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Which one sentence changed your life?

(141 Posts)
greennan Tue 23-Oct-18 11:36:41

A friend sent me a link to THIS THREAD on Mumsnet which made for such poignant and thoughtful reading and afterwards I thought it would be really interesting to pose the same question here. So which one sentence changed your life? I will start with a happy one

Will you marry me?

It's worth reading the Mumsnet thread if you have time but definitely have tissues at the ready

annep Wed 24-Oct-18 13:27:20

Schnackie mine is similar to yours. I had been moaning to my line manager that it was my parents' fault I never got to university. moan groan ..wouldn't pay grammar school fees... had to leave to earn money..blah blah my usual gripes.. I was forty something. She suddenly pointed her finger and said firmly, No. ^You* are responsible for yourself! She was right. It changed my way of thinking. Certainly things happen in life which we can't control, but we are generally responsible for the path we take.

Theoddbird Wed 24-Oct-18 13:59:08

It was hearing my then husband arranging to meet a woman on the phone when I came home early. Can't remember his exact words though. I went on to meet new friends all over the country through a friendship site...went to balls a d parties arranged by members including myself. I got a lovely job and ended up buying a narrow boat to live on. My life totally changed because of that sentence I heard him saying....hahaha

annep Wed 24-Oct-18 14:49:24

flowers for those with sad memories.

Rachel711 Wed 24-Oct-18 14:59:27

One was from a friend: You can never prove he's been seeing someone if he won't admit it- but is this how you want to spend the rest of your life?
And one from my dad: If you're not happy, finding a boyfriend won't make you happy- happiness comes from within yourself.

Matelda Wed 24-Oct-18 15:00:49

At the age of 66, trying to learn Spanish online, a random Russian said to me, "Why don't you learn Russian instead?" Now I'm on Skype most evenings of the week, learning the language and helping all sorts of Russian speakers with their English language and literature. So rewarding! Russians are thoughtful and loving people, and after having lived right through the Cold War, I can't believe how lucky and privileged I am to be actually talking to them. There is no chance I shall ever be bored or lonely, at least as long as I am compos mentis.

Speldnan Wed 24-Oct-18 15:38:35

20 years ago from my now ex husband. “I had an affair while I was away ( on business in Africa). I had to tell you because of the possibility of HIV” all tests were negative but we ended up divorcing after nearly 30 years of marriage. It came totally out of the blue and did literally change my life forever- and ultimately for the better with a new partner. His life changed too but it never did go well with that woman or any Subsequent ones ! Ha ha ha!!?

grannytotwins Wed 24-Oct-18 15:55:58

Neighbour: Your husband cleared your flat of everything this morning.

I was a newly wed. He’d not told me he was gay and gone to live with a man.

Hospital: Does your father suffer from fits because he’s had one and is unresponsive?

He was dead before I got there.

Let’s get married!

My wonderful DH who has transformed my life.

Mum, I’m pregnant.

My teenage daughter who was still at school. Her son is severely disabled. She has just got her Masters.

Sorry there’s more than one, but all life changing for me.

GreenGran78 Wed 24-Oct-18 16:06:44

annep. You are so right. My daughter didn't stay at school after 16 because she 'couldn't see the point of all that learning' She always worked hard in whatever jobs she took, and was quite successful in life. It was only in her 30s, married and with a child, that she decided that she wanted more from life.
She started a part-time degree course, and juggled marriage, work and studies. She finally graduated just weeks before her second child was born.
You have to decide when the time is right for you. No-one else can. And only you can find the inner resources to do it.

AlgeswifeVal Wed 24-Oct-18 16:07:27

From hospital consultant to my husband.
It is mesothelioma and there is no treatment. You will have let nature take it’s course.

Bijou Wed 24-Oct-18 16:08:13

Il est mort.

kwest Wed 24-Oct-18 16:23:12

In the depths of a recession and working every hour to keep our business afloat I was talking to my cousin one day. She said "Don't be a victim". It was just what I needed to give me a kick up the bum and to straighten myself up again. We eventually overcame our business problems by sheer hard grind. My cousin had overcome much worse things in her life and unfortunately died of a brain tumour in her early sixties.

CrazyGrandma2 Wed 24-Oct-18 16:31:31

"And which part of Birmingham do you come from?"
First thing he said to me back in November 1969 and we are still together.

sarahellenwhitney Wed 24-Oct-18 16:40:49

Giving me a lift home after one of our dates and as I was getting out of the car although not looking at me he said 'I love you.' Although our relationship was not to be my life changed from that moment.

nigglynellie Wed 24-Oct-18 16:49:12

'It's your mother, I can't wake her up'! My stepfather, ringing me up at 7.30, Monday, 9th June 1986. She had died in her sleep! He died of cancer 8 months later. It was as an awful year as they were both much loved by all of us.

oldbatty Wed 24-Oct-18 16:59:28

A lady phoned and I told her you could play the piano.

My mother on the phone to a teacher training college.

GabriellaG Wed 24-Oct-18 17:02:51

Stella1949
How did he come by your email address? I presume your fb privacy settings don't show your maiden name.

keffie Wed 24-Oct-18 17:16:19

The confirmation my husband had passed away this March 2018. The longer sentence ever is "a physical life without him"

B9exchange Wed 24-Oct-18 17:29:02

'That's your son crying'

In A and E after my 11 month old son had been rushed in in respiratory arrest and taken away to see if they could resuscitate him. They got him going as I was at the reception desk trying to give his details to register him, and the receptionist heard him. 41 years later he is still doing fine!

maytime2 Wed 24-Oct-18 17:31:55

The last words my husband spoke to me -" I'm trying to put this pain to the back of my head so that I can go back to sleep". He died a few hours later because of a brain haemorrhage.

Saggi Wed 24-Oct-18 18:13:56

I was 13...and my school policy was... and I quote ... ‘ girls have to stop doing science in this year, and started doing domestic science, so they can look after their husbands’

Nanny41 Wed 24-Oct-18 18:45:34

To my Daughter living in America, having to tell her her Dad had just died, she was pregnant at the time.There was no way to soften the blow, I will NEVER forget that moment, neither will she! Tears arent far away as I write this.

Suzan05 Wed 24-Oct-18 18:53:27

Six months before we married (second marriage for both) husband to be said “I’m not going to kiss you anymore”. There had been no problems for the two and a half years we’d known each other before. I was devastated, even went to the dentist to see if I had a problem! I married him as I loved him and hoped he’d change his mind. Thirteen years later......not one kiss.

VivNE65 Wed 24-Oct-18 18:56:29

@GabriellaG Facebook wasn't around in 2002. Could have been Friends Reunited - that's how an old schoolfriend of mine tracked me down in 2003.

Grandmama Wed 24-Oct-18 19:00:00

Recovering from having my tonsils removed, my father came into my bedroom at 9am waving a letter and said "Which grammar school would you like to go to?" It was 1959 and I'd passed the 11+.

JoJo58 Wed 24-Oct-18 19:05:23

'I want to spend the rest of my life with you', said to me after two weeks of dating, been together 44 years and married for 40 yrs still happy and very much in love. smile