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I found my missing son after 20 years of searching

Looking back now, I think it was destiny that me and my wife had that argument. I won’t go too in depth, but I will say it wasn’t the first time I’d stormed out of the house in a rage. Ever since Mathew went missing, it was either solemn silence or violent outbursts between me and her. He was our son. The one thing in this world we were supposed to protect with every ounce of strength in our bodies, only for him to disappear right below our noses. We used to hike as a family, head up to the trails and get away from the city. It was grounding. Tantalizing, almost. Picnicking, taking dips in whatever stream or river we could find, feeling Mother Nature embrace us in her arms. Hell, I still remember the hike we went on the day everything happened. The day our lives crumbled around us. March 16th, 2006. The air was starting to warm up again here in the south. Trees had started blossoming again. The sun felt actually inviting rather than ironic. Mathew was 6 at the time. His mother and I h...
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The time a teacher shut down a bully in front of everyone

There was this kid in my class who always picked on me during group work. One day, he made a comment thinking the teacher wouldn’t notice. Instead of just scolding him, the teacher stopped the whole class and made him explain his joke out loud. As soon as he had to repeat it, it stopped being funny and the whole room went silent. He never bothered me again after that day.

At 15 years old I made my therapist laugh hysterically.

So when I was the age stated in the title I was walking along train tracks with a high school friend. I had picked up a half full water bottle from along the tracks and was just carrying it sloshing the water back and fourth as we walked and talked. We came to a bridge section that brought the tracks over a residential street. We had stopped and were looking down at the street when I noticed a guy walking his dog. Being the rude, impulsive, and society bucking teen that I was, without really thinking, I yelled "I'm an angry youth!" And launched the bottle at the guy. Then took off running before the bottle could even land. I at least did it in such a way that it would land near him but not actually hit the guy and I did hear it hit the ground as I ran. Few days later when I told my therapist he started laughing hysterically. Having to force himself to stop and wiping a tear from his eye he said something like "How oddly self aware of you. I shouldn't be laughing...

I accidentally pretended to be a stranger’s boyfriend for 30 seconds

So this happened yesterday and I still feel secondhand embarrassment thinking about it. I (22M) was at a crowded café, waiting in line. Place was packed, people standing everywhere, typical chaos. In front of me there was this pretty girl arguing with the cashier about some order mix-up. Nothing serious, just slightly tense. Out of nowhere, the guy behind her walks up, stands next to her and in a very casual but possessive tone goes, “what’s the issue?” The vibe immediately changed. You could tell she was uncomfortable. For some reason, my brain decided this was my moment to look cool in front of that pretty girl. She looked back at me for like half a second, probably just randomly, and I don’t know why but I stepped forward and said: “Yeah, we’ve been waiting for a while.” WE. Not “she”. Not “this girl”. WE. (I don't know how I got the confidence) The guy looks at me. Then looks at her. Then back at me. And goes, “you’re with her?” At this point I should’ve corrected it. End of s...

AITA for suing a major aircraft manufacturer after they blamed me for a "near-death" engine failure?

Throwaway account for legal reasons, though the settlement just cleared so I can finally talk about this. I’m a commercial pilot. About eighteen months ago, I was captaining a flight with 160 souls on board. We were at cruising altitude when the unthinkable happened: a dual engine flameout. For those who aren't aviation nerds, having one engine go out is a Tuesday; having both go out is a "start praying" scenario. Through what I can only describe as a mix of muscle memory and pure adrenaline, I managed to glide that bird into an emergency landing at a small municipal strip. No fatalities. Only a few minor injuries during the evacuation. I was being hailed as a hero in the local news for about 48 hours. **Then the "blame game" started.** The manufacturer (let’s call them "Airffective") released a preliminary report claiming "pilot error." They suggested I had mismanaged the fuel pumps and "panicked," causing the engines to starve. O...

Wife cheated on me with my boss/her college ex. The fallout was glorious. Final Part.

[Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/stories/s/8ewgzlpOOT) [Part 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/stories/s/i9xFlKgt9K) The Reckoning. Six months from that party was go time. I had plenty of evidence of adultery and corporate malfeasance. I had a new overseas job waiting for me. And Allison and I had become close. We hadn’t done anything romantic, I wanted to wait until the separation was official. It was a Friday when I took the first step. It was a rare day at home and I managed to take that Friday off. Once Mel left for work, I spent most of the morning and early afternoon packing all of her clothes and personal possessions. A locksmith had come over to change the locks. By mid afternoon, I got a text from Margaret than Mel had been served with the request for separation and the divorce filing. No evidence of her and Kyle’s affair was part of that package. That would come later. Sure enough, Mel came home and showed more emotion towards me than she had in months. I sat on the porch with a ...

I replied to a 2AM message I almost ignored… and I still think about it

I almost ignored it and I think about that a lot. It was a random 2AM message request from a stranger no profile picture, no mutuals just are you up? I was about to swipe it away but I didn’t. I replied out of pure boredom. We ended up talking for hours about life, stress, and things people usually only say when it’s quiet and dark. At one point they admitted they weren’t doing great, but laughed it off. When morning came they simply said thanks I really needed that tonight. Then the account disappeared the next day. I still don’t know who they were or what happened but it made me realize how something so small can matter more than you think.