Ask Amy: ‘Frequent Flyer’ explains landing at home
I am grateful that my parents have let us all keep trying.
— A Frequent Flyer
Dear Frequent Flyer: Yes, it can be rewarding and frustrating – on both sides and in equal measure — when a “frequent flier” repeatedly comes home to roost. You have described the weird time-travel teenage transformation that occurs when you sleep in your childhood bedroom (I remember it well from my own visits home).
However, you seem to equate your parents with roommates. Your parents aren’t your roommates. When you have a roommate, you two are sharing the housing expense. You are peers, on equal footing. When you bounce back home to save money, you are a non-rent-paying beloved child who is accepting your parents’ generosity.
You sound like a loving, lovely, perceptive person. Your parents seem to have raised you well. But they are your parents, and – teenage tantrums and all — it will be ever-thus.
Dear Amy: A dear friend is turning 80 next year.
The invitations for his big 75th birthday celebration requested no gifts, saying "Your presence will be your present." But at the event, he showily opened gifts that had been brought anyway, pointing out and thanking the gift-givers — much to the embarrassment of those who respected the "no gifts" request.
What do we do if the situation repeats itself for his next party?
Should I mention to his wife how uncomfortable this display made us feel?
— Red-faced Friends
...continued
