This is my first time on this website...thought I would give it a shot! I've been getting alot of advice from my friends, but thought I'd try the stranger approach.
Okay, here's the deal. I'm extremely close to my family, and my sister is my best friend. My parents have very strong views on who we should and should not date. Of course, I've always stayed on the "safe side" of their criteria (not intentionally), because I have the same expectations as they do for the man I date. Well, about 2 months ago I met this amazing guy. We get along so fabulously! He cracks me up and is adorable. He challenges me and can keep up with my sense of humor, which is very important to me. He's slightly artsy, so he understands me! However, he is divorced and has two children with his ex-wife. I was slightly "concerned" by this information, but now it's not an issue to me. I've just never dated anyone who has been divorced...or had children! I waited to tell my mother about this because I knew she would immediately be turned off by the whole situation. Well, like I said, we've now been dating for about 2 months, and it's starting to get serious. I told her a few days ago, and she was NOT happy! I found out from my sister that my mom called her the next day and was saying, "How could she do this to us? How could she date someone who is divorced with kids?" My sister explained that my love life is for ME, not for THEM. And that she knows I've done some thinking about this situation and truly believe he is a great guy! My mom and dad think I'm "too young" (I'm 26 and completely competent!!) to date someone like this! My question is (after this really long paragraph!) is: How do I get my parents to understand where I'm coming from and just accept the fact that I like this guy? Mom hasn't called me all weekend...I think she's obviously still upset about this. She likes to play the guilt card! And it doesn't help that my sister once dated someone my parents didn't like and she broke up with the guy (he was the "wrong race" according to my parents!). HELP!
