That's where I'm coming from, too, because I had sisters. I know someone mentioned this in another thread, about being an only child, and I think it's better, too. I hated having sisters growing up. They were always in my stuff, I had no privacy, and they would borrow my stuff permanently without asking.

I loved living alone, and was really cautious about waiting a long while before moving in with my DH. I know he respects my stuff, and doesn't go foraging through it. Again, I don't have anything shady either, but I'm just private.

I do not let my husband in my bathroom, which is attached to our room. I make him go all the way downstairs in the middle of the night. I figure this: I've been an only child my whole life. I am sharing my house (we bought my mom's house when we got married. Okay, I really think of it as "our" house, but still.)

I used to have tons of privacy, and this whole house was filled with JUST MY STUFF after my mom got married and moved out, and now I have none. So just give me my bathroom

We have literally gotten into screaming fights over him using my bathroom because he doesn't understand. I'm sure most people don't. But it's not like I don't let him in the living room or something. When we get a new house someday, I'll let him have HIS own bathroom, too.

Firstly, understand about the privacy thing!
Do you know I contacted a part time computer course and was REALLY put off when they said a consultant would VISIT!
I haven't heard of this before and have nothing to hide but just didn't feel comfortable about the idea of this stranger coming to my home!
Secondly, this situation you mentioned with your friends reminded me of what my parents went through a bit.
I haven't mentioned this yet but my parents don't really want my brother and my sister in law to have any more kids!!!
They have a boy and a girl, they are married. Even though they are well paid, mum has told me that with a young family it was financially a STRUGGLE!
Mum and dad helped them out financially but they also wanted to tell them SLOW DOWN!
AND they were FREAKED OUT when my brother said that they don't believe in birth control!!
AND THEN
a family friend talked to my brother about it, told him something like no wonder you guys are always broke but if you continue to have kids and lots of them you will probably get worse and worse off financially!
Well my brother and his wife got all [censored] off and argued with her and our parents and they fell out with them for a couple of weeks and said mum and dad couldn't see the kids etc. (Oh by the way, some parents DO this. Not all - obviously! - but if
people think
"OOh I'll have kids so I can have grandchildren" - think again! They can be used as pawns and bargining chips!
ANYWAY everything has now gone back to normal but I'm kinda hoping they don't have any more too!
I mean HELLO my inheritance?!
And they already have a boy AND a girl and both healthy.
But I understand the tension cause mum and dad were dying to SAY something and didn't want to!
And thirdly I hope it goes well for you!

Hmmm, speaking of which, I have a plastic magic wand that lights up and plays music sitting on the bookshelves in the living room right now. I should put that away. It's bad enough that I keep my manga collection out.

Hell yes! It's so wrong, but it happens. My sister does this all the time. She's such a manipulative b**ch. If I have plans with my nephew and she gets [censored] off at me, she will say he can't go with me, even though it breaks his heart.

You'll love this... She wants to come to Florida to go to a rave or something at the end of March. (I don't think I've posted this story yet). She already made hotel arrangements, and yes this is the sister that is filing for bankruptcy because she spent all of her money fighting my parents for custody of her son. But she still has money to party. Anyway, I digress. So my other sister and parents wanted to bring my nephew down with them in March to see me. My sister got [censored], and said she was planning on visiting at the end of March, and leaving my nephew with me for a week. Granted, I would love to see my nephew for a week, on the one hand. But it's just assumed that I will watch him for a week. And, then there's this thing called a job, and hopefully I will have one by then.

So I told her, why don't you let Mom and Dad bring him down during his spring break from school, and you can do whatever you want that week. She said, the spiteful @#%@% that she is, well, I'm not really into other people taking my son on a week's vacation without me. (He came on the wedding cruise with us all in the fall, she wasn't there). Well, then WHY doesn't she take him somewhere? She wants to vacation in Florida for a week without him. But the rest of us like spending time with him, and she won't let him go with us, to spite him. So I'm telling you, I get this, and I think it happens a lot with immature parents like my sister. Or, if there's a party, and my parents won't babysit, she threatens to take him with her. I know she's probably taken him to tons of crazy parties.

I only invite people into our home who will appreciate our toys (all our friends do). We have some figures from anime, a huge dvd and games collection, a shelf full of comics and that's just the start. If anyone else who makes it in here doesn't approve of the giant flying mario that's on the wall, that's fine, it's their problem.

lol! That's awesome. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of people around me that share my interests. It's something I've had to deal with.

Update!

I got an email from the friend I was worried about in the OP this evening and found out his GF is apparently more self-aware and less selfish than I gave her credit for. They had a long talk today. She's decided she needs some time to sort out some of her mental baggage from her ex and spend some time getting the kids settled into a new routine before jumping into a serious relationship. He supports the idea. In short, they had a quiet, friendly break-up.

I told my fiance what had happened and his response was perfect. It summed up everything I was feeling very succinctly.

His response was "Yaaay!!"

Yay!

Yay for your friend, myrabeth!

And also, to the rest of you - you're all a huge bunch of geeks! See, I TOLD my husband he'd like you guys. We're huge geeks, too. Firefly, Serenity, Star Wars, seaQuest (that's just me), Buffy, Arrested Development, Popeye, Harry Potter, Looney Tunes, LOTR ... DH makes light sabres as one of his hobbies, and he is going to be making me an R2D2.