shane.

[Courtney]

Time for bed, Shane.

[Amanda]

Top of bed, Shane.

[Courtney]

You like that? You like an old Southern woman from the top of the stairs telling you to get to bed.

[Shane]

Time for bed shine.

[Courtney]

Time for bed shine.

[Shane]

Time for bed.

[Courtney]

Time for bed shine.

[Amanda]

Come on, Shane. Sign right.

[Shane]

Hey, girls. I'm looking to expand my vocabulary of nicknames and wanted to fish for some inspiration here. Calling them different names depending on the mood. Sometimes sweet, sometimes catchy, and sometimes a little quirky. Like four asterisks, baby. Classic, but a bit generic. My handyman, when he fixes things. My big man. My blank inside joke. I'm looking for innovative, catchy ideas that drive guys absolutely crazy or just make them melt. I really want to avoid the cringe route, so things like daddy are a hard no for me. What are your absolute favorite, unique nicknames for your guys? Give me your best, most innovative. By the way, this is my low effort. Boiled potatoes for crust tossed in air fryer for 20 minutes. Pizza.

[Courtney]

I mean, it looks pretty sick. Also, handyman is never going to make your man melt. I'm sorry. My handyman. Hey, handyman, get in here and sounds

[Amanda]

like gripping that thing.

[Courtney]

My man. People do a lot of my man.

[Shane]

My man. My man's my man's.

[Courtney]

I guess I call my husband baby.

[Shane]

Okay.

[Courtney]

Yeah. H I do. Baby. Big daddy.

[Amanda]

I will never do an unironic.

[Courtney]

Listen, listen. Sometimes when we're like, cole is there, I'll be like, daddy's going outside. Daddy did that. So sometimes I will call him daddy.

[Shane]

Yeah, yeah, he does that. You're doing it in the literal.

[Courtney]

I'm doing in that. But if I called him like daddy in the bedroom, he would not go for it.

[Amanda]

Good.

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

But if I called him my man or handyman, he would not go for it. Yeah, I think baby Baby is good.

[Shane]

Baby's good. Yeah.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Amanda]

He lets you call him baby when you guys have a real life baby right there.

[Courtney]

Yeah. I'm like, baby. He's like, that's our son. That is not.

[Shane]

No, that's Baby.

[Courtney]

Big man.

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

I don't know.

[Shane]

We've never been big nickname people.

[Amanda]

No, no, no. Like, what's wrong with us?

[Courtney]

I don't do honey or sweetie or. There's nothing wrong with that. If you want to do that, get it. But, like, I just don't do it.

[Shane]

I don't know of any unique pony.

[Courtney]

My pony.

[Shane]

My pony.

[Amanda]

My little pony.

[Shane]

My steed.

[Courtney]

My pony. My prize stallion. I make a stallion.

[Shane]

There's what Rory said on Smoshmouth. My lover.

[Amanda]

My lover.

[Courtney]

Oh, I do love lover.

[Amanda]

I feel like you that role.

[Shane]

Oh, lover.

[Courtney]

I would say lover, definitely. Yeah, but I don't. I'm not like, hey, lover.

[Shane]

No, Ever.

[Courtney]

Really.

[Amanda]

Lover, could you grab me the grilled cheese?

[Courtney]

Lover, could you pick me up off the couch? Yeah, I don't know. I guess. Lover. Mate meat. Honey. Baby cakes. Sweetie. Muffin top.

[Amanda]

What?

[Courtney]

Hey, turn into that thing. Get it?

[Shane]

Oh, hell, yeah.

[Courtney]

My steed.

[Amanda]

My seed.

[Courtney]

My steed.

[Shane]

Oh, my God. Oh, Jesus.

[Courtney]

My sperm count. Get over here. Finish the job.

[Amanda]

Get it done. Finish the job.

[Courtney]

Hey, sperm count. Come on over here, buddy.

[Shane]

Oh, my God. Comments. Say his name is Mitchell, and when he's being annoying, I call him Bitchell. Hope this helps. Someone said most of my names for my husband are food related. Potato, Muffin, Pumpkin. I also often call my cat the same names, and it can get confusing.

[Courtney]

Oh, no. Muffin, get in here. The cat's like, meow.

[Shane]

Someone said we call each other all variations of sugga. Just suga, suga, snap, pee, sugar plum, suga bean, suga bear, et cetera.

[Amanda]

Suga bear.

[Shane]

Someone said pookie. Someone said pants. Someone said, mine is Jim. And when he's grumpy, he's Grim Jim.

[Courtney]

Grim Jim.

[Shane]

When he's skinny, snap into a Grim Jim.

[Courtney]

Snap into a Grim Jim.

[Shane]

Someone said, Beautiful boy lover. My sweet monster.

[Courtney]

That's kind of sweet.

[Shane]

My sweet monster's too long.

[Courtney]

It's very long. It's like my sweet monster. What are you doing on the toilet for so long?

[Shane]

Get off. Yeah, Monster.

[Amanda]

I want something that I'm not even thinking about. It just comes out.

[Courtney]

That's why baby is quick.

[Shane]

Someone said punk ass. Random dumb variations on his name. Handsome, etc.

[Courtney]

Handsome. Handsome.

[Shane]

Handsome's good.

