DEAR ABBY: I met a man, “Gabe,” 30 years ago. We had a very good time together. We dated some and even traveled occasionally. I liked him a lot but, when we met, I was divorced and looking for marriage. He was not. I moved for my job, and met and married someone else. Gabe […]

DEAR ABBY: My fiance, “Rowan,” and I are getting married this year. It is my second marriage and his first. Rowan has a young son I’ll call “Sean” from a previous relationship. I have a good relationship with Sean, and expressed to Rowan that I’d love to include Sean on our honeymoon, so we can […]

DEAR ABBY: Last year my mother passed away after a 15-year battle with lung cancer. When I tell people she died, I am not bothered if they ask what she died from. However, more often than not, when they learn she died of lung cancer, they proceed to ask me if she ever smoked. It’s […]

DEAR ABBY: My adult son has a drug addiction, for which he is receiving treatment. My family and I have just met his daughter, who we had only recently learned about. She’s 6. I had a celebration for her birthday at my house. My mom (the great-grandma) took pictures of the birthday girl and her […]

DEAR ABBY: I have a daughter, “Molly,” who is in her late 30s. Her father and I divorced when she was an infant, and I raised her, with help from my family, until I remarried. Her father had visitation and paid child support, but that’s where it ended. Throughout Molly’s life, I have taken care […]

DEAR ABBY: I have a wonderful 12-year-old son, “Oliver,” who was conceived during a date rape at a work party. I don’t remember much about that night. When I found out I was pregnant, I hoped my husband at the time was the father. When the baby came, it was obvious he wasn’t, because Oliver […]

DEAR ABBY: A year ago, when I discovered my husband’s porn videos and naked pictures of his ex-girlfriends, he assured me he would delete them. It has been a year, and he still hasn’t done it. When I mention it, he claims he doesn’t look at them and doesn’t have time to delete them. I […]

DEAR ABBY: I am a 58-year-old, never-married woman with a 22-year blue-collar career. I own a home and will retire with benefits many people dream of. I’ve recently ended a relationship with a man I’ve known since childhood. I truly love him. The problem is that he had been stealing from me. I confronted him […]

DEAR ABBY: For more than 20 years, my mother-in-law has shown blatant favoritism toward my husband’s younger brother. Several people, including her own mother and my father-in-law, have tried to discuss it with her, but she refuses. My husband has accepted that there is nothing he can do to change her behavior. Abby, she has […]

DEAR ABBY: A few months ago, I offered to help a longtime friend with some landscaping. The area to be landscaped is tiny. I was concerned a professional landscaper would overcharge her. She contacted a landscaper anyway — not to hire him, but to pick his brain. When he arrived, it was obvious he didn’t […]