Hint at grandchildren to appease ex-mother-in-law

Advertisement

Advertise with us

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I married my childhood sweetheart in my late teens. I had no kids with him and I still really wanted to go wild for a few years. We divorced, but he was an emotional mess for a year and went home to live with his mom. We didn’t have any property to divide.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/08/2017 (3334 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I married my childhood sweetheart in my late teens. I had no kids with him and I still really wanted to go wild for a few years. We divorced, but he was an emotional mess for a year and went home to live with his mom. We didn’t have any property to divide.

Well, who came back into my life on Facebook but my ex-husband, who is looking all grown-up and fancy? We got together a few weeks ago and have been seeing each other almost every day after work until the next morning. This was fine with me, but then his mother found out. She started raising hell about him seeing the girl who broke his heart before.

Today she called me, and asked me what I thought I was doing. I told her it was none of her business and she said, “Well, don’t break my baby’s heart again, or you’ll answer to me.” I said, “Bring it on!” never thinking she would. The next day she was on my doorstep at supper time. I saw her through the side window and didn’t open it.

Now I have a big problem — her. I really do love him and care deeply, and I’m mature enough now to want a marriage and babies. We are both in our early 30s and never married anyone else. What should I do?

— Ms. Unpopular, North End

Dear Ms. Unpopular: The thawing-out process has to begin with your ex’s help. He has to tell his mom he went looking for you, how things developed, how much more mature both of you are, and that you want to have kids together and for her to be an active grandmother. She has to be reassured you both have matured, still love each other and this time you’re ready. That might just settle her down. There is nothing like the promise of grandchildren to persuade her to give you another chance.

As for a second marriage, keep it quiet. Do it privately with just two to four close friends for a dinner after a ceremony. When guests who attended your first wedding ask about a real party and gifts, just tell them it’s not necessary since they gave you things at your first wedding.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I went out for a fist fight in a bar parking lot with a friend who double-crossed me. People just left us to duke it out. I got a bleeding fat lip and her eye went purple. I don’t know where security was. She and I have had a lot of verbal fights in the bar before, so maybe people have stopped caring if we live or die. Anyway, when we both sobered up, she got over it, but my lip is still bad and I’m mad.

I needed a drink at my favourite bar. That bar is my home. Yesterday we both went back to the bar. She tried to make up to me and I told her off. She asked if I wanted another beating and suddenly a bouncer showed up, told us to get out and said we were banned. Where does he get the right to ban us from our own bar? We went to another bar to talk for a minute and decided we’re going to the manager of the old bar about this. What should we say to him?

— Want Our Home Back, Downtown

Dear Want Our Home Back: Don’t make promises you can’t keep. If you want to see if you can get along without hitting each other, try two months in another bar and then, on the strength of your good behaviour, you could try talking to the old manager on the phone, bypassing the bouncers at the door.

Why any owner would want two scrappers back is beyond me, but it was the bouncer’s decision that put you out, not his, and the big boss may override the bouncer.

 

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6

Miss Lonelyhearts

Miss Lonelyhearts
Advice Columnist

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Manitoba’s own Summer Howell takes on biggest role yet as Stephen King’s telekinetic teen Carrie

Randall King 7 minute read Preview

Manitoba’s own Summer Howell takes on biggest role yet as Stephen King’s telekinetic teen Carrie

Randall King 7 minute read Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

From the tender age of eight, actress Summer Howell has made her presence known in a series of horror films shot in her home province of Manitoba.

Her first film was Curse of Chucky (2013), director Don Mancini’s continuation of the venerable killer doll series he started (as a screenwriter) in 1988 with Child’s Play.

“Even then, it was obvious she was very talented, intelligent and delightful,” Mancini said of Howell.

Though she has worked in other genres, Howell gravitated to horror repeatedly, with credits in Shawn Linden’s harrowing Hunter Hunter (2020) and the 2023 possession thriller All Fun and Games. Earlier this year, she shot the horror film Sundown in Winnipeg with director Rebekah McKendry, which premièred last week at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles and is headed for a streaming berth on Shudder.

