Concerned Mom
Hi Reddit. This is my first post so be nice, please. I (55f) have two daughters (30f, 26f). Both are beautiful, intelligent, and independent women of whom their dad and I are very proud. My youngest was married last year and is doing well. It is my oldest that I worry for. She has always had a difficult time making and keeping friends, not sure why, but it just seems to be how others respond to her. She likes to appear that she is strong but I've always felt that is a cover for insecurities she has. We gave all the opportunities we could to let her try new things, meet people, support what she wanted to do, and let her make her own choices and decisions. We have always been there but have not tried to control or push, just be present for them both. We have great relationships with them. She was married a few years back but that ended within 6 months and she is now divorced. He was in the military when they married and she thought they had a plan but, in hindsight, he must have had some mental health issues and was not ready to be her partner - he simply ghosted her and she never heard from him again. Since then she has done a lot of work to get herself in a better place and dealt with things she was holding onto (grief from losing all of her grandparents before age 20, depression, and then of course feeling like a failure in love) and I can honestly say she is in such a better place. She would love to be in a relationship but apparently dating these days is extremely brutal and she just cannot make any connections. She is pretty, smart, hard working, self supportive, and wants a partner who just loves her for who she is. (She is self described as "weird" but she's not, she's just not the girlie sorority type girl) It is so hard to see her want a good life with husband and kids but just not see it happen. I know I can't fix this for her. What can she do to find a nice, genuine man?