[Courtney]

That's cute.

[Shane]

Someone said. Reading these makes me think I Need to step up the nicknames. I literally call him boyfriend. He calls me girlfriend. I don't know, it's been like 14 years, and it kind of stuck.

[Courtney]

It's kind of cute.

[Shane]

That's cute. I don't really judge people for what they call each other.

[Courtney]

No, neither do I. I don't. I will say I don't call my husband, like, husband. Wife. I don't do any of that.

[Amanda]

I've called you Shania, like, since we've met.

[Courtney]

Yeah, Twain.

[Shane]

I've had a lot of.

[Courtney]

I like Shania. I think it's very cool.

[Shane]

A lot of singers names.

[Amanda]

Shania.

[Shane]

You do say that.

[Courtney]

Okay, I know what Courtney's like in the home now. Shania. Get to bed, Shane.

[Amanda]

All right.

[Shane]

You are the only one who calls me Shania.

[Courtney]

Shania.

[Amanda]

No, some people. I heard other people who call me

[Courtney]

Shania is very cute. Shania.

[Shane]

Shania's very cute back. You know, people would call me Shanye.

[Amanda]

Yeah.

[Shane]

And that was Damian's name for me. Shanye. Shani.

[Courtney]

Shanie.

[Shane]

Real slim, Shani.

[Amanda]

Ugh.

[Courtney]

Oh, so long. I love it.

[Shane]

All right, sorry.

[Courtney]

Shania's very cute.

[Shane]

Shania's good.

[Courtney]

But tonight you should try wife on her and film it and send it to me. I beg your wife. Wife.

[Shane]

Oh, wife. Yeah, I'll see how that goes.

[Amanda]

What can I call you, though?

[Shane]

You said a bunch for me.

[Courtney]

You can do Pookie or Pants. Those were.

[Amanda]

Pants is crazy.

[Shane]

Pants.

[Courtney]

Pants is fun.

[Amanda]

What up, Pants?

[Shane]

What up, Pants? I like the lady who has the same nicknames for her husband and her cat.

[Courtney]

I know that can get confusing.

[Shane]

I realize I definitely call our cats normal stuff, but I definitely call Bones stupid a little bit more than I call Birdie that I never call Birdie stupid. But Bones will be like, what's up, stupid?

[Amanda]

I have a million. See, that's the thing, is I have a million nicknames for Bones.

[Shane]

Yeah, we call Birdie Birdie.

[Amanda]

I call her Birdie or Burpee.

[Shane]

Lady. Like lady.

[Courtney]

I think it's easier to do that with, like, animals.

[Shane]

It's so funny.

[Courtney]

Animals. I also do it with my son, too. I'll be like, I'll call him Coley Bear.

[Shane]

You'll call him Michael.

[Courtney]

Michael, get your ass in here.

[Amanda]

What if Cole was short for Michael?

[Courtney]

That's crazy. Cole.

[Amanda]

My Cole?

[Courtney]

My Cole.

[Shane]

Wow.

[Courtney]

Oh, it's not. It's just Cole.

[Shane]

Next story.

[Amanda]

Next girl dinner.

[Shane]

They made a separate group chat without me?

[Courtney]

No. Devastating. Devastating.

[Shane]

I think that might be the worst.

[Courtney]

That's devastating.

[Amanda]

And that's my kind of dinner right here.

[Shane]

Oh, this is.

[Amanda]

I literally.

[Shane]

Guys, Courtney had this last night.

[Amanda]

Yes, taquitos. And it's the chicken ones. It's the good ones. It's the corn tortilla chicken.

[Courtney]

Those from Trader Joe's are bomb diggity.

[Amanda]

These are the better ones once than Trader Joe's.

[Courtney]

Okay, heard okay, ma'. Am.

[Shane]

Courtney's a taquito aficionado.

[Courtney]

Oh my God.

[Amanda]

Connoisseur.

[Shane]

Okay, connoisseur, Here we go.

[Amanda]

Sorry. I'm sorry I got mad at you.

[Courtney]

Don't ever, ever apologize for being upset about food.

[Shane]

This happened a few weeks ago and I've been ruminating. Long story short, my friend let it slip that there's a separate group chat and had an oh shit look on her face when I clarified it. I wasn't supposed to find out Frozen Walmart taquitos seasoned with tears. I only see one person in my friend group on a regular basis. This friend and I live in the same town. I don't have a car, and most of our friends live in the next town over, so they all see each other often. But I usually can't come because I don't have a car to drive myself there. I don't mind at all. People are allowed to hang out, even if not everyone can make it. One time she was telling me about a funny meme someone sent in the group chat. I hadn't checked my phone that day, so I said I'd look at it later. I couldn't find one that was exactly the same, but one was similar, so I thought she misremembered the details of the joke. I didn't think anything of it.

[Courtney]

Oh no.

