Don’t settle for selfish second-chance offers

Advertisement

Advertise with us

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: Through Facebook, I have heard from two old girlfriends since this COVID-19 thing has been happening. They are trying to reconnect with me. I’m a “nice guy” but not exciting enough for most women I’ve dated.

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 11/08/2020 (2197 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: Through Facebook, I have heard from two old girlfriends since this COVID-19 thing has been happening. They are trying to reconnect with me. I’m a “nice guy” but not exciting enough for most women I’ve dated.

I’m close to 40 and I haven’t changed — certainly not any more exciting — but I have progressed with my business and have some money and a house now.

Miss L., single woman have “trust” at the top of their list, all of a sudden. I could get back with one or two of them for sure. I’m lonely and tempted by the sex, but they rejected me in the past. — Second String? Selkirk

Dear Second String: So, how would you like to take the position of fill-in boyfriend/sex partner and then get dumped again — by one or both of these women? It would hurt, just like the first time.

You’re better off alone than with any woman who has spurned you. COVID-19 doesn’t mean you can’t meet new people and have socially-distanced dates until you find a happy win-win situation and become a couple in a “true-to-you” bubble.

 

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I’ve got an urgent problem to solve about my granddaughter in the next few weeks. She’s here for the summer to stay with grandpa and me on the farm, and she doesn’t want to go back to her parents.

We don’t blame her! She says they’re always fighting. Dad gets drunk, mom cries, and the child spends her whole time doing chores on their farm.

She says they love her brother and sister, but they don’t love her because she was a “mistake.” She heard this during one of her parents’ fights.

Last night she told me through her tears she also found out that daddy isn’t her real daddy.

Her grandfather and I are relatively young for grandparents and would love to keep her with us permanently, but don’t know how to approach my daughter and her husband. Maybe it would be a relief, or maybe they’d be offended. They haven’t visited her once so far this summer.

My granddaughter has some health problems and the doctor here has been very good for her, as is her calm and happy life with us. We love her very much. We certainly have enough money to look after her. — Wanting Her To Stay, Southern Manitoba

Dear Wanting: If your granddaughter was conceived with another man, and her mom’s husband has no use for the little girl, except to make her work on the farm, it might be best for everybody concerned if she re-nests with you.

Asking about it will be tricky. Her mom may be more attached, but it’s interesting she hasn’t come to visit once. If you point the finger of blame at either of her parents, they may insist she come back to live at their house, for pride’s sake.

Could you tell them about having this great doctor nearby and how well she is doing health-wise? Ask your daughter very nicely if your grandchild could stay on after the summer and be near to that particular doctor. Also say you’d be happy to pay for all expenses.

This would not put the blame on the parents, and they just might be OK with it and let her stay — for her health. Make it clear you aren’t looking for any money for the child being with you — for school, clothes or anything she needs. You’d just consider it a privilege to have her stay with you.

 

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I’m writing to say that the “naturist” (or nudist) who wrote you, should tone it down a bit. (She invited a friend to move in and didn’t warn her she was a nudist and now she’s suggesting the shocked girl stay in her bedroom. The new apartment mate is paying rent, even though it’s less, for the smaller bedroom).

She deserves consideration! Compromise is needed with the air conditioning too — she should have some say in the temperature of her living space. Also, does the renter not have any access to the kitchen or relaxing in the living room now? I sure wouldn’t want to sit somewhere with body sweat all over the place! — Been a Co-Renter, Manitoba

Dear Been a Co-Renter: These unhappy co-renters need to part ASAP — there’s no way round it. There’s simply no excuse for not telling a possible new roommate you will be walking around nude in the apartment.

Two nudists or “naturists” could possibly make a plan to live together compatibly. But this woman was taken by surprise, and deserves her money back so she can get a different place. She was not forewarned and that’s simply inexcusable.

 

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

Volunteer helps keep Nellie McClung’s legacy alive

Tiago Resko 4 minute read Preview

Volunteer helps keep Nellie McClung’s legacy alive

Tiago Resko 4 minute read 6:00 AM CDT

Growing up with ties to the community of Manitou, Gillian Potvin has found great inspiration in the traces of Nellie McClung’s legacy.

