ArcaMax

Dear Anna,

My girlfriend and I have been long distance for about a year, and one of the biggest points of tension between us is communication style. She only ever wants to text — she doesn’t like phone calls or FaceTime, even when we’re just catching up. The thing that really drives me up the wall, though, is that when we fight or need to...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband sings at the top of his lungs to any song that is playing in a movie or a commercial or in the car or otherwise. It’s like nails on a chalkboard for me. I’ve tried telling him, but he takes offense. He tells me everyone tells him he has perfect pitch (he doesn’t), and it has come down to serious discord at times.

I ...Read more

I was searching for a client on Match.com recently, looking for men in her age range who she might like to send a message to, and I came across this profile:

“I’m tired of being rejected on this site by conceited, snobbish women who proclaim they are looking for an honest, humorous man, when in reality all they are really looking for is a ...Read more

Dear Eric: My son is 35 and his new girlfriend of three months is 32. They're both very smart. They are both very well educated. She's funny. She's smart. I really enjoy my time with her except for when she falls into these pits where she talks about him like he's not there and puts him down. She says things like “Well, I told your son to do ...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband and son are both on the autism spectrum. We brought our son a sofa from IKEA and left it in his house. It needs to be assembled along with hanging curtains and installing the curtain rods.

We are both 75. Our son works full time and is finishing up his master’s thesis. He’s unlikely to be able to help with curtain ...Read more

Dear Eric: One of my best friends, who is a lesbian, just met a girl two weeks ago and they've already said "I love you" to each other. The other girl seems genuinely lovely, and my friend is very happy, which makes me happy!

Not only is this moving very quickly, but the other girl just got out of an engagement in June. It seems clear that she'...Read more

Dear Eric: "Sue" and I have been neighbors and friends for more than 50 years. She and her husband are godparents to one of our children, we are members of social groups together, like book club and bridge group. We have shared many occasions together, at the holidays and with our families.

A couple of years ago her husband (and our friend) ...Read more

Dear Eric: Perhaps my problem stems from the fact that I am a mid-80s mom? A couple of years ago, our very responsible son asked if he could invite about 10 friends to our large lakeside cabin during our absence. There is plenty of room for all to sleep, a big kitchen and boats and a nice lake for all to enjoy. We said fine.

Married and single ...Read more

Dear Eric: My wife and I have been married 26 years. Our children are 25 and 22 and live with us. Over the years we have had plenty of arguments and came very close to divorce immediately after my youngest was born. We attended counseling for a while, but it didn’t really change anything.

In recent years, every little argument sets my wife ...Read more

YES!!!

Probably half of the questions I get are, “Is it a red flag if (fill in the blank)?” And in many of these cases, based on whatever the “blank” is, it’s not a red flag. It’s a mere preference. For example, “It is a red flag if he has a roommate at age 32?” Probably not. “Is it a red flag if he texts his mother every day?...Read more

Dear Anna,

I’ve been dating my boyfriend for about six months, and we moved in together pretty quickly — it’s been wonderful, and I feel really loved. The challenge is he’s about to relocate for work for most of the year, and I’m scared about how I’ll handle the distance. I have a weird pattern when people aren’t physically in my ...Read more