Life Advice

/

Health

Mom wants adult son to step up at home

By Amy Dickinson, Tribune Content Agency on

The cafe owners were smart -- they had their long-use tables in the front window, so it seemed that it was a busy place (even when the rest of the place might be relatively empty).

In small Iowa towns, a large, round, re-purposed wooden dining-room table is frequented by the "regulars," with chairs pulled up as needed. There are smaller booths or tables as well.

It is so fun visiting these small towns -- strangers are immediately spotted, and if we tell them we are taking tombstone pictures, pretty soon we hear stories of local tiny cemeteries and old pioneer times.

When we're home, we read your column in Blair, Nebraska.

-- Small Town Tourists

Dear Tourists: Like you, I have an abiding love of small towns. (I currently live in the town where I grew up, which has a population of 540). I like the solution these cafes have arrived at regarding "long-use" tables, and enjoy picturing old friends gathering and sipping their coffee. This probably wouldn't work in higher-volume restaurants, which is one more reason to stay small and local.

Regarding your fascinating hobby of photographing tombstones -- what a wonderful way to discover and chronicle history!

 

Dear Amy: Hooray for your practical and wise answer to "A Lot to Handle," the parents who were basically enabling their adult son's drug addiction. It is so hard to detach from another's addiction, while still remaining concerned and involved.

-- Family with Addiction

Dear Family: Concerned family members need to make a choice to lovingly detach, and to only support recovery.

========

(You can contact Amy Dickinson via email: askamy@amydickinson.com. Readers may send postal mail to Amy Dickinson, c/o Tribune Content Agency, 16650 Westgrove Drive, Suite 175, Addison, Texas, 75001. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or "like" her on Facebook.)


 

 

Comics

Dogs of C-Kennel One Big Happy Gary Markstein Free Range Jimmy Margulies Daryl Cagle