All Comments on 'Shouldering the Burden'

Sorry but 1⭐ for the supreme bullshit of being responsible for his wife's infidelity.

Can be influenced but not responsible.

People are responsible for their own actions and decisions.

Well done! I worked in Alzheimers' units nursing victims of that terrible disease. My mother also died of Alzheimers'. It was hardest watching the families of the victims. Their relatives were ok, but the families saw their loved one as a completely different person. One of the best memories I have of working there is of a lady, Isobel, who was loved her dances back in the 30s and 40s. I put a cd on of swing music. Isobel could not stand as she was too frail, but when she heard the music, her feet moved back and forth as though she was dancing and her face showed pure joy. Thank you! 5 stars.

Sweet and sad and unusual in this category. Well done

Boy, you really take on the toughest themes. I’ve spent some time in “memory care” facilities as an observer. They can be uplifting and very sad at the same time. By the time we reach 80, most of us will have lost our sight, our hearing or our mind. I’m working on the sight one right now. I hope the other two don’t catch me.

Beautifully written, well done.

What a sad, strong story. There is a maturity and depth to your writing that is a breath of fresh air.

A beautiful story of love.

Thank you, NTH.

Beautiful…truly beautiful!!

cucks get one star, even if they feel guilt because their wife lied about being raped

Well written, but not something I want to read. Creeping up in age, had relatives go that route and don't want to remember it that way.

Great touch, a very rare thing - an original story in LW

Well done.

Excellent. That was more of a romantic story then a L W story. 5stars

Solid work. "It's us." Perfect.

Painful to contemplate, but ultimately compelling and beautiful. A story that will stay with me. Thank you.

Your nom de plume sir is a bold faced lie. Talent springs abundant it seems in this and others of your works. This was a beautiful story. 5* Bittersweet. Alzheimers is a terrible thing to experience I'm sure for the victim and for loved ones. I dealt with the latter and pray to never experience the former. Again, a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing.

Wow, no, fuck this cuck apologist shit! She shouldn’t have been a flirt, shouldn’t push his buttons to get a rise out of him, shouldn’t try to make him angry. She wouldn’t have been “raped” if she wasn’t flirting and drinking with another man. She couldn’t be blackmailed if she immediately went to her husband, told him the truth, and accepted the consequences!

Why would he forgive her and keep her?!? She wasn’t an adult woman, ready and able to be a wife. She’s written as though she had no agency or accountability. Basically mentally and emotionally a little girl in a woman’s body. Who wants that?!? Cut your losses, and find a real woman to build a family with!

ZK

That was very, very good. Thank you

A great story idea, unique and very well executed. You are a talented writer.

Very nice

5 stas

A unique, poignant story. Bravo. All the perfect people, who never did anything bad, never failed their own standards, stand up. Take a bow. Pat yourselves on the back real good. Nominate yourself for canonization.

And look up the word "Pharisee". Pharisees never need to say "I'm sorry". But they never get to know what it's like to be forgiven when they didn't "deserve it", accepted back. Given another chance.

I've heard it said that our society has largely lost the idea of forgiveness. Maybe something to be worked out in a story. It might be even harder to accept forgiveness, as sort of an act of faith, than to forgive.

very touching

Wonderful!

5

wow - nicely done

I don't know if saying I liked it is wrong? Dementia is such a cruel disease that should fill everyone with fear. Give me a pill if I should ever get that way. It was really well written and thoughtful. The cheating was a side issue that was handled appropriately. 4 stars

Beautiful

An interesting story.

It helped confirm that you should never forgive cheating for any reason.

Feels like an alternative version of The Notebook.

Nice quick read over breakfast, thanks.

It was a good story but I fucking hate sad stories.

Damn you. That I keep coming back to your stories, despite this being an erotic site, is testament to your skills as a writer. Let's be honest, your entire catalog is like boner genocide. 5

Good story and I the repaired vase is a great symbol.

An incredibly tender, loving story. People are human. We make mistakes. Forgiveness is the ultimate act of love. Simply great writing. Brought tears to my eyes. An easy 5-😊😊😊😊

Why do you always blame or complicity on the husband in your stories? I can understand that there are people who would want to be the culprit sickly, but honestly, if I have a fight with my wife and she then goes and lets another man fuck her, it can't be my fault . The parameters of the woman are not correct. Seducer or not, if I don't want to be seduced, he can wait a long time! And if he can live with the fact that she made him a cuckold, then that's a different decision. There are supposed to be sick men there too!

Well done, but Sad so sad. the loss of one life mate is so sad. memory loss might be harder to bear than actual death.

I like your story very much.

I don't know if you are aware how close to real situations in Alzheimer's disease this is, but trust me if you care...

