ArcaMax

ATTENTION "SINGLE FILE(R)" EDITORS: THE FOLLOWING COLUMN WAS PREVIOUSLY RELEASED IN 2018. THANK YOU. -- CREATORS

Create Love

You sigh for it -- and sometimes your sighing deepens into outright yearning. You dream of discovering lover and best friend in one wonderful one. Your yearning is hidden from the daylight in a zillion ways, but in the ...Read more

DEAR HARRIETTE: My daughter is struggling to complete college. She has been in her undergraduate program now for six years and she will need a seventh before she graduates. She is majoring in mechanical engineering with a minor in data science. I told her when I heard that this was her major and minor that it may be difficult to graduate on time...Read more

DEAR MISS MANNERS: A dear friend and I live several hours away from each other, so to keep in touch, we speak often on the telephone. He works part-time, so he usually calls me on his off days when his wife is home. This is the problem.

If she happens to be nearby when we are speaking, she will frequently interrupt to either ask him what we are...Read more

Dear Annie: My sister and I grew up sharing everything: clothes, secrets, bedrooms, even blame when one of us broke something in the house. For most of my life, she was my first phone call and my safest place to land.

But in the last few years, something has changed. Every conversation with her has started to feel like a contest I never ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: Four years ago, after our family gathering for Christmas, my brother-in-law sent me a message saying I looked "sexy" in my sweater. I replied, "thanks." A year later, at another family gathering, he sent me messages asking about my car, which led to sexual advances. I tried to avoid his advances by being nice and redirecting them to ...Read more

DEAR HARRIETTE: I am an American-born Caribbean woman currently dating an African American man. As we begin to get more serious, I want to introduce him to my family soon. I was raised in an open family that was not xenophobic or exclusionary, so I'm not as worried about him being accepted as I am with him understanding our culture. There are a ...Read more

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I acknowledge that a person should not be hosting their own birthday parties. However, if I had to wait until I could afford to take everyone out to dinner to invite them out for a good time, we'd never go.

Dining out has become outrageously expensive. I rarely go with even just my family. Expecting one person to pay for ...Read more

Dear Annie: My 15-year-old daughter and I used to be extremely close. She was the kind of child who would climb into the car after school and tell me everything before I even pulled out of the parking lot: who sat with whom at lunch, what her teacher said, which friend was mad at which friend and what song everyone was listening to that week. ...Read more

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Back in February, I inquired about a job opening for the summer. I was invited to have an interview with my potential employer, whereupon we had a great conversation and he expressed interest in hiring me.

However, his season began before I was finished with college. He suggested that I keep in touch and that he would get ...Read more

Dear Readers: Memorial Day arrives each year wrapped in red, white and blue, but at its heart, it is a day of quiet gratitude.

It is the unofficial beginning of summer, yes. There will be hamburgers on grills, children running barefoot through backyards, flags waving from porches and maybe a little potato salad that sat out longer than anyone...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I was married for 39 years to "Morris," an alcoholic and a spendthrift. In 2010, he announced he was having an affair with his boss, and the next day he moved in with and eventually married her. I was left filled with anger and resentment, and so were my two grown boys. Eventually, we realized what a toxic environment it had been and ...Read more

My mind wanders, and sometimes I just follow behind it, seeing where it goes.

Driving to the gym recently, I debated bringing in my water bottle before remembering there was a water fountain inside. I started thinking about the person who designed the fountain itself, about the mechanics of the water arcing upward at exactly the right angle, ...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been married for 22 years, and lately I feel more like his roommate than his wife. We are kind to each other, we pay the bills, we talk about groceries, the kids, aging parents and the dog, but the warmth has slowly disappeared.

There was no big betrayal, no dramatic fight and no one slammed a door. That is ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I have been married 40 years and have two grown children. My husband is controlling. He wants things done his way and only his way and will go on and on about it if something is done any other way. He tells me to make up my mind about stuff, but then he gets mad when I do and tells me all the reasons it was wrong. He ...Read more