ArcaMax

Dear Annie: In response to all the working mothers who are weighed down by guilt, I'd like to share my experience.

I am 75 years old, and when I was growing up, my mother worked from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. I usually came home from school around 3:30 or 4, and my memories of that time are nothing but warm.

Before leaving for work, my mother made ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: After nearly 18 years of marriage, I left my wife. Our daughters were 10 and 12. We had married quickly, and only later did I realize how deeply judgmental her "born-again" beliefs were -- so much so that she gradually cut off my entire side of the family. I tried for years to reason with her, to no avail, and we divorced. What I ...Read more

Dear Annie: I'm 22, working full time in the city, and recently started dating a guy I met through a mutual friend. We've only been seeing each other for about a month, and he really is a sweetheart. The problem is, the more I get to know him, the more I wonder whether we are simply in very different places in life.

He is in his late 20s, ...Read more

At the gym, my trainer told me he was going to a trainers' conference in Austin. He worried that he might be both the shortest and weakest person there. I told him, "That's the room you want to be in."

It's a trope in the motivation and hustle circles that you should be finding the rooms in which you are surrounded by those who are where you ...Read more

Dear Annie: For as long as I can remember, my mother has been extremely generous with gifts, sometimes to the point of being over the top. My sister and I have always thanked her, while also telling her she doesn't need to fill our cars with presents for birthdays and holidays. Still, she continues.

Lately, though, her gift giving has started...Read more

Dear Annie: I know I am stuck in the "old ways," but I am trying to adapt to changing times. It is becoming very common for couples to live together before marriage.

While I have come to accept traditional and extravagant weddings as an occasion to finally declare their commitment before church and family, what I still struggle with are the ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have a friend, "Rosie," who kicked me out to the curb (metaphorically speaking) when her sister moved into her mobile home park.

Prior to her sister's moving into the neighborhood, Rosie and I saw a lot of each other. I was always sewing for Rosie, her husband and her mother-in-law at little or no cost. I sent food to her after ...Read more

Dear Annie: My granddaughter, "Melanie," thinks that she has a half-sister 24 years younger.

Melanie believes that her father, long divorced from her mother, was asked by his former unattached girlfriend with whom he remained friendly, to "help" her have a child before it becomes biologically too late.

Now, my granddaughter has become very ...Read more

Sexual expression is part of mental and physical well-being. On that we probably agree. And being unmarried, you know how difficult it is to find a caring and committed partner. It's well worth waiting for, because when soul mates join spirit and flesh, their union can approach spiritual communion. Once that's experienced, anything less is out ...Read more

Dear Annie: I recently turned 27 and feel as if life is just passing me by. I try so many different things to find career opportunities and to meet other people but nothing leads to anything, and I am always stuck back at square one.

It seems like nobody ever gives me a chance (social and economic). Is there a way to move on in life without ...Read more