[Shane]

Then another time she mentioned something about dinner plans everyone made. I said I don't remember seeing any messages about it, and she said, oh, weird. Maybe we talked about it in person when you weren't there and we forgot to send the details in the group chat, but she sounded like she kind of made a lie up on the spot. She did end up telling me the plans. I was included, and I got no obvious weird vibes from anyone during dinner. The time I finally figured it out was a birthday party. I had already bought a gift for the birthday girl and figured I'd give it to her the next time I was in her town. I texted her Happy Birthday and didn't get a response. I assumed she was spending time with her boyfriend and family, so I didn't mind that she didn't answer. But later that night I saw Instagram stories and posts it looked like a really fun party. Tons of food, balloons, yard games, a cake with a funny inside joke with our friend group. Everyone was there in the pictures, even boyfriends and friends of friends. No, I was the only one not included. I brought this up to my friend the next time I saw her, and she said, I was wondering why you didn't come. It sounded like she was genuinely confused. I said that I didn't even know about it and nobody said anything. She said, yes, we did. We've been planning it for a whole month in the group chat and pulled it up to show me. Homegirl realized her mistake. She got the group chats mixed up. They were similar titles and emojis. Example Bad Bitch Club versus Bad Bitches. I said, so there's a separate group chat. And she kind of stammered and said, it's because sometimes I can't hang out because I can't drive there myself to meet them. So they made a separate one so I don't feel bad and, like, I'm missing out. Even though she could drive me. We live five minutes away from each other. It's pretty much crickets in the group chat. I'm in unless I say something first. Even then, I might only get one or two responses or a heart reaction to my message. They've been strategically planning what I'm included in and what I'm not. Like, they're slowly phasing me out until I just quit. What the hell? That's heartbreaking.

[Courtney]

I have a big question. Is she in the Bad Bitches Club or Bad Bitches?

[Shane]

We don't know. We don't know.

[Courtney]

Exclusive. She's in Bad Bitches.

[Shane]

She's in Bad Bitches, but she's not in the club.

[Courtney]

She's not in the club. That sucks.

[Amanda]

That's so sad.

[Courtney]

This is really. This is really, really. This would be heartbreaking.

[Amanda]

I don't think they're phasing her out, but I'm sure it feels that way. Like, that's so sad to not even have a conversation about. Like, hey, we feel bad that you can't come. Do you feel weird being in a group chat where things are happening that you can't always go to? Like, or are they being honest with her if, like, that's the reason why

[Shane]

she's not in it, her not being included. Cause she doesn't have a car, but her friend who lives five minutes away never offers to drive her. This just sounds.

[Courtney]

And she wasn't at the birthday party. That's a big.

[Shane]

That's all that can Be gathered there and not invite her.

[Amanda]

Not even think of her. Yeah.

[Courtney]

You know, I don't want her. I don't know. This sounds like maybe. Not that they're phasing her out, but like, that's devastating.

[Amanda]

That the other chat is like radio silence unless she says something. So, like, they're not even making an effort her way.

[Courtney]

I wonder what she's saying. What she used to say in the group chat to make them think that they had to. Was she like, oh, I can't make it all. Bummer. I can't do it.

[Amanda]

That is so sad. I have so much love for friends who, no matter how many times you can't make a thing, they always keep extending an invite. Like, that will always be me.

[Shane]

Yeah, especially. Well, especially for her circumstances where it's not like, oh, I'm not able to make it. She's like, I can't drive. So it's like they're not trying to make it work. The friend who's. I don't know. This is sketchy.

[Courtney]

I think that she should text it in the group chat.

[Amanda]

Yeah, I think she should. And, you know, she clearly maybe is. It's. I think it's. I think she's solid lock solid person. Cause she's got great taquito.

[Courtney]

Yeah. Yeah, she does.

[Shane]

She's lock solid lock solid.

[Courtney]

That's what I said.

[Shane]

It's what I've said though, where like, things with friends, like friend, friend breakups, friend deceiving is almost more heartbreaking than romantic because it's like she goes, hey, what's going on?

[Courtney]

It's like personality.

[Shane]

And if they're like, they're as a group, have decided they are phasing her out.

[Courtney]

It's like, I'm interested, like, what is actually happening here? Because I understand taking someone off a group chat if they are constantly like, oh, shit, I can't go, this sucks. And they're like. Like, I don't wanna keep hurting her feelings. We live in a different area. Or is it the other route of, like, they are actually phasing her out and that's such a fucking shitty way to do it.

[Shane]

It really is.

[Courtney]

Then what are they supposed to say? Either, hey, we're phasing you out.

[Shane]

Hey, you're out of the bad dictionary.

[Courtney]

Yeah, this is tricky.

[Amanda]

Delete it all.

[Shane]

Comments. Yep. So what you do with that information is up to you now, but it should be to distance yourself from them. Someone said, this happened to me too. It hurt for a really long time. I removed myself from their lives entirely Hurts, but I swear it hurts more to stick around and take that shit.

[Courtney]

Yeah, it happens.

[Shane]

It's so hurtful, but it's almost similar. What can be comparable to being in a relationship where someone cheated on you is it's just like, do you want to be friends with people who don't want to be your friend? It sucks. It sucks. It's so hard to find a group of friends when you're an adult. But, man, do you want to stick around these people who clearly don't want to be with you or don't respect

[Amanda]

you enough to have a conversation?

[Shane]

Yeah. It's like, are you. You're living a lie with these people.

[Courtney]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Shane]

Someone said, fuck them. And when I say fuck them, I mean literally do not give a fuck. Cut them off. Like, leave that shitty little group and go out and do things that you enjoy. Live your life. Go find your friends. They'll like you for you. All this mean girl high school bs. Like, we don't encourage violence, but someone needs to slap some sense into them. Vapid Hoes. You don't need that energy.

