ArcaMax

Dear Eric: I’ve been dating my boyfriend for about five years. I recently reconnected with a friend from college who I’ve really missed. After we hung out a few times, I introduced my college friend to my boyfriend at a casual dinner.

Things did not go well.

It turns out they went to middle school together. My boyfriend says that my ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have a typical 15-year-old teenage girl. She is my world and I do everything I can for her, knowing the general cold teenage response I will get. It usually doesn’t bother me.

Recently she has been wanting money for hanging out. There was a contest from my employer to draw a safety picture and win $100. She decided to enter it, ...Read more

Dear Eric: I'm writing about my 64-year-old sister I'll call "Beth."

We are three sisters. Mom passed away nine years ago. Dad is 89, living in another province.

For her own reasons Beth has a hatred toward him. She complains she gets a 45-second call once a week about how he drank and gambled away the money he got from a brother.

I look at ...Read more

Dear Eric: I really cannot tell if I’m the problem at work. I’ve been on a team for the last four years. We mainly focus on one project. Other members of the team have joined or fallen away, but the core group has been largely the same.

At the beginning I had my doubts about some of the people and their work styles. A few members seemed to ...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband and I are the fortunate recipients of our parents' inheritances. We worked hard and lived within our means, so we are secure in our retirement, and this money is not needed but a generous gift.

I would like to use this money for enrichment of my life and my friends’ lives, like picking up the check or paying for vacation...Read more

Dear Eric: I have been a teacher for 19 years. I have seen a lot. As a mandated reporter I have had to make the call to the authorities with some frequency. I have also had other children who had prior abuse and I was always a shoulder to cry on when needed. I have felt intense sadness at times, as when a student’s sibling was murdered. I ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a male, a new female coworker started around Halloween 2025, and I introduced myself on day one. The next week she comes over to my work area and asks me why I am so quiet and then she asks me a lot of personal questions and I answer only a few.

Later, she tells me she is good at stalking people, and she looked me up online. I ...Read more

Dear Eric: A bunch of friends and I usually go on vacation for Labor Day. We’ve been doing it since senior year of high school. We’re now all 29. We rent two beach houses and just hang out. No one brings a girlfriend or anything. It’s just a guys weekend.

The problem is two of the guys have started dating between last year and this year. ...Read more

Dear Eric: This past July we rented a house for our two daughters, their partners and our grandkids to spend time together since they live states away. We live within 15 minutes of this house so we would spend our days doing activities in the mountains and all regroup at the rental house in the evening.

The last couple of days of the vacation ...Read more

Dear Eric: My father died and I held a small memorial service for him. It was traumatic as my dad was not a great guy.

I was confronted at the ceremony by my half-sister, whom I did not recognize as I hadn’t seen her for 43 years.

She came to the funeral to make sure her father was dead and to confront me about her mother (my stepmother).

...Read more

Dear Eric: My spouse of 12 years and I do not fight, argue, or call names; we generally see eye to eye except when it comes to sex drive. We're both respectful but I do admit I have become uncaring over the years of avoidance of the issue and ignorance of how much I've worked to change.

Aside from early into the relationship my spouse will not ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have been in central Florida for more than 26 years, and it has become unbearable to me. There’s the brutal heat; the skin destroying UV-rays of that miserable, scorching, eye-blinding sun; the constant allergy/sinusitis issues that NEVER let up; the smothering humidity. The sun is here all year.

If you dare to venture out for a ...Read more

Dear Eric: My brother and his wife recently cut off contact with my family listing grievances related to what I consider to be unrealistic expectations or perceived injustices (like how quickly someone responds to their message on a group chat vs. someone else's message). They stated they were establishing boundaries for their own well-being.

I...Read more

Dear Eric: About two years ago, I realized that my sister and brother-in-law had burglarized me when I had made a mission trip many years ago. Some years later, I began to discover that various items were missing from my home – medical and estate records, articles of clothing, various photographs, and a portrait of my mother. They all seemed ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have been divorced for 39 years. I am 70 years old. Sporadically I pursue dates through apps. I always end up fed up and then I do not pursue the apps and therefore do not date for a while.

In the last couple years, I have joined the apps again. I know I am an open-minded person. However, recently the men who I have reached out to ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am the youngest of two adult daughters, neither of whom currently speaks to our father. Our parents stayed married for 40 years, with the second half of the marriage full of arguments due to my mother growing as a person and my father remaining committed to not changing and being self-centered and without tact.

Growing up I was the...Read more

Dear Eric: I struggle with a post-surgical medical condition that has required me to be on IV nutrition daily and I have lost a considerable amount of weight. I do enjoy food, but I cannot eat much.

I was happy to attend a cookout and meet folks in my community, but I was overwhelmed by strangers telling me that I needed to eat.

I brought a ...Read more

Dear Eric: My spouse and I are in our early 70s. We live close to our son and daughter-in-law, both in their 40s. They have two children who are now in college.

About two years ago (November 2024) my son cut off all contact with us. Our daughter-in-law and grandchildren are under a gag order not to talk with us or not to have any contact with ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a 34-year-old Black woman in a long-term relationship with a 36-year-old white man. A few years ago, I started sharing videos of us on social media. We’ll do little skits or trend videos, and we have some sponsored content. We’re having a good time.

Recently, his sister, who I like, messaged me some comments about one of our...Read more

Dear Eric: I’m 77 and my friend of nine years is 94. She’s become really rude whenever we dine with others and even when she comes to my home. She loves to go to restaurants, but our one friend brings her young foster daughter, and “Roxy” will correct virtually everything she does. Roxy has described this child of 14 as a “piece of ...Read more