Daddy's Home by Tony Rubino and Gary Markstein for September 18, 2023

Tony asked, about 6 hours ago

Do you want to talk about it?

Sometimes. But most times, I just want to forget about it.

She doesn’t want a conversation, she just wants to vent.

Today’s the day you actual try and Listen, Why can’t you ignore me when I need you too.

I don’t like being held hostage while you spend an hour “venting.” Especially if you’re a constant “ventor.” This tells me you just LIKE hearing yourself talk and you don’t want solutions.

The only appropriate response to the 2nd panel would be…, “Have a seat dear and let me rub your neck and shoulders.”

“Maybe you should…” are just about the worst words to lead with. Ever.

My wife works in a grocery store. She talks about her day and I ask “who is Sean?” YOU KNOW SEAN, He’s blah blah something blah. The characters in her stories keep changing every day. My best guess is she works with around 3,200 people.

I’m not here to problem solve. I’m here to VENT! Just sit there and don’t say a word.

That should be a nineties problem. The cloud offers synced files. Your laptop should have a backup copy of your work.

just doing a trash dump

Ya all she wants to do is vent, but for God’s sake don’t you dare stop paying attention to her.

Too late, Peg, too late…!

Then stop not talking about it.

They don’t want you to fix anything, they just want you to listen.

Sometimes you have to just let them keep talking until they finally (hopefully!) run out of words.

Translation. She’s the only one she wants to hear talk about it…..

“It’s not about the nail”

Look it up.

Now during that vent don’t say anything that might be implied to be any sort of solution. Lots of “Um m” and “Yes” and not much more than that. Not much more than “Wow. What a day. Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?” And be ok when all she wants is a piece or three of chocolate, a blanket and a cup of tea or glass or wine. My ex-wife did not want any sort of advice, but was more than willing to give it to me for any and all situations.