ArcaMax

DEAR ABBY: I'm part of a large, close-knit family. My mother and her sisters have condominiums in the same complex. One dear aunt is having a great deal of trouble with her memory and word retrieval. She recently stopped recognizing her daughter and no longer calls any of us by name.

The problem is, some of this aunt's children are in denial. ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I have a dilemma. My 33-year-old boyfriend keeps badgering me to see each other. We live 15 miles apart.

I'm a 60-year-old man in pretty good health. Before this pandemic, I worked out every day at a gym, and I still do at home now. Every day he keeps asking me to either come visit or if he can come here. Because of this shelter-in-...Read more

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I are in our 60s and have a swimming pool that our kids and grandkids like to visit. Our issue is that our granddaughter wears a bathing suit that shows her bum. It isn't a thong, but close to it.

She's 16 and starting her junior year of high school this year. It makes my husband and me uncomfortable, and we have told ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: My wife and I have been together since we were 16, married for 25 years. Her parents took me in as a teenager, and her family has been my family ever since.

I'm the kind of person who loves everyone equally. I will bend over backward for someone in need and have done so for my wife's family many times.

Over the last few years, my ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I found out a year ago that my wife of eight years had an affair for three years with my best friend. Two months ago I realized she is still contacting him. I found out because I went through her cell records. She said she was just texting him about how he ruined our life. Now I have no access to them, and I suspect she's using a text...Read more

DEAR ABBY: Five months ago, after eight years, my fiancee terminated our relationship. I still have very strong feelings for her, although she ghosted me and won't communicate with me.

We agreed from the outset that should the relationship end, the ring (or value thereof) would be returned to me. I have sent numerous emails and text messages ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I have been in love with my best friend for two years. We met at a summer camp where we were both working, and we hated each other in the beginning. During the process of working together, we somehow became best friends, and I fell desperately in love with him.

We talk on the phone for hours and text each other daily. He knows ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: About 40 years ago, I did someone an injustice, and I have felt guilty ever since. I worked for a consulting firm in Washington, D.C., that fired an accounting clerk who was in my small office. I didn't know why she was fired, and I never heard a cross word exchanged between her and her supervisor. She seemed to be capable and ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I married Darius two years ago. I have had problems with my brother-in-law ever since Darius and I first began dating five years ago.

From my husband's perspective, his parents have always favored his younger brother, Adonis. Anything goes is their attitude where he is concerned. Adonis takes things without asking, lies and ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: My 14-year-old daughter recently came out of the closet, and it has made my husband and me quite upset. She says she is bicurious, pansexual and polyamorous. She now insists everyone call her by a gender-neutral name, gave herself a side shave and dyed her hair pink after we repeatedly told her not to. She wants us to refer to her as ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I am a single man who recently met a widow who is nine years older. We connected via an online dating site.

At the end of our three-hour conversation, she said, No man will ever share my bed. This is because of her second husband, who died six years ago. She said if a man shared her bed, she felt it would be cheating on her late ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I take care of my daughter-in-law's taxes and have for the past 15 years. I have never charged her for it. When she brings me the paperwork, it is always a mess. I told her I would be her full-time bookkeeper and charge her $300 a month, but it's like getting blood from a turnip. I have to beg her each month for my pay.

My husband ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: We live next door to an 89-year-old woman, Estelle. She's a snowbird, meaning she is our neighbor for only part of the year. She has a devoted caretaker, Iris, who visits her almost daily. Iris shops for her, brings in her mail, and helps her with laundry, bathing and many other intimate tasks.

Estelle has given us a key to her house...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I am a small business owner. My store has local (repeat) and one-time customers. The other day, while checking out, one of my local customers spewed out a verbal and extremely bigoted rant. I was stunned speechless. I felt I should do something, but I wasn't sure what it should be. I have started losing sleep over it. If it happens ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: My wife died unexpectedly two years ago, after 18 years of a happy marriage and two kids. While we are doing as well as can be expected, one thing seems to set my grief off. It's when someone refers to my life as my new normal.

I'm not sure I can put my finger on why this phrase bothers me so much, but if I had to guess, it's ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend of two years, Kevin, recently broke up with me. We've had problems in the past about me lying to him or withholding information. I didn't lie because I'm an awful person. I lied because he had high expectations of me, and I didn't want to be a disappointment. He is truly the first person I have loved unconditionally since...Read more

DEAR ABBY: Three months ago, my husband ran into a second cousin he hadn't seen in 40 years. They were close for a short time during high school and saw each other a couple times after that.

I was not aware until recently that he had looked her up on social media and has been communicating with her every day since then. I didn't think much of ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: Is it ever too late to apologize to an ex-boyfriend? I'm in my mid-40s now, and over the last three years, I have gone through a significant change. It has helped me to face myself, let go of useless hate and anger and forgive the people who hurt me. It has made me a much happier person.

One of the results of this change is realizing...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I became pregnant with my second child in 2013. When my extended family heard the news, it was not well-received, particularly by my grandmother and aunt-in-law. They said things like, We love you, but we're embarrassed and ashamed. My once loving grandmother said some particularly cruel things.

I have to be honest -- I was angry. I ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: Last year I met a special man when I hired him to do some work related to my hobby. We easily fell into a friendship and have grown very close. We currently spend all our free time together. We talk every day on the phone, sometimes for hours. We are both divorced with children. He was married for 17 years and hasn't been in a ...Read more