ArcaMax

Dear Annie: I need assistance with family-related issues. I'm in my 50s, I have several siblings, my mother died several years ago, and I financially support my father. His only income is Social Security.

In my immediate family, I am the only one to have had a career where I was financially stable and secure. My brothers/sisters all worked off ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have never written to an advice columnist but feel the need to share my experience of having been the caregiver for my parents. It was so hard for me emotionally to visit as they slowly lost their memory and physical abilities. I frequently broke into tears when I left.

About two years before their passing, I had a conversation ...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been married for 42 years, with no children. We are both born and bred New Yorkers. After we retired from very high-pressured careers, we decided it was time to settle in a nice, quiet community. This was more my husband's idea than mine, but I agreed to make the move. In 2016, we relocated to Florida. I love ...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband of almost 22 years died of cancer a few months ago. Overall, I've done well coping with his loss. I'm involved in our new small-town community, where we built a beautiful custom home just 3 1/2 years ago, and I have many wonderful new friends and neighbors who include me in lots of their social activities. I'm quite ...Read more

Dear Readers: We are living in unprecedented times. With many states imposing mandatory lockdowns and so many of our health care workers on the front lines, I wanted to offer a few thoughts.

First is a huge thank-you to those doctors, nurses and health care workers who are dealing with this pandemic as the whole country is trying to get it ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am so concerned for my elderly loved ones during this pandemic, my father in particular. He's 89 and lives in a retirement community. As of today, they're still allowing them to go to the dining hall. They've reduced the number of tables and seating by half so that everyone can be spaced out. However, it seems like such a huge ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am 75. I've been single for more than 20 years. I was resigned to live my life as a single woman. However, a man I dated 57 years ago called me out of the blue last year. He told me he'd outlived his wife, "Sheryl." They were married 22 years; the ex passed away 10 years ago. He invited me to visit him, and I did, twice. We felt ...Read more

Dear Annie: A few months ago, my husband was laid off from his job. When that happened, he asked if he could just stay home and work on his own personal projects and interests. I work a corporate 9 to 5 job and can barely cover our bills without his salary, but I said yes because I wanted him to be happy. Now, though, I'm beginning to resent ...Read more

Dear Annie: Our 5-year-old grandson, "Ernie," is best friends with our 6-year-old granddaughter, "Emily." They ride to school together and are in the same kindergarten class.

Recently, Emily and I sewed a cute little project together. Ernie decided he wanted to sew, too. We grabbed a scrap piece of fabric, and he stitched out a variety of ...Read more

Dear Annie: My son is in his 40s and throws temper tantrums! Any little thing can set him off. It's so bad that his son asks him if he's mad, fearing that something has set him off. He is going to marriage counseling and admits he has a temper, but nothing changes.

When he loses it, he becomes like a different person. His eyes glaze over, and ...Read more

Dear Annie: I understand what "Unable To Open Up" is saying. I was never able to communicate with my parents. It carried over into my marriage and caused problems.

My suggestion is for him to write down his thoughts and feelings before he meets with the counselor. I have found that I can put thoughts into words on paper better than I can ...Read more

Dear Annie: Please help me with a problem I'm having at home. I'm a 15-year-old girl still living at home, and my mother is insisting that I go to her OB-GYN doctor, who is a man. She has already made an appointment for a few months from now.

I am a very modest person and have never had an intimate exam by a male doctor, and the thought of it...Read more

Dear Annie: I was lucky enough to make several wonderful friends in college a decade ago, and a number of them are still in my life. A kindred spirit amongst them moved to the same city as I did after we graduated, and we conquered and failed our way through the many obstacles of our early adult lives. We were like a living, breathing Taylor ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am a senior woman. Recently, my husband, our adult son and my caregiver have been bullying me.

It began when I witnessed inappropriate behavior between the caregiver and my husband. When I confronted my husband about it, he denied the obvious transgressions and instead verbally abused me. My son piled on and added to the verbal ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am concerned about several of my six siblings. We were brought up very strictly, and we experienced shame if we missed church or sinned. We're all adults with kids of our own now. Over the years, several siblings and their spouses have become obsessively religious. It's their drug. No amount is enough.

They practice Catholicism ...Read more

ATTENTION ANNIE LANE EDITORS: THE COLUMN FOR RELEASE THURSDAY, MARCH 26, IS BEING RETRANSMITTED DUE TO A CMS ERROR. THANK YOU. -- CREATORS

Best to Leave It Alone

Dear Annie: I have a cousin who is married, and he and his wife are very close to my wife and me. We started spending time together, not because of my cousin and me but because our ...Read more

Dear Annie: Shortly after I met my mother-in-law, she sat me down, showed me her wallet and told me that she always kept a "hundred dollar bill" in the little outside pocket, as well as a blank check folded up inside one of the credit card slots. She said she did this just in case she got mugged in big 'ole Houston. She sounded like a smart ...Read more

Dear Annie: I'm an older gent who has been doing weight training for years. I was walking down the beach one day, wearing my swimsuit, and a young lady approached on a bicycle from the opposite direction. She pointed toward me, and I turned to look at the water thinking the dolphins that had been swimming close to shore were back. She said, "...Read more

Dear Annie: My cousin has had anger issues for years, especially toward our grandmother. A few years ago, her parents got divorced, and her dad immediately started dating another woman, with whom he now shares a house. My cousin has announced that she is cutting herself off from all family ties, and, when she turns 18 next year, she is ...Read more

Dear Annie: My concern is my husband of 15 years. After we got married, I caught him looking at porn. When I confronted him, he told me he would stop. I believed him. About a month ago, I had a suspicion and confronted him, and he admitted that he had been looking again.

We have had our ups and downs, but this is something that just makes me ...Read more