Gareth.

Nearly everyone suffers awkward teenage years. Nearly everyone is the butt of someone's joke. Nearly everyonever gets stood up.

Very very few people find their forever person as a teenager or even date well as a teenager.

I wasn't even allowed to go on a proper date until I was 18. I couldn't do any "dating" at all until I was 16. Don't you think that made the butt of some unkind jokes? The object of some teenage cruelty? Don't you think it made for some extremely lonely teenage years? Dont you think i looked around in envy at "everyone else" who had boyfriend after boyfriend and "never" got teased? Never got humiliated? Don't you think it made putting myself out there harder, and frankly, more dangerous?

But I didn't blame men for that and I didn't wallow in self pity.

Very very few people had golden teenage years. Those that did usually burned out young too or crashed and burned young.

The reality is most of had rough teenage years full of angst and misery. We were all obnoxious to each other. We were all the target of some obnoxious behavior and sometimes even some bungled good intentions that were serious hits to our self esteem.

You lost over a decade to wallowing itself pity. And you're still blaming women for that. You say you're not, but you won't let it go, even now that you've found someone and done so relatively easily once you truly put yourself out there.