ArcaMax

Dear Eric: My wife of 50 years told me that she no longer wants to live with me. I am currently living in our summer home with no friends or social contacts/networks. She has no interest in reconciling.

We didn't fight or argue, and I am at a loss as to what triggered her declaration. This has taken me totally by surprise. I thought we had a ...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband has eating and sanitary habits that make me cringe. When he prepares his lunch, he licks off the mayonnaise or peanut butter that he has gotten on his fingers and then sticks them in the communal chip bag without washing his hands first.

When he eats cereal or salad, he makes this smacking noise that gets in my head. I ...Read more

Dear Eric: One of our neighbors has acquired backyard chickens, and a rooster. His chicken coop is not far from our bedroom window. Now that it's getting warmer, we like to sleep with the windows open to cool off the house at night. The rooster wakes up at 5:20 a.m., so now we do as well.

We are retired, so most days we can go back to sleep ...Read more

Dear Eric: My daughter has a "live-in boyfriend" who, since he moved in, thinks he is the king of the household. He is very disrespectful to me, her dad and her stepmom.

I tolerated the stuff he said about her dad, and I tolerated him skipping paying my daughter his share of the mortgage for a few months. But when it got so she almost lost her ...Read more

Dear Eric: My wife and son got into a heated argument after he told her that he had dated a woman three times, and on the third date, he asked her if she wanted to split the bill. The woman later texted him that she didn't want to go out with him anymore. My wife told our son that it should be up to the man to pay when dating.

My son strongly ...Read more

Dear Eric: My now-retired parents are terrific people. They're interesting, kind, hardworking and A++ grandparents. My wife and I marvel at how instinctive, capable and giving they are with our two young boys.

That said, every year that goes by, their anxiety reaches new heights.

It seems like a classic case of having very little to fill the ...Read more

Dear Eric: I work at a small bank with nine coworkers, including myself. We have a dilemma going on in the office. The president and his assistant are sleeping together. They were caught on video after hours in the office. They also rush a few of us out of the office at the end of the day and stay back to do who knows what.

They have been ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have a friend, from college 40 years ago, who I’m only now realizing is a

needy, self-aggrandizing narcissist. In all of that time, absolutely no one in my circle has ever liked her.

She has driven people away, including her spouse, but maybe subconsciously I thought with me it was different. She has lived far away for most of ...Read more

Dear Eric: My parents recently died a few months apart. While taking care of my mom's last wishes, my sister told me that she went to prison for human trafficking years ago. She wasn't sorry for it in any way and defended her actions. She may as well have told me she was a serial killer. I can't even look at her now.

I discovered my other ...Read more

Dear Eric: I'm on a condo board with a couple of men who seem very controlling and regularly impugn my honesty. This is extremely uncomfortable. I'm not sure how to respond. For example, we had a meeting and one of them said we never have discussed these topics at this kind of meeting. I'm the secretary. I said look at last year's special ...Read more

Dear Eric: My friend who lives in the same apartment building doesn't drive. She insists I take her shopping or to other places. She knows I don't like to drive, especially when she doesn't give me gas money. I keep telling her to ask other people for a backup. I’m ready to just say no most times. She'll never get mad at me. Should I just say ...Read more

Dear Eric: Six months ago, new neighbors moved onto our street. They fenced in the front and side of their corner lot and keep their large dog outside all hours of the day and evening. The dog barks constantly and all of us adjacent neighbors are extremely annoyed.

No one wants to say anything to them as otherwise they seem like nice people and...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a middle-aged woman, who, for most of her life was the center of the social scene. I entertained in my home, organized outings and helped my friends out whenever I could. A lot of this was not reciprocated, but I was fine with it, because I enjoyed it, and deep down, I always suspected that if I did not make the fun, the fun ...Read more

Dear Eric: By the time I was 8, I knew something was wrong with me. Babies that couldn’t be told not to would stare at my odd face. Sometimes I’d catch adults doing the same. It made me very uncomfortable.

I felt sick all of the time. No one knew why, but as a teen my deformities spread, and I had to have two grueling surgeries for spinal ...Read more

Dear Eric: My son is divorced and has a contentious relationship with his ex-wife. They have three children together. I have left occasional communication open with his ex regarding my grandchildren due to my son’s lack of communication. If it weren’t for her, I would have missed important events in my grandchildren’s lives.

My son has a ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am 40 and physically disabled. I need a powered wheelchair to get around

both outside and inside my apartment. Recently, my tires were popped by some broken glass from a bottle thrown out of a passing car onto the sidewalk. It has been a week since I have been able to use my wheelchair, and I have another 20 days before my new ...Read more

Dear Eric: My sister and brother-in-law live a couple of hours away. My wife and I get along with them but are not close, and we try to make an effort to see them when we are nearby (a couple times a year). We have a pre-school-age child, while they do not have kids. They are kind and generous to our child when they see him and bring him gifts ...Read more

Dear Eric: A relatively new friend has invited me to a third dinner at her home, and I do not want to attend. Her first two meals were simply not well-prepared and not good.

One meal included fish that had an unappetizing odor as she fried it and also had an unpleasant "off" taste when I tried to eat it. She also served barely warm, bland ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am very much enjoying the second time around following a long and less than joyful first marriage.

My problem is plans for burial.

All of our children are terribly against our marriage even though both of our spouses were deceased at the time we met.

Our children have virtually no relationship with us now and if there is any ...Read more

Dear Eric: My 31-year-old daughter, Lauren, is relocating to California and taking only what fits in her car. She’s embracing a minimalist lifestyle and recently told me there’s nothing she wants me to pass down to her. I’ll admit I was shocked. She’s the youngest in my bloodline, and I always imagined certain heirlooms or sentimental ...Read more