I feel bad for you. I have lived in countries in which literacy was the exception and not the rule, and more wonderful people I have yet to meet. Adults with learning disabilities or who have been deprived the means of a good education are not lesser.

The OP clarified that the cat did get medical care and that it was an end-of-life issue, which I totally understand. A lot of people re-home pets for minor medical issues (like peeing outside the litter box due to a UTI) without ever seeking medical care, so I jumped to conclusions here.

Two out of the three cats I’ve had reached a point in old age where they had organ issues and the medical treatment options were insanely expensive and don’t buy much time. Those cats either peed all over the damn place or had problems keeping themselves clean. I loved them, so I bathed them in the sink and bought…

That’s surprising! It’s just the way she communicates, then, which is fine.

I think the problem is that the new cats are kittens still. When my 18 year old cat died, we got an 8 week old kitten. I forgot how active kittens are. Kittens were a bad fit for that family; they need older, more sedate old lady cats.

I wish there was a button by the flags that we could all use to “recommend” someone for graying or de-graying. Like, a meter the staff could use (keeping in mind some may have recommended mean-spiritedly) to get commenters out of purgatory faster.

We took the poopy cat to the dr many many times, tried many medicines. She had cancer. We couldn’t help her not poop everywhere. I realize that wasn’t clear from my letter. We tried to help her, but couldn’t, so we cleaned up her explosive diarrhea poo until she was sick enough to be put down.

A LOT of us grays are just regular Jezebel readers and commenters that have been lost to gray purgatory. Don’t be... ... black..ist? VisibleCommentist? I donno. Anyway, #NotAllGrays

My mom’s California friend is around 80 and writes like a 14-year-old instagram addict - all smilies and “How RU? We’re @ the suchandsuch 2day.” And she has done so for as long as I can remember.

Dear god, it’s like you’ve met my mother.

Neither is being gray. :)

Agreed on nearly every point. Except one.

Right? Also, you do not owe anyone an explanation of whom you are or how you live your life. If you are on shaky ground/new territory, anyway, why come out to people who will only diminish and demean you? There are loads of exquisitely sensitive topics I feel no need to share with people who will use them as a dagger…

Once again, Jane proves herself to be sort of an asshole.

Yeah, this is a hill I’ll die on each and every time, though Jezebel readers tend to snark hard on bad grammar and punctuation: looking down on someone for poor written or verbal communication is classist and ableist and unkind. Good communication skills are not a solid indicator of intelligence or worth. Come at me,…

This stunned me. I have worked in literacy programs with kind, wonderful, strong (and very shamed) adults. They simply have a hard time reading (for myriad reasons), and some of the compensations they have developed are beyond genius.

100%! Plus I immediately thought where LW lives could play a factor. I live in rural Pennsylvania where by 25 most people are married with a couple kids. Depending on her surrounding culture maybe boyfriend thinks that’s what’s supposed to happen. Or maybe he’s just really excited and doesn’t want her to slip away.…

I do spend a great majority of my day giving advice to far-flung friends via Facebook Messenger...

First questioner: I know you want your family to accept you, but your family already doesn’t accept you. Your mother may pretend to accept you, but she does not accept who you are. It sounds like your father will not accept who you are either. I think you need to realize those facts. Also they sound like shitty shitty…

Baptists. What won’t you look past to get your way?