ArcaMax

Dear Eric: For more than five years I have been having a single friend and her two kids over to dinner weekly. This started after her philandering, narcissistic husband, who had been having an affair while she was nearing term with a difficult pregnancy and hospitalized, left her for the other woman while my friend was on maternity leave with ...Read more

Dear Eric: My son is married; his wife is the chief breadwinner. They keep their finances separate; he pays half of everything, even though it is a real stretch for him.

After she had the baby, she wanted to return to her "pre-baby weight," so she signed up for this expensive diet plan where all the food comes semi-premade in a box. My son has ...Read more

Dear Eric: Many years ago, I was married to a woman who, after we divorced, admitted she cheated on me with a married man. She asked for forgiveness, and I took her back.

Nevertheless, it didn't work out and, fortunately, we didn't have kids, so it was easy to finally get out of the situation. I'm happily married now, and I hear she is too.

I ...Read more

Dear Eric: My ex-husband and I were on fairly even financial footing when we divorced. Our incomes were similar, and we split the assets almost down the middle. He was a lazy, selfish, philandering husband, but he's a decent dad. Losing that 200 pounds of deadweight has freed me up to focus on advancing my career. My income has doubled, while ...Read more

Dear Eric: My 22-year-old son has met a 36-year-old woman in Brazil on the internet. He has fallen for her and is planning to go there this summer for at least three months.

My husband and I are very worried. He doesn’t speak the language, although he is learning it. He hasn’t traveled by himself before and there are advisories for ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a 75-year-old professional woman married to a great 74-year-old Ph.D. who works in Pharma and has no desire to retire. We have a very good marriage, but I am struggling with resentment and negativity due to hubby's work situation. We both work from home. His workload has been nonexistent for three and a half months.

His boss ...Read more

Dear Eric: I'm a 78-year-old widow, who has been without a cat for one year now; first time in my life. Is it fair to adopt a cat if I most likely only have one and a half to two and a half more years to live? I do travel as well. I do not have any family, so who would get the cat remains unknown. Maybe back to the adoption group? Is this fair ...Read more

Dear Eric: A lady I know does shopping for Instacart, and occasionally she will post on Facebook photos of homes she has delivered to, adding comments like “look at this cool home I delivered groceries to today!” Isn’t that a huge breach of privacy? Or as an influencer, she will post videos of herself walking around a restaurant or store, ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a lesbian in my late 60s. Recently I had a dream of a woman I knew back in the ’70s. I was very taken by her; even though I knew I was gay and confused, I married my boyfriend anyway. But she and I and other friends went on coffee breaks for a couple of years, and she always sat across from me. Sometimes I caught her staring at...Read more

Dear Eric: I founded a nonprofit organization that is about to close (for multiple reasons, one being that others are now doing this work). I’m no longer on the board of directors, just a volunteer. A few years ago, we got a very prestigious award for something that was my idea. Can I keep the actual award, or if not, what should we do with it...Read more

Dear Eric: I am having some trouble with keeping up at school on my grades. I feel

like it’s because of my job and working five days a week but it feels like I cannot tell anyone that. If I tell my parents, they’re going to want me to quit my job and work on my schoolwork more, but I am just not ready to give up my privilege of making my ...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband’s best friend of 18 years has a wife, “Martha,” who is bipolar. She self-medicates with THC. I’ve become uncomfortable being around her. My husband is supportive of my feelings, to a point. He doesn't want to lose John's friendship, which I totally understand.

Two weeks ago, Martha had asked me to come over. The ...Read more

Dear Eric: I (38F) am done having kids and have always thought I'd be a gestational carrier. I'm interested in helping someone build their family and have a little extra for my kids’ college funds. My husband is supportive of whatever I'd like to do. I was originally going to work through an agency but met a couple through a mutual friend that...Read more

Dear Eric: I was married for 27 years to a wonderful woman who has passed away. We lived in a Female-led Relationship (FLR) which meant she was in charge of most things. We made joint decisions on the big things, but for the most part, what she said was what we did.

Included in this was discipline for me, including assignments such as standing ...Read more

Dear Eric: My best friend from high school moved to town again and we’ve been hanging out more. Her sister-in-law asked me if I can be the godmother of her child, which I’ve agreed to.

But ever since I’ve agreed I’ve been involved more in their family drama. Recently, the sister-in-law vented to me about some family drama, but also told...Read more

Dear Eric: Our youngest brother has made some poor decisions in his life, and he knows it. While he's had a destructive life overall for more than 40 years, he is now a recovering addict but also has serious health concerns in his early 50s.

He finds himself on the verge of homelessness, in the early stages of some kind of severe illness (...Read more

Dear Eric: I’m a grown woman in a healthy relationship with two children of my own, and I can’t stand being around my dad. I’m resentful of him for a childhood full of emotional abuse that I feel has stunted my personal development. I’m working hard to get through that and reach my fullest potential, but I still really can’t stand ...Read more

Dear Eric: My cousin (more like a sister) has been making some extremely rash and concerning choices over the last year. After she had her second baby, she left her husband and started seeing a series of borderline-abusive men. She is now in the process of signing over full custody of her children to her ex-husband and is impulsively buying a ...Read more

Dear Eric: Soon after we had our first child, my wife uncovered a repressed memory that she had been sexually abused by her father when she was 18 years old.

I’ve always encouraged her to share this burden with her brother, but she is flatly against it. While I understand that, I’ve been reading up on how that trauma affects women later in ...Read more

Dear Eric: I live in a very rural and rather remote area where you can count "neighbors" on one hand. My husband and I made friends with one who lives about five miles away; we're not "close" but she and I share a lot of common interests, have shared meals, house and pet sitting, etc.

Recently I texted her and told her we were applying for a ...Read more