ArcaMax

Dear Eric: My husband “Bob” and I celebrated our 30th anniversary this past spring. He has many wonderful qualities, but he’s also a “lone wolf” who very rarely asks for my input or help.

A few months before he retired, I discovered he’d gone on a hike with a young, pretty coworker.

Many years before, he’d had a two-year affair ...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband of more than 20 years gives me slipper socks with grippy soles. I hate them! We live in a hot climate, so I have little use for them. They filled up my sock drawer and they retraumatize me every time I touch them.

I threw them away and they came back. He gave me five more pairs at Christmas. I kept these for animal first ...Read more

Dear Eric: I completed a yoga teacher training (YTT), which I only shared with family. During the YTT, the studio posted pics on social media, and I was in one pic.

Within hours, Sue, a coworker, sent me a screenshot of the post and asked if it was me. I confirmed. Thereafter, Sue began frantically texting me about how she wanted to attend a ...Read more

Dear Eric: For the last 45 years or so I’ve hosted Thanksgiving for my family. I’ve had as many as 25 people. My sister has two sons, and they’ve always stayed with me. Quite frankly, it’s now an issue. Only one son comes but he now has three sons of his own, ranging from 22 to 8. My sister also stays with me. They come on Wednesday and ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have a huge dilemma literally right across from our home. Our neighbor is a very nice man. Sometimes I do ask him what he’s going to do with all of his stuff in his yard. He just says he’ll keep it. He is a hoarder.

What I see is boxes and boxes stacked all along his driveway, down to his backyard, leaving a very narrow pathway...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband has dementia; it’s getting worse by the month. I am the caregiver. Our daughter calls on her way home from work. Our son calls several times a week. They have been my rock. I lean on them and rely on their excellent advice and strong shoulders.

Our 55th wedding anniversary is several days before Christmas. Because of the...Read more

Dear Eric: My cousin recently passed away after a long hospitalization. We were very close. I sent a sympathy card with money to the family, but I was sent the money back. I have never heard of this happening in my life. What do you make of this?

I talked to other family members, and their money wasn’t returned to them. I’ve sent out a ...Read more

Dear Eric: I’m worried I’ll lose my longtime friendship. I met S several years ago when we lived closer to each other. She probably is the closest friend I’ve ever had. Her husband, T, sometimes joined us, but mostly it was S and me.

About three years ago, I moved several states away from S. Of course, I miss our friendship. When I have ...Read more

Dear Eric: My wife and our 6-year-old daughter went to the wedding of my older daughter from a prior marriage. My wife and daughter have always had a rocky relationship. My younger daughter was a flower girl, and she was asked not to wear a tiara. My wife gave me lots of arguments as to why my daughter should be allowed to wear a tiara. My older...Read more

Dear Eric: I have an alcoholic neighbor with whom I am friendly. We do minor favors for each other. I am aware that he drinks and drives home from a nearby bar, which I have issues about. He drives a shuttle for airport crews and others, and I don't believe he drinks before he does those rides. But he frequents the bar often, and then drives ...Read more

Dear Eric: My 35-year-old niece married a 45-year-old man with two teenage kids in a small ceremony. I have always been close with her. My sister and my niece have had a somewhat up-and-down relationship. They are each strong-willed.

But over the past 18 months since my niece met her now-husband, she has pretty much turned her back on her ...Read more

Dear Eric: My cat died in 2013. Everyone said I treated him like a child. He got so sick, so suddenly, it freaked me out so badly.

Then my dad died out of nowhere in 2018. I wanted to die to be with him, because he was my best friend.

Now I'm afraid I'll lose anyone at any time. I have OCD and all my rituals are focused around keeping my mom, ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have been in recovery for alcohol addiction for almost 31 years. Needless to say, my life is wonderful and so good compared to those years when I was active in my addiction.

Recently I was with someone who knew me before recovery. In a room with people who really didn't know me very well, she told the story about how I was drunk, ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am in a leadership role at my church. Our community is very loving. We have a relatively new member who is a dear older woman. We think she may be dealing with a bit of dementia.

he is very grateful for our community and wants to be involved.

The problem is she signs up to do many of the tasks needed for Sundays and for other ...Read more

Dear Eric: Should I tell a coworker that many of her workmates are criticizing her as selfish and self-centered? She got married a year ago but didn't go on a honeymoon then because the couple, who are both in their 40s, had just returned from two weeks in Europe.

Now they've decided they want a "dream honeymoon" at a luxury resort. To pay for ...Read more

Dear Eric: My sister has a 130-pound dog who is friendly. While celebrating Easter in April, I was sitting on the sofa, barefoot, when the dog approached me and stepped on my right foot and injured it. After five months, I visited the doctor who said that all my nerves in my foot were damaged. He gave me metatarsal pads to wear and cream to see ...Read more

Dear Eric: My brother died of Covid four years ago. When we flew to the memorial service, his wife's sibling slipped us the box of ashes. She said my brother's wife was too distraught to deal with it. We were so shocked we just put them in our trunk.

Those ashes came back with us on the flight and have been sitting on our porch in a bookshelf ...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband and I have been married for 40 years. He has two adult sons in their 60s and I have an adult daughter in her 50s. Over the years we have helped one son, who has two children and my daughter, who has one child, while they were going through divorces with large sums of money in order for them to keep their houses. We have ...Read more

Dear Eric: I’m in my 60s and have a crippling disease that kept me housebound for nearly five years. My daughter moved back home around that time after her sister took her life and left behind a young son, whom we have been raising together.

A new medication for this disease was recently approved. I’ve been taking it for two years, and it ...Read more

Dear Eric: Several years ago, I moved to the U.S. from Europe to marry my wife. Her father agreed to support us financially until my work authorization was approved. Around the time of the approval my wife suffered a severe mental health crisis and needed time to recover.

My father-in-law hired a "life coach" and my wife and I worked with her ...Read more