ArcaMax

Dear Eric: Ordinarily, my friend is loving and affectionate to her middle-aged cat. She takes good care of him, with food, water, and attention. Today, she told me her cat has a condition that requires medical care, but she feels the vet just wants her money.

Instead, she is choosing a less costly homeopathic route, along with supplements and a...Read more

Dear Eric: My sister was engaged to a guy, “Peter.” I’ve known Peter for a long time. Not long before the wedding, she broke the engagement because she met someone else, “Rick.”

She married Rick and they moved away. Peter and I have never really spoken about my sister or what happened, but I know he was deeply hurt. I’ve not heard ...Read more

Dear Eric: My father-in-law is in a relationship with a person that makes staying at his home during a visit an awful experience for me, my husband and our kids. My husband is not one to confront and is simply too kind and shy to stand up to this woman who has taken over hosting.

He also does not have open communication with his father to let ...Read more

Dear Eric: Our 11-year-old nephew (on my husband's side) is like Dudley from the “Harry Potter” series. He's spoiled, entitled, rude and disrespectful to young and old family members. Family gatherings have become very stressful and tense due to his behavior.

Meals and mealtimes always have to revolve around his taste and timeframe...Read more

Dear Eric: I’m attending my estranged son’s wedding. As the mother of the groom, I’m unsure of what my responsibilities are. More importantly, his wife-to-be is Buddhist. I have absolutely no problem with this, what I’m unsure about is the gift and the attire. I know that you aren’t supposed to wear black, white or patterns of any kind...Read more

Dear Eric: I, a 45-year-old female, have been married to my husband, a 45-year-old male, for eight years. He has never called my mom by her first name or any other name like "Ma". When we visit my mother, he'll walk past her without a word.

I feel caught in the middle, making excuses saying things like he's tired or something like that.

When ...Read more

Dear Eric: Before a summer trip to visit family in 2019, a friend’s cat passed away. She wrapped the kitty in one of her husband’s T-shirts and buried it in the desert backyard, maybe two feet deep. Around the day she was leaving, she discovered that desert fauna had slipped inside the backyard fence and disturbed the site. She told me she ...Read more

Dear Eric: My daughter-in-law wants a much closer relationship with me than I feel comfortable with. She began calling me “mom” when she and my son first got engaged. I’ve told her several times that I would prefer to be called by my first name, but she still calls me mom.

A few months after the wedding, she began dropping by my house ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have an adult daughter who moved out but does not want me to change her former bedroom.

She had a breakup seven years ago that caused a nervous breakdown because of the cruel way it was done: packing her things up and mailing them to our house. She moved back in with us as a result of this breakup and started therapy.

After many ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have been dating a wonderful man for a little over a year and we are talking about getting married. I have been married once before and he has been married twice before with children from both marriages. His second ex-wife had addiction issues.

His mother has declared that she has no desire or time to get to know me after dealing ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a 64-year-old man, married for 42 years. I am married to the smartest, kindest, most decent person I have ever known. I tell her that all the time. I am also still wildly attracted to her. She finds that creepy which makes me feel awful. She feels my physical attraction to her is demeaning. Is it creepy for me to still feel so ...Read more

Dear Eric: I had a very close relationship with my father, until he remarried in my mid-20’s. When he remarried, he told my brother and me that we would be excluded from his trust. He stated that he had raised us and was done with any financial support.

Since then, we have had a superficial relationship at times, and a conflicted one at ...Read more

Dear Eric: I'm involved with a man whose sister recently died. I rented a car, bought his kids clothes for the funeral and made sure everything was in order. The funeral was out of town. I wanted to be there for support, but he didn't invite me. I took off of work and he left with his kids.

When I told him how I felt about not being invited, he...Read more

Dear Eric: How should I tell my husband he has breasts? He is not a vain man, and I suspect does not study himself in a mirror. He is on many new meds which can result in developing this condition.

For the most part he is fully dressed, but it’s summertime and he may, at some point, want to remove his shirt to swim with friends. I’m sure ...Read more

Dear Eric: Before he passed years ago, my father transferred his beach house to his six adult kids. We did not ask to become owners of a shared house, and I always thought it was a horrible idea.

Most of us kids tend to travel to different places, while one has always loved to vacation at the beach house. My father would hand expenses to those ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a 33-year-old male on the autism spectrum. I have a friend, "Katie," who has been a big part of my life for the last few years. I have been a mentor and friend for her three little boys, and she, in return, has been a good friend to me.

Katie deals with a lot of anxiety (she considers herself neurodiverse, possibly on the High ...Read more

Dear Eric: My sons are currently 26 and 24 years old. Both went to amazing colleges and currently have six-figure careers. They both moved back home when their colleges shut down for COVID.

Neither son is looking to "launch" from the nest, blaming high costs of living in our area, blaming boomers for ruining the world, etc. They have a bad ...Read more

Dear Eric: My 89-year-old mom is a button-wearing, T-shirt slogan, lifelong Democrat. She is also afraid of confrontation. My younger sister's husband, who leans Republican, forwards my mother texts from Fox News and people on X making fun of Democrats. Sometimes she's so upset she can't sleep because what he forwards may seem funny to him, but ...Read more

Dear Eric: My adult nephew and his girlfriend recently had a child. They are both in their mid-30s and neither has gainful employment. My nephew has also struggled with mental health issues. His mother passed away several years ago, so his remaining family system consists of grandparents, aunts and uncles.

I am trying to reconcile my feelings ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am the grandparent of a now 24-year-old grandchild. Starting in high school and continuing through college he was not fully engaged – he did not turn in homework, missed classes. In steps "helicopter grandma" (a high school counselor and former teacher) who is unable to accept this.

What followed is eight long years of torment on...Read more