ArcaMax

Dear Eric: My wife is retired and does the majority of grocery shopping and cooking. For the past year or so she has also insisted on packing me a lunch to take to work.

I’m a teacher and bringing lunch has been part of my daily routine for years (there’s no time in the school day to go out to lunch). She packs things like soups, salads or ...Read more

Dear Eric: We have friends, who we have not seen in more than a decade. Yet the wife sends us cards for every holiday, our birthdays and at Christmas, many times with gift cards enclosed.

For a while I told them to stop by and see us, or to call and chat. That never happens, and I am just wondering what her motivation is? Thanks for your ...Read more

Dear Eric: My son has been married for 19 years. He has three children. In the beginning stage of his relationship with his spouse, I noticed that she only wanted my son to spend more time with her family. I was being observant in silence.

She recently told me she doesn't want her children around me anymore. She stated I don't come around ...Read more

Dear Eric: My parents divorced and my father remarried more than 20 years ago. My wife, our children and I would visit every year or two. The visits were cordial but fairly superficial so I did not have a strong relationship with my father or his wife.

My father passed away recently, and I have been dealing with his wife for the funeral ...Read more

Dear Eric: My wife and I are financing our granddaughter’s college education. She has spent the last two years enjoying the social life at her sorority and traveling to vacation spots. Her GPA is poor and she has had to repeat two courses.

Do we have a right to say she must maintain a better GPA, or we will consider withdrawing our financial ...Read more

Dear Eric: I moved to a new city a few years ago because I felt like I needed a change of pace after a job change and a breakup. I’m 32, if that helps. It’s a big city that a lot of people like. I’m not one of those people. I’ve really tried it, but I don’t understand the social rhythms, I’ve struggled to make friends, and I just ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a very loving grandmother with family on the West Coast. I live on the East Coast. I make every effort to reach out to my son's family. I purchase books, clothes, candy, school supplies, toys for every holiday and birthday. I wrap up and mail these "Love boxes" involving time, effort, thought and expense.

I am stunned and beyond...Read more

Dear Eric: So often we read questions from people seeking friends and how to do that. We have the opposite problem. How do we gracefully say no to all of the askers?

My husband and I are in our mid-80s and 70s, respectively, and have a problem we feel lucky to have, but aren't sure how to resolve with love and respect.

We are grateful for the ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a 16-year-old junior in high school who has an ambition to be a sports broadcaster.

I have started my own sports podcast. From the very start of my podcasting, I have tried to reach out to important sports people in the business.

I've reached out to MLB radio people, sports talk hosts, NFL pregame hosts and other podcasters. ...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband and I retired a little over three years ago. We both saved by working very hard all our lives so we can retire and travel. We started to travel often and are enjoying it very much, except I feel guilty when talking to our two adult children who are living paycheck-to-paycheck. They don't say anything negative to us, but I ...Read more

Dear Eric: My brother and I are helping an elderly cousin who has cancer. Her chemo treatments have terrible side effects, and she is requiring more and more care because of this. Ideally, she would be getting home health care or would move to an assisted living facility. However, she does not have cash flow to pay for services.

She wishes her ...Read more

Dear Eric: In high school I went with Bev for a time and I deeply loved her. Bev was outstandingly beautiful; she had a wonderful personality and was liked by all. She was two years younger than me. As young love would have it: she was deeply in love with me also. She was my life.

I felt that she was way too good for me and I broke off contact ...Read more

Dear Eric: I really enjoy your column and could use some advice on tact and kindness. My spouse and I adopted our child when she was about one week old. Her birth mother arrived at the hospital on drugs and without any plan for the baby. She signed away her rights but took no part in selecting us to be our child's parents.

An adoption agency ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have been married for 20 years. My husband has been on a downward spiral for the last five years. He bought a motorcycle at that time, and since then goes out every weekend barhopping, and comes home totally drunk.

We haven't had sex in nine months, (I have begged him) and he refuses to go to marriage counseling or a therapist for ...Read more

Dear Eric: My older brother and I were born and raised in a Jewish household. My brother’s first wife was Jewish, his second is not. At a recent dinner with my brother and his wife, she informed us of his planned funeral arrangements, which involve cremation and a memorial sometime in the future. While she told us all of his “wants,” he ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have a situation that’s bothered me for years. I’m a grandfather. I’m going to be 78 this year. I have five children and eight grandchildren.

I’m not a baby person. I don’t like holding them and doing all the things some people do with babies.

I don’t think it’s healthy for parents to pass their babies around the ...Read more

Dear Eric: Three years ago, my older sister sent me a book that stated that gay people are satanic, Marxist pedophiles. I am gay and wrote her back asking if she believed this. She replied that she did. I was shocked and angry and stopped communicating with her.

Her husband died eight months ago, and I received an effusive apology from her ...Read more

Dear Eric: My sister has become someone I don't know.

After her divorce, she became erratic, taking her anger out on everyone around her and making rash decisions we all were forced to resolve for her. Our mother, who always coddled her, insisted on family support for her and put aside any criticism of anything she did.

She'd fly off the ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am one of six cousins in a family that has been relatively close over the years as we share birthdays, weddings and holidays together quite frequently. There's another cousin who is part of the "other side" of the family that is not only ultra rich (billionaire) but has mostly kept her distance from the rest of us over the years.

...Read more

Dear Eric: We are a group of friends who for many years have been going out to dinner once a month. We are in our 60s to 80s, men and women.

Once we are seated there is this one woman who never fails to take out a tissue and blow her nose but not only blow her nose she will insert the tissue into her nostrils. This is a disgusting habit she has...Read more