It is uncanny how close you are. (subjects may differ, but the message stands firm)

Thank you! 5

Very good story one of your best. Seldom does a story here do more than satisfy my btb thirst but this one touched me emotionally

Like Groundhog Day for him. I imagine that he's inured. Mostly. D

Very nicely written. It reminded me of a similar type story I read a number of years ago of a woman in a home/hospital who was constantly "bed hopping" and her poor husband has to constantly accept what she was doing. She no longer recognised her husband or family but thought some of the male patients were her old boyfriends and would sneak off to "sleep" with them. There was nothing the husband could do to stop her. She was physically still very attractive so had no problems getting male "admirers"... but mentally??? she was very ill.

Anyway, great story. This was my father's medical field so I grew up having "patients" regularly having Sunday Lunch with us, giving them a family experience. We just thought this was normal!! Ha. Thank you.

Congratu;lations on a perfect story!!

This is a beautiful love story!!

Outstanding...

Nicely written! This is a different & poignant perspective on Loving Wives. I have come to enjoy your stories & look for your name in the new submissions.

Just WOW! - 5+*

Another wonderful little story. A marriage is made of so many ups and downs, so many times when the cracks need to be filled, and filled again. The best marriages survive those moments and are stronger for them. Thanks for sharing - gb

Lovely and heart breaking. Fantastic setting

Good one. Thank you

The kintsugi art form is cool. But this story is a downer. You ought to try writing an actual erotic story someday.

Simply put, that was amazingly beautiful. A painful reminder of how love can be versus the frailty of age. Great job.

Heart breaking. At the same time, an affirmation of love. Beautiful story. Thank you.

A very touching story. Thank you for posting.

It’s a beautiful story. Thank you.

Another heartbreaking five star story. How many times did you watch "Grave of the Fireflies" as a boy?

Wow great story. Very emotional, never thought about it that way reliving daily.

Well written and heartfelt. Thank you!

Thank you again.

This is a beautiful love story

I appreciate NTH’s willingness to explore unusual emotional topics. This story is a sad Groundhog’s Day, told in a very loving fashion. The story’s length is such that there’s not much room for character development, but the level of emotion generated in such a short story is a clear indicator of NTH’s abilities.

You wrote a real interesting story here. Forcing your MC to wallow in guilt. His anger forced her to do nothing. She went out looking for trouble and found it. You adding the drugged drink thing is a cheap emotional device - forced.

Congratulations on a perfect story. I would change "even if" to "although"; but, otherwise, I wouldn't change a word. When I first read it, I thought there was an awkward jump. But, on a second reading, I saw that the clues were there--small table, chair next to her, too small bed--for readers more attentive than I.

Very creative, very sweet. I was moved. 5 stars.

Don't usually do RAAC, one of the few I could stomach

Well done. A difficult topic.

Wow. beautiful, well-told story. Thank you.

Sometimes stories/tales come along that bring up memories that are so emotional all you can do is let the feelings run through your soul. I watched a good man do this for his wife, the love of his life in the early to mid-1990’s in Pensacola, Fl. We didn’t have all the locations and assistance for care givers that are available today. People were just getting details of these type of medical conditions into the medical journals and teaching techniques in medical universities that allowed for the improved care and treatments of these type of conditions.

Your ability to tell the story/tale was fascinating to me on how you carried every detail and emotion a caregiver would have. Thank you for writing this story the way you did.

Keep Writing

JH4Fun

Just superb.

.

5 *****

I'm angry!

Since I'm angry, I'm allowed to screw you over.

And I will. After all, I'm angry, and applying your logic, that makes what I'm going to do forgivable.

Yes, I'm mad and disappointed, so now I'm going away to read someone else's stories. I hope no one takes pictures!

2-stars .... the bloom is off the rose!

Very touching.

Beautiful

OMG - this is great. I wish I could rate it higher than 5.

This reminded me of my fears after my mother passed. My father had an advanced case of Alzheimers. We all had expected him to die first - he definitely had used up his body over his lifetime! I feared that I would have to break his heart each time I saw him, by telling him that the love of his life had passed.

I didn't have to. That was the one recent thing he remembered - for the two months until he followed her.

OMG, that was amazing. Poignant, and seemed very real. Experienced what the MC went through with my Mom.

Thank you for your offerings - know that they are very appreciated. Wayne

I see you're still living up to your moniker.

Always amazing

The true pain of Alzheimer's disease also called Dementia. A great example of a full life, a loving couple, destroyed by an insidious disease. 5-stars. Thank you for your honest portrayal of one of the most painful parts of the ageing process, death is kinder than this.

Got a lump in my throat. Must be coming down with something.

Thanks for this one.

WOW! Just WOW! Amazing short story by an amazing author! An easy 5*! Thank you for sharing the thoughts that bang around inside your head! IMO, this is one of your best!