[Courtney]

Her group chat is called Vapid Hoes.

[Shane]

Yeah, come join us. Someone said, my family did that with me. I finally had them put me in the group chat and they created a new one without me. Sucks op responded your family.

[Amanda]

That's rough.

[Shane]

Someone said, I've had this happen before, and I used to have those plates editing to add, one person is the ringleader and they are jealous of you. Probably.

[Courtney]

Yeah. They should absolutely love it.

[Amanda]

Kind of started the new one without her.

[Shane]

That's atrocious to start a whole group chat to exclude one person.

[Courtney]

And she's probably like, oh, you know, blah, blah, blah. Can't make it to all these things. So I just want to start this so she doesn't feel bad. And everyone's like, great, yeah.

[Shane]

But then they're all just talking there. But then they still talk in the other one.

[Courtney]

It's weird. Well, only when she initiates.

[Amanda]

And that stuff can always be just like, one person doing.

[Courtney]

Also, it sounds like the girl who kind of spilled the beans is closer friends with her. So, like, what's the deal there? Why didn't she say it?

[Shane]

I'd be so betrayed, though. Cause I'm like, cool. There could be one person who's a ringleader, but they're all going along with it. And this person only confessed once they were caught in the lot. Like, they're all lying to her girl.

[Courtney]

Get out. Find friends.

[Shane]

I do kind of agree. It's like these people ultimately do not respect you.

[Courtney]

Right.

[Shane]

It's heartbreaking.

[Amanda]

I wouldn't feel like I could be safe and 100% myself around friends like that.

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Nope.

[Shane]

Update. We have more taquitos.

[Courtney]

Taquitos just rained down.

[Amanda]

Is it more or less or the exact same amount as last time?

[Shane]

Four. Four taquitos.

[Courtney]

Four is a perfect.

[Shane]

She doesn't put any dressing on them. She doesn't. Cause you put like cheese and sauce sometimes.

[Courtney]

Whoa, hey, Shania, slow down.

[Shane]

Also, sorry about that.

[Amanda]

I eat 8 to 12.

[Courtney]

Damn, Mommy. Damn. I love it.

[Shane]

Not fucking around, of course. All right. Update. They made a separate group chat without me. The sequel.

[Courtney]

The sequel.

[Shane]

Frozen Taquitos again. In a bowl this time. I got an overwhelming amount of support in my last post, plus a sobering reality check. It was a slap in the face that I didn't know I needed. I decided to leave the group chat without a word and my phone was immediately flooding with messages. Two different people saying some variation of girl. What happened? Upset faces. And one person asked, did you have a falling out with group leader's name? The texts were so performative and obviously playing dumb. They knew exactly what was going. I wasn't answering anyone because between the texts and trying to respond to everyone on my last post, I was overwhelmed. Then I got a text from the one woman who I would consider my real friend. It was a screenshot of the other group chat that I was not included in. The group leader was saying, thank God she's gone. I thought she was never going to leave, compared me to a parasite, even though I never asked her for anything. In another screenshot, she said that she knew I was a fake bitch when I stole a client from her in November. For context, we work in a nightlife entertainment industry that's heavily based on sales. I'm sure you can figure out what our job is. She and I had a client one night who dropped a lot of money on both of us and we both got his number and started a group chat. We tried really hard to get him to come back in, but he never texted back. She even asked me one day if he'd been answering me. He hadn't. He was young, probably regretted the amount of money he spent and it was a one time thing. This whole time she thought I pulled him away from her and was getting all this money without her. Bro. That night we made all that money was the last night I ever worked in that place. It was my last huzzah. And I've been working from home ever since. So now it makes perfect sense. Everyone was right about there being a ringleader who started this based on a lie, and everyone else just kind of went along with it. Good riddance.

[Amanda]

That is so sad. Whoa.

[Courtney]

It is, like, the worst of what we thought. Like, like, damn. She really, like, organized that. And then she said it in the group chat.

[Shane]

Yeah. It's, like, cool. Like, her one friend's sending her screenshots and stuff, but it's like. It's like, okay, so this person was talking mad shit about me, and you all just were.

[Courtney]

Why are you sending her screenshots, though? I don't find that to be.

[Shane]

It's like, what does that. It's like you're kind of proving, like, oh, so you were hearing this for months, and we're fine with it.

[Courtney]

Say anything.

[Amanda]

That shit grinds my gear. But actually, like, in a sad way, it really grinds my gears in a really sad mood.

[Courtney]

It's really sad. I don't think this real friend is a real friend.

[Amanda]

If you're ever in a situation where someone is speaking ill of another one of your friends, be the good friend and check on that friend. Maybe even ask their side.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Amanda]

Cause it is so devastating to me when that happens where, like, I've been in these situations where someone will just not check on me or see how I feel or what I'm experiencing. Whether or not they believed what was going on, it's still like, oh, like, it's devastating. And it's like, oh, did you just, like, want to believe that about me

[Courtney]

even though it's not true?

[Amanda]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

Or like, it's an assumption. They just all went with it.

[Amanda]

Yeah. Like, that's so sad. That is so sad.

