Woman dumped boyfriend who was taking ‘too long’ to propose before finding out the truth

A woman broke up with her long-term partner as she thought he was taking 'too long' to propose, only to discover the truth.

Torn by doubts over her decision, she took to Mumsnet looking for advice.

When explaining the situation, the woman said her choice to split had been motivated by 'several life's too short moments' and that, despite being in a committed relationship, she still felt like she was 'effectively single'.

"Long relationship but never lived together (both have kids the majority of the time, now nearly all adults), always intended to be long term with merging homes sometime in the future," she wrote.

"Recently spurred by several 'life's too short' moments, I have had several discussions about how I'm unhappy I'm still effectively single, with zero plans to formalise anything."

The woman took to Mumsnet for advice. (Getty Stock Image)

She continued: "This weekend I wound myself into a ball and blurted out how unhappy I was and didn't see us moving forward and couldn't stay a moment longer in an uncertain unhappy future-less relationship."

Looking for opinions on the tricky matter, she shared how she later found out her boyfriend had apparently spoken to her parents and was waiting for the right time to pop the question over the summer.

The woman went on: "F*** - what now? I really spoiled any sort of surprise but still, having some sort of sparkly trinket does not change the domestic situation, or his apparent reasons for not being prepared to merge things up to now - is it just a 'keep her sweet for another few years' gesture?"

People in the comments didn't mince their words about how they thought the boyfriend's plans felt like they were 'too little, too late' (which the original poster also picked as her username).

Many said it was 'too little, too late'. (Getty Stock Image)

"People that want to marry just get married. He was trying to fob you off and delay any decision-making by buying a ring. Booking a date and sending out invitations shows commitment. Not jewellery," one user noted.

A second added: "So did he immediately get down on one knee and ask you to marry him? Did he apologise for keeping you waiting and knowingly upsetting you which he does know due to numerous conversations previously? Or did he waffle on about how he's spoken to everyone else blah blah? Sounds like it's too little, too late."

Someone else asked: "Why did he talk to your parents? You have nearly-adult children! See what he does now. He's dithered about for long enough and it's damaged the relationship. Time for him to lay his cards on the table."

While another commented: "Why is he talking to your parents about proposing? That's just weird. And yeah, it's an excuse. If he was bothered about marriage, it would be done by now."

What do you think?