The 39-year-old has spent nearly a decade channelling that inspiration back into the community by being a key part of the Nellie McClung Museum of Canada’s marketing and events planning since it opened at 55 Main St., in the southern Manitoba town in 2017.

Utilizing her skills in marketing and digital design for the museum is her way of thanking the woman who fought for the rights she has today and continuing her legacy.

“She helped women to be identified as persons and that’s huge,” she said of the woman born in 1873 and considered one of Canada’s most prominent suffragists. “It’s easy to take for granted some of these rights we now have as women, but there would have been a big fight back in the day to change the things that have always been.”

Read
6:00 AM CDT

Letters, Aug. 17

6 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

Be statesmanlike, Pierre

Re: Canadians have moved on, Poilievre hasn’t (Aug. 7); Poilievre’s trade bluster a desperate bid for attention (Aug. 12)

If I were Pierre Poilievre, I wouldn’t be just thinking about becoming the next prime minister. I’d be thinking about legacy in larger terms — meaning how would I ultimately want to be remembered.

And I would want to be remembered as the politician who, even if not having achieved the ultimate goal of becoming prime minister, left the political world as a respected statesman. As such, with respect to trade and the relationship with the United States, I would be guided by the following maxim found in Tom Brodbeck’s Aug. 12 column: The goal should be to maximize Canada’s leverage while reducing its vulnerability.

Where paths cross

Carina Blumgrund 5 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

Every so often, an ordinary moment turns out to be about something else entirely.

I watched two women meet outside a grocery store recently. Neither seemed to know the other. One had dropped a bag, oranges rolling across the wet pavement, and the other bent down without a word to help gather them. It took maybe 40 seconds. They exchanged a few sentences I couldn’t hear, laughed once, and went their separate ways. I don’t think either of them thought about it again.

I did, though. I kept thinking about how neither woman had planned to meet the other that morning. Their separate mornings happened to touch for less than a minute, and then continued on, changed by some small amount neither could probably name.

For a long time, when I thought about what brings people together, bridges were the image that came to mind. Bridges connect two known sides. They’re built on purpose, toward a destination already identified. I still believe in that kind of work. Deliberate bridges, built with intention toward a place meant to be reached, matter enormously.

Oliveira shines in win over Redblacks, Collaros rocked again

Taylor Allen 5 minute read Preview

Oliveira shines in win over Redblacks, Collaros rocked again

Taylor Allen 5 minute read Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026

It wasn’t a stellar performance by any stretch.

But at this point, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will take a win no matter what it looks like.

The Blue and Gold outlasted the winless Ottawa Redblacks 33-21 on a rainy Friday night at Princess Auto Stadium to improve to 5-4.

“It’s great to finally get a win at home for our fans and to go out and play a better game is very encouraging,” said right guard Patrick Neufeld.

Read
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026

Best to fess up about grandkid-sitting fatigue

Maureen Scurfield 5 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: We love our grandchildren, but now we’re sick of them. The two sets of parents — our adult children — have been parking their kids out here on the farm with us while they take back-to-back road trips to see their friends. We’ve had enough.

Grandma and I want them to come back and get the “brats” (just joking, they’re nice kids) so we can relax.

You have to be so careful with city kids around the farm who don’t know when they’re going to make a mistake and get hoofed by an animal or run over by a farm implement.

How do we tell our kids the party is over early, and they really need to come back before grandma and I give out?

Foster mom pleads guilty to assault that left six-year-old-girl paralyzed

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Preview

Foster mom pleads guilty to assault that left six-year-old-girl paralyzed

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Friday, Aug. 14, 2026

A Winnipeg foster mother has admitted to violently assaulting her ill foster daughter and leaving her paralyzed after the girl resisted the woman’s efforts to provide her with medication, a court has heard.

Marilyn Keno, 26, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of aggravated assault.

Keno remains in custody and will be sentenced at a later date following the completion of a court-ordered pre-sentence report.

The maximum sentence for aggravated assault is 14 years in prison. Crown attorney Alanna Littman and defence lawyer Jeremy Kostiuk did not disclose what sentences they will be recommending.

Read
Friday, Aug. 14, 2026