[Courtney]

It's all about money, too.

[Amanda]

Yeah. And it's, like, about a thing that, again, wasn't even true in that that this ringleader thought happened. Didn't happen.

[Courtney]

She didn't even have the opportunity to stand up for herself for saying yeah.

[Shane]

She was completely just left in the dark this whole time.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Shane]

Our next girl dinner. I said something unhinged.

[Courtney]

Get it, girl.

[Shane]

Check this out.

[Courtney]

Just fricking sauce everywhere. Okay. Poke bowl with some fish. Cucumbers, avocado, mayo. The fixins.

[Amanda]

Beautiful plating.

[Courtney]

Look at this.

[Amanda]

I think they did this themselves. The cucumbers are sliced. Sliced so thin.

[Courtney]

The sesame seeds on it or whatever that is.

[Amanda]

Spicy mayo. And the mayo drizzle.

[Courtney]

Oh, my God. Honey tomato. Homemade poke bowl.

[Amanda]

A kitty cat looking longingly in the background.

[Courtney]

Mom, are you okay? You gonna cry?

[Amanda]

The salmon, please. Wow.

[Courtney]

Mom, don't cry tonight.

[Amanda]

And it's such a cute little bowl too.

[Courtney]

Hell yeah. That's a good girl.

[Amanda]

Good for them.

[Shane]

Okay, they write, I don't date much, and I get pretty awkward when things turn overtly flirty or sexual. Last night I was with a guy I'm seeing. He's genuinely really cute and I like him. We were getting frisky stripping off clothes when I saw his pee pee for the first time. It was so incredibly huge.

[Courtney]

Stop.

[Shane]

I was shocked.

[Courtney]

Please stop.

[Shane]

I was shocked, excited, scared, all at the same time.

[Courtney]

Please stop.

[Shane]

I completely froze. And the only thing my brain managed to produce was what war was this? Cannon in.

[Amanda]

Oh, another word for peace.

[Courtney]

Cannon.

[Shane]

Cannon. I said it out loud in real life to his face. He said it was the best thing he's ever heard. Poke bowl and cat cannoli. Did not eat cat.

[Amanda]

Did not eat cat.

[Courtney]

Hey, I. I love this person so much.

[Shane]

What war was this?

[Courtney]

What war was this? The guy was probably like, hell yeah, yeah.

[Amanda]

Gets larger somehow.

[Courtney]

The war is. A battle is on.

[Shane]

You be on the field.

[Courtney]

Come here, soldier. She's like, all right, you're all right.

[Shane]

Slow down. He's like, can the troops start drumming in? Uhoh.

[Courtney]

Wow.

[Shane]

Damn.

[Courtney]

That's incredible.

[Shane]

It's good.

[Amanda]

Well, glad it went well.

[Courtney]

I should say that to H tonight. Dang it.

[Amanda]

I dare you.

[Shane]

And film it and send me. We'll exchange videos today.

[Courtney]

And I just go, sorry, one second. I'm sending this to Shane.

[Shane]

Shane and I have a group chat.

[Amanda]

Shane and I have a group chat

[Courtney]

that you're not on.

[Shane]

You're not on.

[Courtney]

I film it and the light goes on.

[Shane]

There's a group chat called Wives and Cannons. And it's basically just all that.

[Courtney]

And it's your penis and Kourtney and.

[Amanda]

And your penis and Courtney.

[Courtney]

It's your penis and Kourtney. Separate videos.

[Shane]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't worry about it.

[Courtney]

Don't worry about it.

[Shane]

Comments on this. Someone said, well, regardless of how it pans out, that man will never, ever forget you. Someone said, when's the wedding? Someone said, lmfao. That was a good one. And hey, he really liked it. Someone replied, she really liked it. Someone said, that happened to me once. This guy took off his clothes and I said, get away from me with that thing. Jokingly, of course. It was huge. Anyway, last October, we celebrated 30 years.

[Courtney]

Okay, that's a little different. The way you said it is a little different.

[Amanda]

Get me away from this boulder. Get away from me with that thing.

[Courtney]

Scary.

[Amanda]

Just.

[Courtney]

Oh, go away.

[Shane]

You scared me.

[Courtney]

30 years later.

[Shane]

Celebrated 30 years. Someone said, some girls have all the love. Little tear goes down.

[Courtney]

All the love you can find.

[Amanda]

What did she say when she saw her last pee pee?

[Courtney]

Pee pee. I hate the word pee pee. Do not like it.

[Shane]

I saw his pee pee.

[Courtney]

Yeah, I saw his pee pee. I'm glad she didn't say that.

[Amanda]

I like that she said pee pee. And then the fact that it ended up being huge. So I saw his pee pee. It was massive.

[Shane]

It was massive.

[Courtney]

I don't like it. The pee pee thing, not my favorite.

[Shane]

Okay.

[Courtney]

But it's okay. Hey, it's okay.

[Shane]

It's okay. It's all right.

[Courtney]

If you say that, that's fine.

[Amanda]

I don't say it. I say. I fully say penis or hog Penis. Hog Peace.

[Courtney]

Peace.

[Amanda]

Huh? I say it really quick. I say it referring to any penis.

[Courtney]

How many penises are seen in a day?

[Shane]

So you.

[Courtney]

You.

