ArcaMax

Dear Annie: My brother and "Melanie" had a baby together (unplanned). The boy is now 2 years old. Melanie moved in with my brother before the baby arrived and stayed until two months ago. She was never overly kind to my brother, frequently making insulting remarks to him and saying she could never love him or the baby. But he truly was in love ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have a 35-year-old daughter with two children (ages 13 and 2), and they all are living with us. "Micki" moved in after leaving her common-law husband a few months ago. He was the third man in her life.

Since Micki has been home, she has been going out every weekend. I am "old school" and believe she should come home from work and ...Read more

Dear Annie: I work for a major corporation, and I like my job. However, my boss has betrayed me.

She is single, and I wanted to set her up with a friend of my boyfriend. She sent me her picture, and my boyfriend asked me to send the pic to his phone so he could send it to his friend. Instead of doing that, however, he texted my boss all night ...Read more

Dear Annie: My nephew was in the hospital last summer. Because the hospital is closer to our house, his parents and the nephew's 17-year-old girlfriend stayed with us for two nights.

Within a few hours, we noticed $70 was missing from a container on the kitchen counter. We asked if anyone had seen or moved it. That same evening, the girlfriend ...Read more

Dear Annie: We are the grandparents of a beautiful 4-year-old girl. We have been watching her for the past three months because her parents had their water service shut off due to lack of payment. A month ago, they had their gas and electricity shut off, as well. They are living off of the welfare system with no other means of support.

In the ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am taking a foreign language class at school. The first week, there was a new girl, "Molly." No one talked to her except me. I made her laugh, and we had fun at lunch. She became my only friend in that class.

Two weeks later, "Scarlett" arrived. At lunch the next day, Molly asked Scarlett to sit with us. They started talking about...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband and I are raising our two teenage grandchildren. Our grandson is 15 and recently started going out with a girl. They attend the same school and are Facebook friends. We don't know this girl, but after their first outing to a mall, she posted pictures of them kissing. The following weekend, they went to the movies, and she ...Read more

Dear Annie: Your column is the first thing my wife reads every morning, so I figured I'd write. An issue has come up that I'd rather not discuss with anyone else.

My wife and I are both retired. We go to the same neighborhood coffee shop every morning. We've gotten to know the owners and the other folks who go there, including "Harry," a ...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband and I have a small online stock trading account. Several months ago, he mentioned that he was thinking of giving our son and daughter-in-law money to open their own stock account. I immediately told him I was against it. I then left to go to the store and thought that was the end of it.

When I arrived home, I found my ...Read more

Dear Readers: Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you are fortunate enough to be spending the holiday with family and friends. And an extra shout-out to those readers who are spending the day volunteering at shelters and soup kitchens. Bless you for your kind hearts and generosity of spirit.

Here is one of Ann Landers' favorite essays, which we feel is...Read more

Dear Annie: I am a sophomore in college and have been living with the same roommate for the past two years. I've known "Max" since high school, and we were good friends. Toward the end of last semester, however, Max started to do things that really irked me, but I was stressed from finals and thought maybe I was blowing it out of proportion. I ...Read more

Dear Annie: My oldest child is 27 and engaged. He and his fiancee, "Kayla," ordered the wedding rings together.

Last May, my son texted, saying, "We are going to pick up the ring on Thursday." That Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day at my daughter's home. While cooking, I asked Kayla if I could see the ring. She did not respond. Instead, she ...Read more

Dear Annie: I'm a young man fresh out of high school and taking life one day at a time.

"Rachel" is my best friend. I've known her family for many years. We confide in each other and have no walls. She's quirky and sometimes calls me when she's home alone because she's frightened of thunderstorms. She is often physically close and says she ...Read more

Dear Annie: After 26 years of marriage, my husband and I divorced two years ago. The problem is that he also has divorced our children and grandchildren.

Our youngest child still lives with me. In the divorce, my ex wanted no structured visitation with our son. He asked that it be left open so he could see him at his convenience. Unfortunately,...Read more

Dear Annie: I have to pay restitution for a crime I committed, along with court fees and attorney fees. How in the world am I to get a job to do that? I know I should have thought of that before committing the crime, but I didn't. It was a nonviolent crime, and I just wasn't thinking. And there is nothing I can do about that now.

The detectives...Read more

Dear Annie: My office is a horrible place to work. My bosses are impossible and have no compassion for any of their employees.

I have been told to stop having an asthma attack and get back on the phones. We have to ask permission to use the restroom and write down the time we leave and return. I have a doctor's note saying that I need to use ...Read more

Dear Annie: I recently reconnected with someone I had not seen in over three years. "Bev" is a friend of my sister's and someone whom I find very attractive. She also is a genuinely nice person, and I know that she thinks highly of me as well.

I would love to ask her out, but she has a boyfriend. Bev's friends and family do not like this guy. ...Read more

Dear Annie: My parents divorced 13 years ago when I was 32. I haven't spoken to my mother for the past eight years, because she is a very angry person, and every conversation we had ended up with her hurting me. Since I could not get her to stop, I had to quit talking to her.

My problem now is my dad, who never caused me a minute of trouble ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am in my late 20s and have been happily married for over five years. Here is the problem:

My parents divorced when I was little, and my father is an alcoholic. Ever since I can remember, he would call me on the phone, drunk and rambling so much that by the end of the call, I would be in tears. The past couple of years he's gotten ...Read more

Dear Annie: I'm married to a wonderful woman, and we have a young son. My wife has a mentally challenged sister, "Jane," who recently was diagnosed as being legally blind. Jane lives with my mother-in-law. I've tried to get my wife to convince her mother to get Jane into a program for the visually impaired, but Mom refuses. Neither my wife nor ...Read more