DEAR ABBY: I’m a divorced and remarried mother of two adult children. Both live on their own and have decent jobs. After the divorce, I managed to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table and provide college for my children. My ex-husband, their father, sporadically paid child support, which resulted in an […]

DEAR ABBY: I’m a freshman in college, blessed to have an internship in the office of a nonprofit organization. As time goes by, and as trust is built, I am being given more responsibilities. One of them is writing letters for various purposes — thank-you letters, invitations, congratulatory letters, etc. When I was in high […]

DEAR ABBY: My older brother and son live with me. We are all adults, so we don’t need to ask each other’s permission before one of us leaves the house. Out of courtesy, I let them know where I’m going, who I’ll be with, and if I am likely to be out late. When I’m […]

DEAR ABBY: My fiance, ”Allen,” and I have dated for almost three years and have been living together for three months. When we met, he had been divorced for more than two years. Allen has a 13-year-old son and a 19-year-old daughter. His kids learned about me after we had dated a year. His daughter, […]

DEAR ABBY: I’m 19, and for the past year I have been out of my parents’ house (at last!). I’m realizing now that the years I spent with Mom and Dad were different than other people’s. My parents weren’t physically abusive, but they were mentally and emotionally abusive, and it has scarred me in some […]

DEAR ABBY: I am a 46-year-old drug user. I have been addicted for more than 20 years. I know it’s wrong. I know I can be a better person. I got hooked when a supposed friend introduced me to crack in 1992. If I could only go back to that day, I’d kick the you-know-what […]

DEAR ABBY: My husband was recently offered a new job that carries with it a significant increase in salary as well as upward mobility. He was offered the job by a woman he used to work with years ago. She will be his new boss. It was recently brought to my attention that not only […]

DEAR ABBY: I have been dating ”Ian” for seven months. We met at work, and my friends convinced me to go out with him. I thought he was a nice guy, just shy. Now that we’ve been dating, I realize that’s not the case. Ian plays video games A LOT. They consume his life. He […]

DEAR ABBY: Is it wrong to drop off a 1- and a 5-year-old at a senior assisted-living center for their great-grandmother to baby-sit in her room? My niece does this weekly, claiming she’s giving my mother ”quality time” with her great-grandchildren. My mother is in the assisted-living center due to issues my dad is encountering. […]