Read
Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

Living the dream

Ken Wiebe 6 minute read Preview

Living the dream

Ken Wiebe 6 minute read Yesterday at 4:48 PM CDT

DETROIT – As Tyrel Bauer took a left turn out of the tunnel from the Winnipeg Jets dressing room and into the stands, he was met with a hearty round of applause from the 25 friends and family members who had made the trek from various points around North America.

Bauer had just realized a childhood dream and the significance of the moment was not lost on some of his biggest supporters.

“It was a special walk, for sure. A special walk,” Bauer said on Saturday afternoon before the Jets departed for a two-game road trip that begins on Sunday in Detroit against the Red Wings. “Those people who came – and many more that weren’t there and were cheering on from afar – they’ve always been there.

“I wanted that for my family, maybe even more than I wanted it for me. They’ve been through thick and thin. I’ve stressed mom out quite a bit over the years doing my job. That meant a lot for them and I’m really happy they could be there for it.”

Read
Yesterday at 4:48 PM CDT

Board game company charts winning path

Aaron Epp 5 minute read Preview

Board game company charts winning path

Aaron Epp 5 minute read Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

Dennis Northcott has launched a game without frontiers.

The Winnipeg entrepreneur is the co-designer of Galactic Cruise, a board game published last year by Kinson Key Games LLC, the business he co-founded. Since its release, Galactic Cruise has been translated into 11 languages and sold around 50,000 copies worldwide.

It’s also one of three finalists for this year’s Deutsche Spiele Preis, a prestigious community-voted board game award. Northcott will travel to Essen, Germany, later this month, where the winner will be announced at Spiel Essen, an annual board game trade fair.

“It’s been amazing,” Northcott said of the response to Galactic Cruise during an interview in his Island Lakes neighbourhood home earlier this week. “The sales have been great, but it’s also been amazing in terms of people giving their reviews.”

Read
Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

May be whiff of truth to ex’s odour ardour

Maureen Scurfield 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I ran into an old boyfriend I used to curl on a team with, and we went for drinks. We’ve been almost eight years apart, and I couldn’t remember why we broke up, as we always had such a great time together.

It wasn’t until the second date — this time on a weekend — that it came back to me, with a jolt. Pee-yew! I remembered he doesn’t use deodorant on weekends. Why? He enjoys his own body odour. I recalled that a bit too late, and it was just as awful as ever! I went home early.

Tonight, he called and I refused him another date. I said, “Think back. You remember why we broke up?” Then he said, “Oh yeah, you hated my no-deodorant weekend policy. Well, guess what? Some women don’t mind!” I said I really doubted that, and that ended the conversation. Miss L., wouldn’t any women find stinky underarms offensive?

— Sensitive Nose, Fort Richmond

Khan should’ve taken high road: Goertzen

Carol Sanders 5 minute read Preview

Khan should’ve taken high road: Goertzen

Carol Sanders 5 minute read Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

The veteran Progressive Conservative who championed Obby Khan’s leadership bid says the former Blue Bomber dropped the ball by dissing his Tory teammates before he stepped down.

“I wouldn’t recommend it, and I didn’t recommend it,” Kelvin Goertzen (Steinbach) said in an interview Friday.

Khan resigned as PC leader and quit the caucus Monday saying some members were secretly plotting his ouster, even after he won a confidence vote on Sept. 25.

On Tuesday, Khan lashed out in a CJOB interview, naming the alleged plotters, saying constituents deserved to know which of their elected representatives “lacked moral integrity.” Khan told the Free Press he was “deeply emotionally hurt,” and felt stabbed in the back.

Read
Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

Blown lead spoils Jets opener

Mike McIntyre 7 minute read Preview

Blown lead spoils Jets opener

Mike McIntyre 7 minute read Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

Younger. Faster. Stronger.

They may still be a long ways from a finished product, but it’s safe to say the new-look Winnipeg Jets made a mostly favourable first impression on Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Canada Life Centre.

Sure, a 4-3 overtime loss to a hard-nosed Boston Bruins outfit is going to sting a little, especially since the home team was just 98 seconds away from a regulation victory.

But if the Jets can bottle up this kind of energy and effort, they should enjoy plenty of success over the course of the 84-game campaign.

Read
Friday, Oct. 2, 2026