[Shane]

I'm sorry.

[Amanda]

You try to make it less intimate.

[Courtney]

Yeah, exactly.

[Shane]

All right. You know any penis you happen to pass by the street.

[Courtney]

Nice piece. Nice piece.

[Amanda]

Nice piece.

[Courtney]

Nice piece.

[Amanda]

A good piece.

[Shane]

My man. Excellent hug.

[Courtney]

Miss her?

[Shane]

Our next girl dinner. My dad, who's 50 now, is dating a 23 year old.

[Amanda]

No.

[Shane]

Is that. I didn't read the description. Is that eel?

[Amanda]

Anyways, eel enoki, mushrooms and rice. Okay.

[Courtney]

That is a classic. Classy girl.

[Shane]

Do you like eel?

[Courtney]

I love eel.

[Amanda]

Eel tastes.

[Courtney]

I like seeing them in the water.

[Amanda]

There's a gaminess to eel that I cannot get with.

[Shane]

That's fair.

[Courtney]

Eel is not my favorite. But seeing an eel.

[Amanda]

Oh, like eel sauce.

[Shane]

Well, like a eel.

[Courtney]

Let me tell you, they really looked like the ones in Little Mermaid.

[Shane]

When you see those big green ones, they're scary and they're like.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Amanda]

And did you know they just appear?

[Shane]

Yeah. People don't know what they are.

[Amanda]

They just arrived.

[Courtney]

Yeah, they do.

[Shane]

Here we go. They are engaged.

[Courtney]

Oh.

[Shane]

Her dad is engaged to a title. Yeah. Oh. They add a correction underneath their title of asterisk. Engaged.

[Amanda]

Oh.

[Shane]

My dad got engaged to a 23 year old. I'm 25 for reference.

[Courtney]

Younger than her.

[Shane]

Yes. And didn't tell me about it. I found out because I accidentally saw a photo of their engagement. He left my mom after being married for 26 years. He refuses to talk about it and admits that it's weird. She's a clear sugar baby. He uses his money to control my siblings and mom so no one can do or say anything.

[Amanda]

What?

[Shane]

I am luckily financially independent. Me and him are so close. It's not like we don't talk.

[Courtney]

Okay.

[Shane]

But anyways. Eel, enoki, mushrooms and rice. He did this all last year while my mom was in a mental hospital and made her sign divorce papers over text with no lawyer present. While she was in a mental hospital in a psychosis state. She had no idea what she was signing, and he threatened to cut off her medical care if she didn't sign.

[Amanda]

Oh, but you still keep talking to your father. Oh, okay.

[Shane]

Don't talk to this man.

[Courtney]

What?

[Amanda]

Oh, my goodness. That sounds like a nightmare.

[Courtney]

What?

[Shane]

Yeah, he sounds truly like a demon.

[Courtney]

And you're close with him.

[Shane]

Yeah. It's like you're saying all that and be like, yeah, and I like this guy, honey.

[Courtney]

No wonder why you're eating eel. Your dad is one of those.

[Shane]

He just arrives.

[Amanda]

Just arrives.

[Shane]

I don't know how people handle their parents dating people even younger, remotely close to their age, even though, let alone younger. That is so embarrassing.

[Courtney]

I signed up my dad for match.com Years and years ago. Like I said, it was very. It was a journey. Hard to find a good picture, man. Every picture of him was just him

[Shane]

like this with a plate of food.

[Courtney]

And I'm like, dad, girl, dinner. So I had one with a guitar and one with us, and then I had to do a plate of food.

[Amanda]

Cause of the.

[Courtney]

That was just what it was. But he kept saying he's like, all these younger women wanted to date him and talk to him, and he's now married to someone that he met on match.com, his age. He was not into it, but he was like, yeah. And sometimes I would talk to these women, and they were very sad, Very sad. And they were lonely and they wanted to talk about life. So sometimes I would. I would message them, but I never wanted to see them on a date. Why would they want to date someone like me?

[Amanda]

Whoa.

[Courtney]

I don't know. Dad, you love ikea. I don't know. You finished Netflix on Saturdays.

[Shane]

Have you gone in there? It's hard to get out. Yeah, the meatballs are very good.

[Courtney]

Very good meatballs. Interesting parking lot.

[Amanda]

Is this you being your dad?

[Courtney]

Yes.

[Shane]

People think of Italy with meatballs, but turns out Sweden, they've really got the meatballs.

[Courtney]

Swedish meatballs.

[Shane]

Oh, my God.

[Courtney]

Swedish shows on Netflix. So weird, those Swedish.

[Shane]

Yeah. Anyways, have you seen Disclosure Day? Seriously, though, it's really gonna happen.

[Courtney]

But, like, he found that a lot of younger women wanted to message him. And I remember him saying that because we're pretty close, and he was just like, yeah, it was that's so interesting.

[Amanda]

Yeah, I think there's a lot of young folk looking for security.

[Shane]

No, I'm not judging the 23 year old. I'm judging the 50 year old for.

[Amanda]

I'm judging them all.

[Shane]

Yeah, for getting engaged to the 23 year old.

[Courtney]

It's kind of awkward when the daughter is 25.

[Shane]

Cause it's like it feels disrespectful to your kids.

[Amanda]

It really just changes the lens on you, you know?

