ArcaMax

Dear Eric: On Mother's Day I received a voicemail, on my cellphone, from my sister-in-law. It evidently was a butt call that recorded my brother, sister-in-law and two of their friends having a good time drinking and bad-mouthing me.

In the voicemail my sister-in-law told their friends that her husband's sister "was a piece of work", to which ...Read more

Dear Eric: I met my wife about 20 years ago. Her three kids at the time were young to late teens.

The oldest, a daughter, has always been needy and played the victim. Over the years, we have given her a car; driven her to work before she got her license; gave her a living room set when she ran off and got married; drove three states away to ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a 64-year-old woman who allowed my daughter (35) and son-in-law (34) to move in about two years ago. They committed to each other in 2022 but didn’t make a legal partnership. They have an open relationship.

He has pretty much always had a girlfriend. When I asked my daughter where her boyfriend was, she said she could have one...Read more

Dear Eric: I've been having problems with the noise coming from downstairs for more than three years now. I live in a two-family rental. Two much younger women live on the first floor.

One of them is completely rude about how much noise she makes. However, I didn't have a conversation with her about the noise. It took me three years, but I ...Read more

Dear Eric: My 21-year-old child responds only sporadically to texts and phone calls, often going days or weeks without a response. They live across the country with their other parent during the summers and holidays.

When I get the chance to see them face to face, which is once a year if I am lucky, it is as if no time has passed and has the ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have many friends who are religious, mostly devout Catholics and born-again Christians. I do not personally hold religious beliefs. Decades ago, I was deeply Christian, but my thinking has shifted to believe there is likely no God watching over us.

I do respect other people’s beliefs and would never try and push my point of view ...Read more

Dear Eric: My older sister, with whom I’ve never been close, is in her 80s and highly dysfunctional with money and life. She can’t make ends meet despite being a real estate agent and a substitute teacher.

I have “loan papers” she signed years back promising to pay me/us back, which never happened. Finally, I put a boundary on us to ...Read more

Dear Eric: Our married son and wife share all their plans, ideas, life experiences with her family and we hear nothing. We watch our grandkids, help them at a drop of a dime, we even spiff up the house when watching the kids and let their dogs out.

When we hear what they're doing or planning from her side of the family, we’ve had to stop ...Read more

Dear Eric: There is someone I have been friends with for more than 37 years. My husband and I moved to another state 12 years ago, but my friendship with this person has endured.

She calls every weekday and we mostly talk about her family and her kids, et cetera. About six months ago, she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s.

For ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a long-retired senior citizen. I manage my days by finding things to do. In the evenings, I generally go out to a handful of local establishments. Being single I sit at the bar to dine and have a cocktail. I am friendly and chat with just about anyone

At one establishment, I run into a lady from time to time. She is married but ...Read more

Dear Eric: My wife and I, both seniors, have similar views, but get our news from different sources. I read online and listen to podcasts while doing mindless tasks, at the gym and on walks when she does not join me.

She is totally devoted to cable TV and prefers me to not interrupt; I can do better and am trying.

She feels my podcast ...Read more

Dear Eric: My daughter recently committed to a university across the country, and she is supposed to start in the coming fall. She is only 17 and we think that she should be older before starting this new chapter of her life.

This among other reasons is why my husband and I have been increasingly hesitant to send her off to college this year ...Read more

Dear Eric: Last year my sister posted on Facebook that I was the result of an affair my mother had many years ago. It was with her first husband which ended in an annulment in 1941.The affair was in 1957.

Throughout my life I did feel that way. My father, mother and three siblings had blond hair. I had brown hair, now gray. My paternal ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am having a hard time getting over an old fiancé from 2004 and the way this person went from "I can't live without you" for six years to turning on me viscously.

We never cursed at one another until one night in October. I was so crushed. I am with a wonderful man now. But I just cannot figure this out.

I can't and do not want to...Read more

Dear Eric: I'm mid-50s and I have three jobs (two part time as a college professor). I also have three grown children, a husband, my parents and many friends. I constantly get requests from co-workers and other friends for happy hours, dinners, brunches, workshops, seminars and other events.

As it is, I have a brutal work schedule of about 60 ...Read more

Dear Eric: I had a Mother’s Day card for my daughter, but needed her sons, ages 10 and 7 to sign it. Since I did not see them in time for Mother’s Day, I gave it to my daughter to give to them.

When I inquired about the card, my daughter’s husband said he had decided not to give the card because he had already done cards for her. He said,...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband and I are retired. We have been married for 29 years. In the last several years he has refused to get rid of anything.

We downsized five years ago. During the move I was able to get him to donate some coats he could not wear but that was about all.

He was to go through the basement, work bench and garage. Unfortunately, ...Read more

Dear Eric: When hosting a party, what is the best way to ensure guests drive home safely if they have been drinking or are otherwise intoxicated?

– Safe Home

Dear Home: If a friend is impaired by alcohol or intoxicated, it’s imperative that they don’t get behind the wheel, full stop. Some methods for preventing this include taking their ...Read more

Dear Eric: Three years ago, I had a falling out with my cousin, Harris, at a family gathering. Harris, like me, is a retiree in his mid-60s. We have been friendly before this. Harris also has three siblings, and I am on great terms with all of them.

He confronted me about something I wrote in the family gathering’s logbook that he found ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have been widowed for almost three years now. About a year ago, I began dating a guy significantly younger than me. Prior to our romantic involvement, we were close platonic friends for more than a decade, and he was in fact a close friend of my late husband.

We communicated well and thoroughly discussed the effects that dating may...Read more