ArcaMax

Dear Readers: Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you are fortunate enough to be spending the holiday with family and friends. And our personal thanks to those who are spending the day volunteering at shelters and soup kitchens or going to a nearby nursing home and bringing conversation and attention to the residents. Bless you for your kindness and ...Read more

Dear Annie: My supervisor rarely states his desires clearly. But if I take the initiative or ask him to clarify, he makes me feel like an idiot. He is condescending and highly critical of most people. He also is a nonstop gossip. He has portrayed me to others as racist, womanizing and incompetent.

He has control over my payable time and my ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am a boy in junior high school. I recently went to a social event for kids my age. While there, a girl spilled the beans that she has had a major crush on me for more than a year. We see each other often at school. I was shocked. She asked to hold my cellphone and then put her number into my contacts.

Here's the problem. I don't...Read more

Dear Annie: My wife and I have been separated for four years. We have joint custody of our beautiful 8-year-old daughter. "Lizzie" spends half the week with me and the other half with her mother. It works out well, and Lizzie fully understands that she now has to live in two separate, loving homes.

Here's the problem: When going to gatherings...Read more

Dear Annie: We host Thanksgiving dinner for my husband's family every year, and I enjoy doing so, but I have a problem with my stepson's wife. They have not lived together for almost three years, but they still travel together regularly, including visits home.

I have continued to include her, as well as her three children (all from previous ...Read more

Dear Annie: I want to thank you for printing the essay "Dead at Seven," by Paul O. Ketro, M.D., about the dangers posed by senior drivers who don't know when to give up their licenses.

For more than a year, I have been trying to tell my mother that it isn't safe for her to drive any longer, and for the most part, I've kept her out of the car....Read more

Dear Annie: I recently moved into an apartment with a longtime friend. We both have dogs, but I was misled about hers. He is 15 months old and not trained.

My roommate has no time for the dog. She takes college classes and works two part-time jobs. The dog usually sits in a crate all day. She rarely takes him out and doesn't feed him ...Read more

Dear Annie: Over the past 10 years, I have noticed that my sister's memory has become very confused. She often has false memories, believing something that happened to a friend or celebrity actually happened to her. She also says hurtful things and doesn't remember saying them. My husband and I decided it was best just to let it go, as she ...Read more

Dear Annie: When I married my husband, he was divorced with a college-aged daughter. For some reason or other, she did not complete her degree. After college, "Connie" got a job and her own apartment. She became pregnant by a co-worker and had a son. Her dad and I were very disappointed. Later, Connie moved to another state and had two more ...Read more

Dear Annie: My sister-in-law, "Marie," has been diagnosed as bipolar but doesn't take any medication. For 25 years, it has caused serious trouble. Marie is a spiteful, evil, controlling human being. You can't find a single person in town with a kind word to say about her. Her own daughters try to keep their distance.

My brother is afraid to ...Read more

Dear Annie: My brother "Nathan" moved into an apartment with my other brother, "Steven," who lives with his girlfriend and her son. Nathan has an alcohol problem that already caused him to lose his job and is now creating problems between Steven and his girlfriend. Steven has forbidden my parents to speak with Nathan about his alcoholism for ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have been married to Sarah for nine years. We have two young sons, both with developmental issues.

When I met Sarah, she had an older son, "Del," who was in the temporary custody of her father's cousins. The cousins have raised the boy since he was 6 months old. He is now 13 and understands that our sons are his half-brothers. ...Read more

Dear Annie: Last weekend, my husband and I invited a few relatives over for a cookout. There were three children under the age of 4. When it began to rain, we moved the party indoors. The parents let their kids run amok, and in a few short hours, the children completely trashed the first floor of our house.

My husband and I do not have ...Read more

Dear Annie: My wife and I have been married for 30 years. When our oldest son left for college, my wife began using his bedroom for storage. It gradually filled with clothes, papers and things my wife bought from TV shopping shows. Soon, there was barely a path to the bed. It happened again when our second child left. Now both bedrooms are ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am madly in love with my ex-fiancee. We have been separated since March but have been talking about getting back together and starting a family.

The problem is that while we were separated, I slept with another woman. It happened at a weak point in my life, and I don't plan to do it again. Now the other woman says she is ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have been married for more than 20 years and have never been sexually attracted to my husband. He is a good provider, but there is no passion, no excitement, nothing. I have tried everything I can think of to make sex better, but he acts as if it's part of my wifely duties, which makes me sick.

I don't want to break up our home,...Read more

Dear Annie: I have been married for 32 years to a horrible man. He is self-centered, controlling, a liar and a cheat. He manipulated me into buying a house I did not want, and when my mother died in this house, he kicked me out of the room we shared and made me move into the same room she died in. He lied to me about not getting paid for a ...Read more

Dear Readers: In honor of Veterans Day, here is one of our favorite pieces, written by John Alton Robinson of Monroe, Louisiana

"Freedom"

From the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

To the silver-haired crowns of our fathers

From the shores of Tripoli

To the Pacific's pearl-green waters

I wish to give a tribute

A four-starred salute today

For...Read more

Dear Annie: A year ago, I had an argument, mostly via text, with my 37-year-old son. He was threatening to leave his bride of two weeks. I tried to get him to understand that he had made a serious commitment and shouldn't throw it away so easily. Unfortunately, things escalated to include more personal feelings on both sides.

Despite a rocky ...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband works for a large mental health agency, and five years ago, he had a two-year affair with a fellow employee. I found their illicit emails three years ago.

Even though my husband and I are still together, I am broken and cannot heal. I pray and I strive and nothing works. It is the most painful and devastating experience...Read more