ArcaMax

— Good Mom, Bad Daughter

Dear Daughter: Because your mother is both discerning and overbearing, the best way to manage this three-generation trip from heck might be to simply make whatever lodging choice you want to make, offering the safest and most accessible accommodations for all three of you, and if your mother doesn’t like it, she can choose to stay behind. She has already threatened to stay home, and if she can’t control your choices, that might be her preference.

It’s possible that she merely wanted to be included in the first place, and that she has been testing you.

I’d like to make a pitch for you to consider experiencing a change-of-heart, however.

There is a likelihood that you and your daughter will have many mother-daughter adventure holidays ahead of you. But the biggest and riskiest adventure you two might ever take could be the one you face right now: Traveling with your cantankerous and challenging mother. I wonder if you are brave enough to take that on.

Dear Amy: I'm an avid reader but find there are times that I'm just too stressed (COVID, politics...) to sit and read. I have found that books on tape from my library have been a godsend!

I can checkout/download audiobooks through the app my local library uses and I take long walks or knit/paint to the sound of a good story being read to me from my phone (using headphones).

This has encouraged me to take lots of long walks without my mind racing or worrying beyond the wonderful stories and plots of my books.

I thought I'd share for my fellow readers who have found reading to be just not possible in stressful times.

— Joyful "Libby" User in Rochester, NY

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