ArcaMax

DEAR HARRIETTE: I love my friends, but I hate how inconvenienced they have made me. My friends and I are all college students who met freshman year living in the dorms. It was so easy to hang out with one another because we all lived in the same building and were basically joined at the hip. This year, three of my friends have moved nearly an ...Read more

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I live with my daughter and her husband. He prefers to be the cook for dinner, and he's good at it.

He also has a new job as a mechanic. He changes oil and tires, and is training as a master mechanic apprentice. He's a great guy and I'm very happy for him.

The issue is that he comes home and washes his hands before he cooks,...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband retired last year after 40 years as an engineer, and we finally started planning the life we'd been talking about for decades: travel, hobbies, quality time together.

But three months after he retired, he accepted a series of offers for "small consulting projects." He accepted without checking with me, and since then, ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I have a mother-in-law of 30 years I distance myself from. I do this in order to maintain my sanity. She seems incapable of carrying on a normal conversation and responds to any comment or question by talking about herself, even though it usually has nothing to do with what was said. What bothers me most is when she's around our adult...Read more

DEAR HARRIETTE: I just got a new job, and it's a lot of fun and even more responsibility than I previously had. My boss is cool and we often work long hours together, including going to tons of social functions. My boss doesn't drink, but I do. She says it's OK if I drink, but I realize it's a little tricky. The other day, we were out super late...Read more

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Long ago, when one was sick, friends and acquaintances would bring over soup or a casserole; offer to straighten up, and even do laundry; take care of your children for a few hours so you could rest; let you know that they were praying for you, etc.

What happened? Today, getting sick is treated as some kind of moral failure, ...Read more

Dear Annie: My fiance and I are getting married next spring, and my parents generously offered to help pay for the cost of the wedding. We were thrilled. Weddings are expensive, and money is tight.

But I quickly realized that this might actually be a mistake. Their contributions come with strings attached, and my mother seems to think this is...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I am a widow who lost my husband 15 years ago. When my husband died, we had a daughter and one grandson. My daughter, a single mom, later had another son.

I have my own business and have worked hard these many years to help support my daughter, who is financially irresponsible. She has been evicted four times in the past 10 years, ...Read more

Sex being a clear barometer of relatedness between partners (i.e., the state of their entire relationship), let's you and I look at the positive side of the concept. The bedroom seems (to me, at least) to be an ideal setting for broadcasting one's appreciation for his or her partner's tender loving care in the rest of their shared life. Sadly, ...Read more

DEAR HARRIETTE: My friend owes me $8,000 and hasn't been able to pay me back for a year. I have been asking her for so long, and every response I get is her telling me she will have it for me "soon." I loaned this money to her a year ago, and she moved to the state I am also located in. She used the money for her security deposit, first month's ...Read more

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My lovely sister, Grace, married a man who is difficult. Keith is loud, often inebriated, and quick to anger. So much so, that after a misunderstanding at Grace and Keith's wedding rehearsal dinner, harsh words were screamed, and Keith challenged my husband, Jason, to a fistfight.

He issued a pretty weak apology, and for my ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have been divorced for three years and share custody of my two children, ages 10 and 13. My ex-husband remarried about a year ago, and his wife is kind, involved and genuinely seems to care about my children. I know that is something to be grateful for.

The problem is that lately I feel as though she is trying to become their ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: My husband, "Dirk," cheated on me more than 20 years ago. He has kept in touch with the woman since then. Sixteen months ago, she told him she was "in a bad place." He offered to let this (married) woman move in with us and didn't tell me until two weeks before she got here.

Abby, this woman lives like a pig. Her room is filthy, and ...Read more