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

What I feel most upset about is the whole thing that happened with the mom.

[Amanda]

Oh, yeah. And it's like, oh, oh.

[Shane]

That's a whole other nightmare novel.

[Courtney]

Also, how could you treat the, you know, the mother of your children like that?

[Shane]

My dad has the morals of Dr. Frankenstein. I can't help it.

[Amanda]

I'm terrified by that. Like, I, I would simply run comments.

[Shane]

I'm just gonna be real weirdo relationship aside, if someone did that to my mom, I would not be talking to them again.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Shane]

Someone said probably some legality issues with what he did to your mom, especially if she was in a psychosis state. Someone said so divorce papers have to be notarized. I don't understand how this can happen if she is committed.

[Amanda]

Yeah.

[Shane]

OP said he faked her signature on the notary. I think his assistant got one of her friends who's a notary to forge it because he did it in Staten island and it was dated on the same day I was with him in Boston. So impossible. He was there that day.

[Amanda]

Oh my God, I'm nauseous.

[Shane]

For fully a crime.

[Amanda]

Fully a crime.

[Shane]

Someone said my father did a very similar thing. He was 50 and she was 21. I was 23. They now have three children between them and have divorced. Obviously that's where this was headed from the beginning. But now there are kids and I am going to have my own sad dinner tonight. Last someone said a poop emoji and ew.

[Amanda]

Yeah, sometimes that's all you gotta say is poop and ew.

[Courtney]

I just. This seems a very complicated story. Like I don't know everything that's happening. But regardless, the thing with the mom is unacceptable.

[Shane]

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Amanda]

And it's just, you know, you grow up and you learn things about your parents and like you kind of accept things, not really realizing the gravity of them. Cause you're like, they're your parents. Like, you look up to them, you've learned everything from them. But then like at a certain point in your life, you really. It kind of like things hit you later in life that's all I'll say.

[Courtney]

Yeah, yeah, they do. But this is. That's heavy stuff. Well, this is really hard for her. Cause it's like, what relationship does she have with her mom right now? Exactly. And what relationship is she gonna have with her dad? Yeah. Oh, well, her dinner's beautiful.

[Shane]

The dinner's great.

[Amanda]

Beautiful dinner.

[Shane]

Our final dinner. Girls, I come to you from your future. All right, I want to check out this. This is a nice little. This is more of a girl dessert.

[Courtney]

It's an iced coffee with, I want to say, that's like a coconut custard cake with coconut flakes on top of it.

[Shane]

Ooh, Lemoncello cake.

[Courtney]

It's literally written, right?

[Amanda]

Limoncello cake. I pretend I do not see it.

[Courtney]

It's limoncello cake, vanilla cold brew. Okay. Hey, someone likes it sweet. Yeah, that sounds delicious.

[Shane]

Limoncello cake, vanilla cold brew. I'll be 40 tomorrow. My kid just brought me an early treat. We're out of town doing our music thing. Let me tell you about my life. I am the belle of the ball. Professionally, I have more offers than I can accept. Same goes for the gentleman on the two block walk from the room to the cafe. Three different guys of various age stopped to respectfully hit on me. My kid graduating high school at 16, creative, deeply decent and hilarious. My extended family and friends, our relationships are better than ever. Health My doctor just told me I am wildly improved. I will not get into the particulars, but 2020 was not good for me. I am a modest homeowner, bought myself the gently used car I always wanted. I have what I call a normal amount of rescues which when delivered deadpan in response to oh, you have a cat. How many do you have? Is hilarious. I am telling you all of this because there was a time I was making Reddit posts about the absolute worst treatment from the worst people, hoping to make sense of what is nonsensical. If you are reading this and you are excusing, justifying, contorting your very self in order to stay in a relationship with someone based on these posts, some dude, I am here to tell you stop. It feels bad because it is bad. It feels wrong because it is. You feel belittled or used or ignored or unloved because you are from that person. You are not unlovable. They are unable to love. You do deserve and can have and will have better. But first you have to stop hanging out with and pouring yourself into the bad. You have to stop. They will let you spend your whole entire life engaged in loss Loss after loss after loss. They will not wake up. They will not suddenly understand the error of their way. They will not validate or love you. And sometimes it's not just you they won't love, but the children you share. I know that's hard to accept, but acceptance can be liberating. There is no day it will all have been worth it, and you will be repaid for your suffering. That day is never coming. It stops when you stop it. What feels impossible to you now? Peace, happiness, safety, success is actually just on the other side of this person's bullshit. I see it again and again on here. And y' all have to know there's a better way. You're stronger than you think. And all those lies you've heard so much, you started to believe them are just that, lies. I have been where you are. It can be so much different. I just realized today. Wow. There was a time I couldn't even imagine how happy I'd be today. I wish the same for you all.

[Courtney]

Whoa.

[Shane]

Damn.

[Amanda]

Wow. She never had hit everybody with a sledgehammer, a big sledgehammer of, like, her own positive reflection. That's really cool that she had a moment where she's like, holy shit. I am so glad to be well where I'm at and to have made the decisions I did. Sounds like decisions that can feel, like, really scary, like leaving something. Cause so many people, like we heard earlier, people stay in relationships out of fear. Fear of being alone or anything. But, like. Cause the idea of being alone, it's like, well, that's the unhappy option, right? Is to be alone. But she's not alone.

