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A raccoon stirs up household drama

By Amy Dickinson, Tribune Content Agency on

Dear Exploding: I don't like the idea of apologizing for other people's actions but, because this happened at your home and because the perpetrator was a guest of your family, your parents should apologize to the neighbor. Flowers from the garden would be a good start.

More important is the issue of your sister's situation. She is living with a hothead who seems out of control. I'm sure your parents are quite worried about this relationship -- as they should be. You should all take this incident very seriously and urge your sister to reconsider her relationship with this volatile and angry guy. (July 2009)

Dear Amy: I've been in a committed relationship for three years. It's my first stable relationship (compared with previous whirlwind dramas), but I feel his affection has dwindled.

He was so passionate during the first six months, but after that we became more like best friends. I've told him numerous times how unhappy this makes me, and his response is always that it's just his personality.

Every other aspect of our relationship is positive, so would it be irresponsible to end all that stability for passion? I feel that my emotional needs are unfulfilled.

-- Aching for Attention

 

Dear Aching: You have a history of drama in your relationships, and you may associate passion with drama. They are very different. Passion changes over the course of a relationship, because at some point people have to get up and go to work, but you say you are starved for affection -- and though passion may wane, in a loving relationship affection does not.

Your guy is not likely to become more passionate -- and he doesn't seem able or willing to behave more affectionately toward you, even though he knows this would make you very happy. Best friends are wonderful. But if you are going to continually miss the passion you feel you need, you probably should look elsewhere to find it. (Sept. 2009)

Dear Readers: Are you curious about my background and life outside of the confines of this space? Read my two memoirs: "The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town that Raised Them," and "Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things," available wherever books are sold or borrowed.

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(You can contact Amy Dickinson via email: ASKAMY@amydickinson.com. Readers may send postal mail to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or "like" her on Facebook.)


 

 

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