Hello Heather Unbalanced: Well... since you posted this yesterday, you've presumably already had your conversation with your bf. I hope it went well. There's probably not much of anything I could offer in the way of useful advice here anyway. You asked for feedback, advice or anything. Simply place this in the "anything" file.

I'm an older man. And my wife & I have been married for 37 years. The one thing I know is that in order to keep a relationship going, over the long haul, requires a whole lot of forbearance on both sides. My wife has had to forgive me over-&-over. And, likewise, there are things she has done which I have had to accept or overlook.

So I guess what I want to suggest here is that what this all comes down to is either the two of you are committed to one another... or you're not. The issues regarding school, jobs, smoking, etc. are all just bumps in the road, so to speak. There will be too many to count over the course of a long-term relationship. (So are the flirtations as long as that's all they were.) From my perspective, I think each of you has to decide, in your own mind, if you want to be in this relationship enough that you're willing to do what needs to be done to make it work. If you both do, the rest is all just technicalities. I wish you both well...