I apologized last night to my girlfriend, Angie during dinner. It was very difficult for me to do that, but I want to say thanks for all the helpful responses from my "I need some advice" topic that I posted a few days ago. After eight months of being with my girlfriend and basically being a stepdad to her son Jason, I was pushing and pushing for Angie to have her ex (Jason's father who had been a "deadbeat dad" every day for these past eight months) sign over his parental rights to his son. Upon her deciding instead to give him another shot at fixing his strained relationship with his son, I was furious. But I now realize--again thanks to the helpful advice I got on here--I was a little over the top and should have stepped back a bit. I truly have a much better perspective on everything now. While I am not totally gung-ho about the whole thing, I am going to respect Angie's decision, and I must say I am at a certain level of peace now with this situation. As the days go on (and hopefully if Jason's father begins to come around and finally do the right thing), I'm sure my level of tenseness for him will let up even more. I'm going to try my best to be positive and hopeful that everything works out for the best.

PS: These forums really are the place to vent. I don't know what I would have done without them!