ArcaMax

Dear Eric: My wife and I married two years ago. We were both widowed after long happy marriages and feel blessed that we have found each other.

When our first spouses died, they were each interred in different local cemeteries. In each case, the headstones include each surviving spouse’s name, birth year and, of course, no death year (yet!).�...Read more

Dear Eric: My family and I will be traveling from California to the UK to visit my husband’s parents with our two kids. During our visit, my husband’s brother, his partner, and their young daughter, will be joining us from Sweden for part of the stay.

We recently found out that my husband’s brother’s partner booked tickets for an event ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have an ongoing disagreement with my very polite and well-mannered husband. When we enter a venue together (restaurant, store, etc.), he opens the door/elevator door to let me through and then holds the door open so that at least two or three people and sometimes large groups of people, can walk in ahead of him.

He then follows ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a 55-year-old female who has a disabled daughter. The father is long gone from the picture. I make a middle income living and could live comfortably if it were not for my disabled daughter. Things go well for a while and then a crisis occurs, and she is back in the hospital accruing large medical bills.

I have one brother, and ...Read more

Dear Eric: I live with my partner of two years and his family (mother, younger siblings and mother's boyfriend).

Yesterday, his mother confided in me that the abusive and domineering man my partner knows as his semi-estranged father, is not his biological father. My partner is not aware of this. I'm also not sure if any of his family knows. The...Read more

Dear Eric: I'm a craft hobbyist. I enjoy embroidery, painting by numbers, building papercraft models, etc. My joy is really in the process of creating these, but I find our walls and shelves overflowing with the finished products. I suppose I'm proud of them, but I'm beginning to avoid doing these hobbies because we're running out of space to ...Read more

Dear Eric: I’m 65 and have always had a cordial but not loving relationship with my 64-year-old sister as our parents never encouraged their children to be loving to one another.

Last month, my nephew was married in a civil ceremony at my sister’s Midwest home due to an immigration requirement relating to his now-wife. Because we received ...Read more

Dear Eric: How do you stay friends with someone who puts zero interest in maintaining an adult friendship?

My best friend from high school (of more than 20 years), had kids a few years ago. The kids are young but out of the baby stage. My friend constantly asks to hang out but never offers anything that is not totally kid-focused. Think story ...Read more

Dear Eric: My brother and his wife just had their first child, and the first grandchild on both sides of the family. I am so excited to be an aunt, and love the baby. So does my mom, however she keeps saying something to my brother and I that we both are getting tired of.

She has said on multiple occasions: I love the baby more than you two (my...Read more

Dear Eric: I am friends with a person I dated for a short while. We’re in our 50s. The only reason I still see her is that she doesn’t have any other friends.

She is also a sole parent to a difficult teen who also has no friends and has no desire to make any (she tells me this). I do not enjoy her company, although she is a good person.

It...Read more

Dear Eric: We live in a suburban neighborhood where the homes are fairly close together. We have a very nice screened-in porch and a large deck that we added two years ago. Typically fall is our favorite time of year to be outside on our deck, and we like to eat breakfast and dinner on our porch.

Our next-door neighbors are heavy pot smokers ...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband of six months and I do pretty much everything together. I recommended we watch a Netflix series together, and we are both deeply engrossed.

The other night, I was tired from my workday, and he suggested I go to bed early. He mentioned finishing the latest episode, since it had just started. I said that sounded fine. I woke...Read more

Dear Eric: My psychologically disabled adult son who also suffers from chronic physical illnesses will live with me for the remainder of my life as I care for him.

His medications, doctor visits and hospitalizations with multiple surgeries take up most of his monthly disability income. I was informed by my attorney to have an executor of my ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have rented a room in my home to a woman for the past year. Her finances are limited. I charge her $400 per month versus the going rate in my area of $1,000. Per the rental agreement, I pay two-thirds of the utility bill, and she pays one-third. She spent this past summer visiting family. When she returned, she told me she would not...Read more

Dear Eric: Two months ago, I lost the love of my life when he died unexpectedly. I have known him for almost 10 years, first as friends that evolved into serious dating.

I learned a week after he passed that while we were a couple he had another current girlfriend and several more partners. His best friend confided afterwards that I was his ...Read more

Dear Eric: My spouse of 38 years died a year ago. He was 72, I’m now 72. He was a bit of a loner and had a strained relationship with his only sibling, his younger sister.

The last 10 years he had completely cut communication off with her. Honestly, the main reason was that he just didn’t want to be her friend. She’s a nice, helpful ...Read more

Dear Eric: Almost 10 years ago, my husband had a life-changing car accident. It left him with neurological issues, some of which still linger to this day. He was unable to convey to me the depths of his emotional pain and frustrations due to the neurological trauma, and I, rather than showing empathy, became a nagging, frustrated harpy, ...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband, “Tom,” and I got on well with his brother, “Dick,” until last year, when Dick became executor of their parents’ estate. Instead of liquidating it and splitting it with Tom, which is what he is required to do, he secretly paid himself more than $100,000 for the first year – more than double the authorized amount...Read more

Dear Eric: We live on a lake and love hosting our great-nieces and nephews on school breaks and the entire family on vacations. My husband and I have no children. Our niece's families are dear to us.

Our 11-year-old great-nephew has been gaming now for about a year. When he comes to visit, instead of reading, playing cards or board games with ...Read more