u/everyoneisflawed

Here's the situation: My friend has rescued an 18 month old girl from a neglectful situation, but cannot keep her. I already love her... However, I have four cats.

All the cats are street rescues, two as kittens. Three of them are easily stressed out. I do think I could introduce them in a way that would work for everyone, I've been reading up about it. But my concern is that I'll take in this dog, the cats will not adjust, and we'll have to rehome the dog.

Other concern: Inexperience (I had a dog as a teen, an I volunteered for a couple years at a shelter, but that's it), we're not great housekeepers, cost of upgrading our fence and just regular cost of caring for her, and training.

But I'm sitting here crying over this poor baby's situation. I've always wanted a dog but never had one because I just wasn't sure if I could care for one. But I work from home, so I'm home all day. And I love animals so much.

Any thoughts? Be harsh with me in your judgement, I don't want to take in a dog just to giver her up in six months.

I know that's a weird progression. I'll try and explain...

My son (16 afab), "A", has a friend (15 afab), "J", who's also trans, but his mom won't recognize it and won't call him by his preferred name/pronouns, which is bad enough.

But the other day, A told me that J had said that his mom was misgendering MY son to J at home, and saying things like "is she still pretending she's a boy?".

I don't think J told A that to be hurtful, but it still hurt. Because what a horrible thing to say to your kid about their friend!

Anyway, this was days ago and I still can't stop thinking about it. The kicker is that she also works at their school, so what kinds of things is she gossiping about to other staff or faculty?

So, I can deal with this practically. I don't think I will let A go over to their house. J is always welcome here, though. And I'll pay attention if it starts to affect him at school. But I'm having a hard time dealing emotionally.

How do you all deal with it when the world is hateful to your kid? I'm so protective. I'm not an angry person, but things like this make me so angry that my face gets hot just thinking about it.

Hello! Are there any OI members here? I am very interested in the OI and have downloaded the aspirancy packet. I have a long way to go before I'm prepared. However, I do have some questions!

For instance, the nearest monastery to me is five hours away. I started a local sangha two years ago, but obviously I'm no dharma teacher and there's no one in this sangha who is either. So I'm not sure how to go about finding a mentor.

Also, who do I write a letter to since Thay's continuation?

And probably the most obvious question, is the OI even accepting new members?

Thanks!

Edit: I am in Central Illinois, in the US.

Our house is small, and my office is on the other side of the living room. He knows I work from home. I've worked remote since covid.

Sometimes he comes home from work early and does the rest of HIS work from home, in the living room, with the TV on, and it's loud. Right now he's watching baseball, I guess.

Every single time, I have to ask him to turn it down, and even then I still hear it. I put headphones on and close my door, but I don't think I should have to. We have a finished basement with a nice TV and recliner, just like he's sitting in up here.

He's not even polite enough to come in here and ask if it would bother me if he watched TV, because sometimes it doesn't bother me. But he doesn't ask. He just waits for me to complain.

Before y'all get up in my face about it, I have already had multiple conversations with him about this. He is not a child, he is an adult, and I'm at work right now at 3 in the afternoon.

Not looking for advice. I just wanted to get that off my chest. I'll probably delete this later.

Edit: I DID set my reddit history to private, but I still hope he sees this post. I don't know how many times I can have this conversation. I have a long fuse, for sure, so if I'm mad, it means I'm fucking exhausted.