Short or long, you don’t disappoint.

And… you’re welcome for the inadvertent double entendre.

Charlie is telling the story, yet he tells us things that happened before he entered the room. That can't happen.

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A simple fix would be to begin with, "When I entered the room," then continue as written.

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Not what I expected, but i a good way, very sweet. Five stars.

The wife lost All presumption to understanding and forgiveness when she decided to go to a bar and get drunk; its doesn't even matter why she did that: celebrating, suffering, etc. Forget the fucking, how about driving home from the bar and running over a child, or walking out with a group of bikers and disappearing into the world of drugs and sex trafficking? How outrageous do the consequences of her getting drunk have to be before its Not The Husband's Fault? But you really really wanted to incorporate wabi-sabi into your story, and you had to break some logic eggs to create your heart rending omelette. As the French might point out, you ended up with just scrambled eggs.

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The wife's stupidity of going along with the black mail at least jives with her stupidity of driving to a bar to get drunk in response to a marital argument. What's does not jive is why the husband married such a stupid woman, or decided to have children with this mental midget. If her marriage was that bad she should instead have driven to a hotel that night, and a lawyer's office the next morning; that we can respect.

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But its all about wabi-sabi, their fractured marriage reconstructed with golden gaps and flaws. But I think you allowed the word to wag the plot, and maybe not with a lot of research. There are A LOT of interpretations of wabi-sabi philosophy (its not a style of vase repair!), and for me a decent summation of it all is that: Shit Happens, expect it, and deal with it the best you can. How profound. Such thinking is normal for mature adults. It appears profound only in this era of utopian idealism, the perfection of man through societal pressure, and the elimination of personal responsibility. Its not HER Fault! Getting drunk, getting fucked, repeatedly, having a mean harsh husband; Not Her Fault. Blame it on someone or something else; the husband will do.

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Since the wife is now mentally ill whatever she says or does is irrelevant. Sad, but finally its really not her fault. So I found this story in the end to be just an emotional vehicle that allows you to portray a quaint Japanese phrase and a very narrow example (the repaired vase) of its application to art. Thanks for prompting me to learn a new word and another example of how different cultures cope with universal truth and reality. But please don't diminish the responsibility to apply wabi-sabi to ALL aspects of performance and results. The wife fucked up. The wabi-sabi vase was not them or their marriage, the broken/repaired vase was Her. That he decided to keep her broken self is a tribute to his compassion. He was the wabi-sabi philosopher who accepted and coped.

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A very thought provoking story, some more. Thanks for your time, talent, and effort.

sad story. Why did he stay? Yes, Milt drugged her, but she put herself in that situation for no good reason and she kept going back. And as he said, hey were never what they were or should have been.

Dementia is horrible. I was caregiver for my mother when she suffered through that for ten years or more. The constant reminders of losing her husband of 50 years and a som was killer. But what was worse is when she would admit she never wanted kids and how we sucked etc. I then understood why my grandmother moved in and really raised us. The truth comes out and it hurts.

Never read another story like it; 5* from me

As for those who would call him a cuck and you a wimp, realize that they truly reside in the small room net to hers. 5*

Full marks.

You're a very good writer. Do keep contributing here please.

Wonderful portrait of mature, enduring love. Five stars ⭐️ for this one!

How about that? What a place to find a loving husband, in a Loving Wives story.

Simply beautiful. 5 stars.

A lovely piece. Those who have not been married for decades may find the devotion hard to understand. This piece is a true reflection of a long-term relationship, warts and all. It could have easily gone to Romance but it deserves the larger audience here in LW. Thanks for sharing!

This is, as always with NTH, very much worth reading. It’s also quite moving. Five stars. But it reveals his one significant flaw, a classic one. Show, don’t tell, the rubric goes. NTH sometimes tells too much. Here there’s too much explanation.

Your ability to convey such meaning in so few words never ceases to amaze me! I was instantly fully immersed in your story and in tears by the end. Thank you - 5*

Great story, very nice twist. It didn't need the, I am a he-man "walk with a limp" bit though. it was good enough to not need the retribution crap.

Maturing is such an interesting* process.

*interesting is a neutral word with respect to good/bad & painful/joyous … but solidly ‘not expected.’

Five stars.

His life definitely would have been better off without her

Don’t know to respond. This is too close to home.

LOVE slap-hapy-papy #9

If you publish a book, I'll buy it.

I love this story! Very imaginative. Thank you for sharing

Beautiful story, well written and thought out. Very touching and relatable. Thank you

love this topic and how you handled it. 4****

Oh, NoTalentHack, you've done something truly special here. The very definition of Love As a verb. Bless you for this.

True love from a forgiving soul. Very good.

Wow, beautiful, sad, realistic.