[Courtney]

She's also so. Right. It's just kind of like if you feel like you are getting, you know, being taken advantage of or anything. You are. You are. It's like, I don't know why we do it. I do it, too. But we tell ourselves this isn't happening. This isn't happening. I think because it's like, it's really challenging to work through it when it is happening. You have to, like, restart everything, and it's really hard, and you have to kind of accept the reality. And I love that she's just like, if this is how you feel, that's what's happening. And it sounds like she's been through a lot. And also. Cake. Yeah.

[Shane]

Hell, yeah. Solves it all.

[Amanda]

Sounds like she's got some cake, too, the way people be hitting on her walking.

[Shane]

Hey.

[Courtney]

Oh, my God. Yeah.

[Shane]

I think it's also really something to say about, like, how long Life is right. I think, like, a lot of people, they're in these relationships, especially when we read stories where people are like, 25 or something, and they're like, yeah, he cheated on me. But, like, we're trying to make it work. And I'm just like. Like, you could put a lot more years into this. And, man, it's a long time. Like, I know it sucks to break up and to take on the challenge of being single again, but it's like, it's a long time, man. You have a lot of life. Like, it keeps going and, like, life is long. It really is long.

[Courtney]

You say life is short, but life

[Amanda]

is actually so long.

[Courtney]

Life is so long. And I think if you look at it as, like, seasons, every. You're in different seasons of your life, and the past is not supposed to be, you know, your passport. It's not supposed to be something that you take with you everywhere. Like, it's a season that you can close the chapter on. And in order to do that, you kind of have to, like, grieve it and work through it and moving forward in each season. And I think it's amazing when someone just consistently reflects on the seasons of their life totally. Because. Because those are the people that I wanna be listening to.

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Courtney]

You know what I mean? Like, those are the people that I wanna hear is people like, shit, this happened. My gut told me it. I will listen now.

[Shane]

Yeah. You know, I'm very glad. Like, I know it's tough. I am so glad that people nowadays, I do think are being better about, like, choosing to be single over being in a bad relationship. Right.

[Courtney]

Yeah.

[Amanda]

Oh, yeah.

[Shane]

But. But I feel so bad for people who are in horrible things where they're being so mistreated and they're so scared of being single. And I guess to me, it almost speaks to, like, oh, you don't want to be alone with yourself. That's how you feel about yourself almost, in some ways. But I also know it's treated like being single is like, failure or whatever. But it's.

[Courtney]

Sometimes when you're in a bad relationship, it's hard to get out because that's them.

[Shane]

They all are bad.

[Courtney]

The relationship is. Cause they're like, I'm the only one. Maybe they're. They've manipulated you enough that you don't talk to your family or your friends or you have any outside people being like, hey, they've driven the whole. This isn't good. I think it's very brave to go, this isn't working for me. This Hurts me. I'm leaving. And I think it is really scary for people to be alone and for sure. But, like, yeah, listening to this person, it sounds like they've been through the works. And they're like, I'm so much happier now because I'm listening to my gut. Right.

[Amanda]

And valuing herself.

[Shane]

Absolutely.

[Amanda]

As herself.

[Courtney]

Yeah. And limoncello cake.

[Shane]

And limoncello cake.

[Courtney]

Have I ever had it? No.

[Shane]

Sounds amazing, sound awesome.

[Amanda]

And vanilla cold brew.

[Shane]

We have one comment. They just write thank you, and apparently that was most of the comments.

[Amanda]

Aw. Now I'm like, I need to get it on this subreddit.

[Courtney]

I kind of do, too.

[Shane]

It's a good one.

[Courtney]

Take pictures of my girl dinner. Yes. I don't even know what it is anymore. Like, what do I even eat anymore? Whatever. My son doesn't eat, I guess. Man, I'm eating some weird stuff lately. Let me just be real.

[Amanda]

What are you feeding your kids?

[Courtney]

Good, good.

[Shane]

I've seen what you got. No, we came over one time and, like, he's eating better than.

[Courtney]

He's eating better than me. Completely better than me.

[Shane]

I was like, holy shit, he's eating, like, lamb chops.

[Courtney]

I'm like, what the hell? It's incredible.

[Shane]

Amazing.

[Courtney]

Gnawing on bones.

[Amanda]

Okay, so that sounds like a dog.

[Courtney]

Yeah, he's a little. My little doggy.

[Shane]

Well, thank you both for joining me for girl dinners.

[Courtney]

I want to do it again.

[Shane]

I know.

[Courtney]

Right now.

[Shane]

All right.

[Amanda]

I have fun.

[Courtney]

Thanks for having us.

[Amanda]

Yes. Say that again.

[Courtney]

Thanks for having us, Shania.

[Shane]

And thank you for joining me, and thank you all for watching, listening, and we'll see you next Saturday. Goodbye.

[Amanda]

I felt so far away from you this whole time on this couch.

[Courtney]

Oh, sorry. Because I was just leaning and it felt really good. Don't cut it. Don't cut it.

[Amanda]

Don't cut it yet. No, cut it.

[Shane]

Keep it going for another hour. Thanks again to Doordash for sponsoring this episode of Reddit Stories.