ArcaMax

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been working with a 16-year-old boy for two months. "Justin" has a bad home life, and we try and provide him with a safe, structured environment. He comes to our home after school and stays until his curfew at 6 p.m. He hates to go home, but he does what is asked.

Justin and his mother fight a lot. "Fran" is ...Read more

Dear Annie: I'm writing about my elderly mother. It's gotten to the point where we (her daughters) don't want to spend time with her. Mom is an intelligent, active and independent 75-year-old. She also is critical, rude and insensitive, and always has been.

Mom makes unkind remarks in almost every conversation. After each encounter, we go away ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have a boyfriend of one year, and we are considering marriage, but we are not officially engaged.

My problem is his sister, who lives in Paris. I've never seen or talked to "Amelie," but have been told a lot about her. She has been in Paris for three years, but no one knows what she is doing there, since she has no job experience....Read more

Dear Annie: My father turns 80 this year, and my three siblings and I were thinking of giving him a birthday party. We are doing this mostly out of obligation, as none of us enjoys my father's company and hair-trigger temper.

My father lives four hours from me and even farther from my siblings. He has been married to my stepmother for 20 years,...Read more

Dear Annie: I have 19-year-old sister who I think is sexually active. A few weeks ago, I went over to "Carol's" apartment to help with some cleaning. When I went to throw some garbage away, I noticed her jewelry box was open. I looked inside and spotted an unopened condom at the bottom. I was shocked.

Carol has been seeing her boyfriend, "Vince...Read more

Dear Annie: I've been married to "Joe," a wonderful man, for eight years. A year ago, I came across an old letter (from 10 years back) from a friend, "Mike." Joe knows that I had a crush on Mike, but we never dated. In the letter, Mike (who is married, and was at that time he wrote it) said he wanted to catch up on lost time and said I should ...Read more

Dear Annie: "Harold" and I have been married for two years -- both second marriages. We are in our 50s, with children from our first marriages. I help one son with some college tuition and living expenses, but he also works and gets loans and scholarships. Harold has three children in college whom he supports entirely.

When we married, I sold ...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been married 15 years, and we have two beautiful daughters, ages 7 and 10. "Luther" works hard as a fireman and is a good husband and father, except for one small problem -- he goes out with his buddies to a bar every single weekend, until all hours of the morning. I've asked him to compromise and go out only ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have been married for 13 years, and during all that time, my husband, an outwardly friendly, kind person and successful businessman, has struggled with addictions to drugs and hard-core pornography. Naturally, my willingness to trust him also has diminished, mostly because of his deception. He claims that he loves me, but he ...Read more

Dear Annie: At a family gathering two years ago, my in-laws' dog attempted to bite my then 2-year-old daughter. "Fido" is a large dog and could have done considerable damage had he actually gotten hold of her. This all took place during a very busy party where many people not only saw but heard the incident.

The next time we visited my in-laws,...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband and I adopted two children out of the foster care system. Our daughter, "Tabitha," is almost 11 and lies to anyone any time it will benefit her. For example, she hates doing homework and will spend an hour lying to us about it rather than the 15 minutes it would take to complete the assignment. She also will lie to her ...Read more

Dear Annie: My son and his wife are in the process of getting a divorce. The problem is that the children, both toddlers, are being neglected. This was going on even before the divorce. The mother would leave as soon as my son got home from work. He'd come in the door and have to take care of the children, fix dinner, give baths, etc. She went ...Read more

Dear Annie: I married a generous, kind and funny man three years ago. "Brent" has no children, but I have two sons from my abusive previous marriage who are now 18 and 15. Their father has little to do with us, and I've had my share of problems raising the boys. We have attended counseling many times.

The problem is that Brent cannot see ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have an 85-year-old acquaintance who has dementia. "Rosa" lives alone, but she can no longer cook, operate the microwave, stove or even the toaster, so a year ago, I called Meals on Wheels.

Yesterday, I picked Rosa up at home, and when she opened the door, the heat almost knocked me over. It was in the 90s, and instead of turning ...Read more

Dear Annie: Every time my girlfriend comes over to my house, my dad always tells me to keep the door to my room open. I know it is because he doesn't trust us, but I have never done anything to lose his trust. My girlfriend and I are almost 16, and we are smart enough to know that nothing is going to happen when my parents are home.

One time, I...Read more

Dear Annie: I am a female in my late 30s and somewhat intelligent, but I can't figure out if I'm being duped or not.

I have been dating "Stan" for five months. He is 10 years my senior, but I don't see the age difference. What I do see, however, are a lot of blank spots. I meet Stan once a week, usually for an overnight tryst. He calls me twice...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband recently had a heart attack. While the paramedics worked over him, I was shocked by my reaction. I hoped he would die.

For the last 30 years, I have begged, threatened, bribed and cried to him to show me some physical affection. He always says he'll change but has never once kept his promise. When he finally decides to ...Read more

Dear Annie: I know you've covered this before, but please bear with me. I am a man in my late 30s who is too nice and has no luck. I never dated in high school or college, and my adult dating experience amounts to what I can count on two hands. Married women think I'm great because I am no threat to their marriages, while single women avoid me ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have been dating "Kelsey" for four months. Everything about her is great. She is very attractive, she is a professional, she has an amazing sense of humor, and she really has her life together. She is everything I am looking for in a girlfriend. If we are not physically together, we are emailing, text messaging or on the phone. ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am a 15-year-old male, and I have a dilemma about a dating situation. The trouble is that my parents do not want me to date until I am 16. There is a girl I'm interested in, and we could be dating if my parents would let me. Right now, we are just keeping things as friends, but we really want to spend time together.

I am going ...Read more