ArcaMax

Dear Annie: I have been dating "Joe" for two years. We both are in our mid-60s and lost our spouses many years ago.

We have a great deal of fun together, but I have a problem with Joe's daughter-in-law, "Lorna." On our first date, Joe told me he "fell in love with Lorna the first time he saw her." I assumed he meant she was a wonderful person, ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am 24 years old and divorced. I left my husband, "Chris," three years ago, because I met someone else who promised me the world. Thinking the grass was greener, I left Chris for this man.

Things were great for about seven months, and then his drinking started interfering in the relationship. I realized he wasn't exactly right for ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am a 15-year-old girl. Last weekend, I went on my third date with my boyfriend, "Shawn," also 15. When the movie ended, Shawn kissed me, and the next thing I knew, he was sticking his tongue in my mouth. I got scared and immediately pulled back. Shawn apologized, but a few minutes later, he kissed me again, and although I kept my ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am a 69-year-old woman from a small town and will be celebrating my 50th wedding anniversary this year. The problem is, two years ago, I found out my 69-year-old husband was having an affair with a 20-year-old.

Although I can remember being suspicious of "Ralph" at least once in the past, this was the only time I had proof he ...Read more

Dear Annie: My first wife died at the age of 36, and I remarried two years later. The day my son, "Andy," turned 18, he moved out of our home and in with my 70-year-old widowed mother. He also talked Mom into giving him $30,000, for which she took out a loan. Now the money is long gone, and Mom has been stuck making the loan payments.

I know ...Read more

Dear Annie: My 5-year-old daughter, "Susie," is frightened of her grandfather, my father. We see him only two or three times a year because he lives over a thousand miles away, but I have been diligent about letting Susie visit.

My father is not and never has been a "kid" person -- you know, someone who gets down on the floor and plays. Susie ...Read more

Dear Annie: My daughter and her husband are about to have their first baby. Unfortunately, my daughter is having problems with her mother-in-law, "Myrna," and comes crying to me. I think my adult kids need to handle their own problems, but I want to be able to give advice when asked.

I offered to talk to Myrna, but my daughter says it will only...Read more

Dear Annie: My girlfriend and I are both 34 and have been dating for three years. "Sheri" does not work and rarely gets up before one in the afternoon. She lives in a house that her family owns and receives child support from her ex-husband. She also has me to pay her bills. I am totally devoted to Sheri and love her son as my own.

The problem ...Read more

Dear Annie: Please help. I may have made a huge mistake, and now I don't know what to do about it.

I am a 40-year-old female, married for one year to "Yancy." I have no children of my own, but my husband has a 14-year-old son from his first marriage. Yancy and I had a whirlwind romance. He totally swept me off my feet. I love him very much. He ...Read more

Dear Annie: I'm in a lot of the same classes with "Marta," but we're not really close. One day, she asked if she could put one of her binders in my locker. I said fine, but then she started putting more things in there, and last week, she threw her jacket in. Marta smokes, and the smell lingers in my locker. It's disgusting.

That's only one ...Read more

Dear Annie: I've been married to "Joe" for 47 years, and we dated exclusively for two years before that. Thirty years ago, at the age of 43, Joe had a heart attack that left him with severe heart damage. Since then, he has had several heart surgeries.

I recently asked Joe why, in all our years of being together, he'd never taken me out for New ...Read more

Dear Annie: Is there really life after a badly broken heart? I've simply been going through the motions for more than 10 years since a relationship ended. "Jeff" was, and still is, the love of my life, and no matter what I do -- therapy, volunteer work, developing new hobbies, working two jobs and spending time with my senior parents -- he is ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am a 37-year-old man, married for 13 years. I have the newspaper delivered just to read your column. I wanted to comment on the letter from "Having a Stroke in Pennsylvania." She said her husband has an addiction to porn and has no interest in having sex with her.

I, too, found myself in that situation. My wife finally cornered me...Read more

Dear Annie: I've been married to "Tina" for 32 years, and we have no children. My wife has an identical twin sister, "Gina." Aside from looks, however, there is nothing identical about them.

Gina has been married and divorced twice. She has two kids from her second marriage. She is loud and brassy, and drinks too much. She hasn't had a date in ...Read more

Dear Annie: We have not seen our adult daughter in over two years. She cut off all ties with her entire family after going to a therapist. The therapist convinced her that her stress and anxiety were due to abuse by her father and me when she was a child. These accusations are absolutely false.

My daughter grew up in a loving family with other ...Read more

Dear Annie: All my life I have been there for my parents, doing everything I could for them. My husband and I shared holidays with them, traveled with them, cared for them through many illnesses and included them in everything we did. My father became ill five years ago and was in and out of the hospital many times. I cooked, took him to his ...Read more

Dear Annie: Within the past four years, my sister and her husband adopted two babies from foreign countries. They think because these children are adopted, everyone should adore them, regardless of how they behave.

The kids are now 3 and 5 and still do not know the meaning of the word "no." My sister bribes and threatens but never follows ...Read more

Dear Annie: My mother was murdered seven years ago by an abusive husband. The cause of death was strangulation.

At a recent gathering, my husband and another person were deciding what to do with some wire. My husband was sitting with my family members when he said, "Hmmm, is there someone I want to strangle?" He then held his hands up with the ...Read more

Dear Annie: My son, "Stevie," is 5 years old, and he just started kindergarten. The problem is, he is still sleeping in our bed, and it's his father's fault. My husband wants him with us. When we remodeled Stevie's bedroom, our son started sleeping in his own bed, but my husband kept saying, "Don't you want to sleep with Mommy and Daddy?"

I ...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband and I live in a small town, and so we see the same people frequently. We have a group of friends with whom we've socialized for over 15 years. Recently, we invited "Bob and Carol" to join us for dinner. They did not give us a concrete answer, so we assumed they were not interested.

On our way out that night, we passed "...Read more