Life Advice
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Showing Up Sick Is Selfish, Not Brave
Dear Annie: I genuinely like my job and most of the people I work with. We are a small office, so we see a lot of each other, share the same kitchen and bump into one another all day long. Normally that is fine, but lately one co-worker has turned cold and flu season into his own personal hobby.
I will call him "Carl." Carl has a special ...Read more
Asking Eric: 70-year-old fears he is a sugar daddy
Dear Eric: I am regretfully asking myself if I have morphed into a de facto sugar daddy. I'm in a four-year live-in relationship with a 42-year-old woman. I am 70.
Many might think the 28-year age gap is prima facie evidence of a sugar daddy/sugar baby relationship. However, to date, the relationship has been the best, as it has been adorned ...Read more
A Fantasy That Raises Questions
Dear Annie: My husband and I have been married for 21 years, and our intimate life has always been great. Lately, though, over the past couple of months, he's become interested in role-playing. He loves to play the husband with a mistress, saying things like, "Don't let my wife catch us," or "I hope your husband doesn't come home and find us."...Read more
Asking Eric: Students give teacher gifts but her boyfriend objects
Dear Eric: I have been a preschool teacher for more than 20 years. There are a few times throughout the year where the kids and their parents give us gifts, which of course is optional. Those occasions are Christmas, Valentine's Day, Teacher Appreciation Week and Graduation.
I have never asked for, nor do I expect to receive gifts from the ...Read more
Picking Up the Pieces After Being Left Behind
Dear Annie: I'm wrapping up a HORRIBLE, out-of-the-blue abandonment divorce from my soon-to-be ex-husband.
In 2023, I came home from teaching kindergarten to find out my ex took the majority of our furniture and moved out of state. He blocked me and erased me as if I didn't exist. It took several months to locate him with a private detective....Read more
Asking Eric: Brother bullies siblings over aging mother’s care
Dear Eric: My mother is in her last months of life. She has been cared for in her home for the last three years by increasingly expensive home health care workers. I and other siblings have suggested over and over that she be put in a care home for round-the-clock care, but our oldest sibling (we’ll call them Jimmy) has steadfastly refused, ...Read more
Missing Intimacy in an Otherwise Good Marriage
Dear Annie: I've been married for 27 years, and by most measures we have a good, steady life. We're healthy, financially secure and get along well. There's no infidelity or drama.
The problem is there's no romance or passion either. I've started to feel deeply lonely in my marriage.
My husband is kind and dependable but distant. He's gone ...Read more
Asking Eric: Wellness check severs decades-old friendship
Dear Eric: I'm a 73-year-old female who happily maintained a friendship I made my freshman year in college.
Two years ago, I noticed changes in my friend's ability to carry on conversations and her lack of awareness of current events. After Covid's isolation, she and her husband seldom left their house, and her husband spent more time on his ...Read more
A Holiday Gift That Left a Mark
Dear Annie: We have one son who is married and has two beautiful children. At Christmas time, I go all out to make sure that I gift the grands things I know they will enjoy and appreciate.
We also exchange gifts with my son and daughter-in-law. This past year, it was an Omaha Steaks assortment, which I know they love to receive. In addition, ...Read more
Ask Anna: The guy I'm dating won't stop pressuring me about condoms -- what do I do?
Dear Anna,
I’ve been seeing someone for about two months. From day one, I told him I’m not on birth control and that condoms are nonnegotiable. Yet every time things get physical, he starts pushing back — asking if we can “just this once” skip it, saying condoms don’t feel as good, or promising he’ll pull out or be careful. We ...Read more
Single File: Male-Bashing -- How to Recognize and Avoid It
One day soon, in the middle of male-bashing with friends, you're going to discover that you're not participating as enthusiastically as the rest. When that happens, I hope you pat yourself on the back and think of me. It was the exercises of self-exploration in this column that you used to strengthen yourself and become abler to give yourself ...Read more
Ask Dating Coach Erika: How do I write the 'right' profile?
I get a lot of questions that sound something like, “Can you help me write a profile that attracts the type of person I'm looking for?”
In the most loving way, I say, “No, I can't do that.”
And I don’t answer that way to be dismissive. I answer that way because I genuinely don't know what the person you're looking for … is ...Read more
Asking Eric: Holiday hugs rubbed customer the wrong way
Dear Eric: For Christmas my husband and I travel a few hours and stay at a hotel near our son’s family.
There is a man that works there readying the breakfast buffet. Each Christmas he gets dressed in a very festive outfit. And he mistakenly thinks that trying to bear hug strange hotel guests coming in for breakfast is a good thing to do.
...Read more
Asking Eric: Holiday hugs rubbed customer the wrong way
Dear Eric: For Christmas my husband and I travel a few hours and stay at a hotel near our son’s family.
There is a man that works there readying the breakfast buffet. Each Christmas he gets dressed in a very festive outfit. And he mistakenly thinks that trying to bear hug strange hotel guests coming in for breakfast is a good thing to do.
...Read more
Friend Can't Stop Throwing Jealous Jabs
Dear Annie: I have a problem that feels small when I say it out loud, but it is starting to take up way too much space in my head.
I have a close friend, "Megan," who has quietly turned into the scorekeeper of our friendship. She keeps tabs on everything. If I take two hours to text back, she will say, "Wow, must be nice to be busy," with a ...Read more
His parents wanted him to follow Jesus. He chose polyamory instead
PHILADELPHIA — Franki Jupiter grew up in St. Louis, the son of a Presbyterian minister and a Bible Study teacher. He was raised to believe he should marry young and remain committed — to both Jesus and his wife — for life.
But Jupiter, 39, didn’t end up doing so.
“I love people, and I’m not great with impulse control,” he ...Read more
Asking Eric: Without public weigh-ins, weight-loss motivation falters
Dear Eric: Like many people, my weight yo-yos. Over the decades, I have joined many weight-loss programs and got to my target weight on each (with 100 pounds being the most loss at one time). I stick to each program 99 percent of the time, finding the weekly weigh-ins to be very motivating.
I've picked up good habits from each (exercising five-...Read more
Wife and Husband Torn on Family's Future
Dear Annie: My wife and I have been married eight years and we have two young kids. They are my whole world. I love being a dad in a way I did not expect. I am the one who volunteers for bedtime stories, who gets up early on Saturdays so my wife can sleep, who actually enjoys the chaos of backpacks, snack cups and little shoes that disappear. ...Read more
Asking Eric: Friend wants to ‘divorce’ friend’s boorish husband
Dear Eric: I’ve been good friends with a woman for about five years now; we live abroad. However, I am not and never have been a huge fan of her new husband.
He talks over people or one-ups any statement and simply doesn’t listen. He can’t do turn-taking in conversation. I’ve asked a mutual friend if he is like this in his second ...Read more
Not Keen on Friend's Condescending Humor
Dear Annie: I'm a 73-year-old married woman, and my husband and I have a full social life. We regularly host other couples for happy hour, dinner and holidays. I enjoy it, and I'm grateful to have good friends at this stage of life.
One friend in particular is a woman my age whom I've known for years. We generally get along well, which is why...Read more
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