ArcaMax

Dear Eric: Our 30-year-old son moved back in with us two years ago, unemployed and not seriously looking for employment. We insisted that he get a job. While he still goes to work every day, he hates this job and appears to be slipping into depression. He sleeps a lot, barely communicates with us, has almost no social life and shows little ...Read more

Dear Eric: A year ago, I had to have a procedure for a brain tumor. A very scary emotional roller coaster event. My best friend of 42 years, said, “Don’t worry; I will be with you every step of the way.”

When the date and time were finally provided, I told her we have to be at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. Her response was “I can’t go ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am 61 years old and work in a law firm where I have a billable hours requirement. One coworker is a couple years older than I am, and the supervisor and two other employees are close in age (20s/30s).

The older coworker is treated like a princess because she is very assertive and has top seniority in the office. She wears the pants...Read more

Dear Eric: We are four couples, everyone in the group except me has the same birth year. For their 60th 10 years ago, we planned a trip together and had a great time.

My husband and one of the men are cousins. As the years passed, his cousin wanted to remain close and wanted to get together at least once a month. Sometimes one of the other ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have a variety of orthopedic issues, some chronic and some temporary. I use a cane, a walker or a wheelchair when I'm out of the house, depending on how I feel that day, or what sort of activity I'm planning to take part in.

Now that I've reached a certain age, I interact a lot with people who are getting new hips and knees. They ...Read more

Dear Eric: My 87-year-old mother has pancreatic cancer. My husband and I moved out of state to live with her for four months while she went through radiation and enough of the recovery for her to live independently.

Her cancer is back after about a six-month reprieve. The doctors have said she cannot have more treatments due to health and age. ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have a good friend of more than 30 years who has two teenage sons. One son is friendly and welcoming whenever we go to their home or when he comes to ours. Her other teenage son is oftentimes rude and incommunicative.

For example, we recently went to their home, and her son wore his headphones the entire time. He came in, ate, and ...Read more

Dear Eric: After more than a year together, my boyfriend and I are planning to move in together with his brother. Originally, I was planning to move away since I'm graduating college and received some very cool opportunities, but after meeting him I was willing to put my career aspirations on hold in order to see where our relationship would go....Read more

Dear Eric: My mother-in-law and father-in-law won two prizes in a raffle one Christmas. We were shown these prizes. Twelve months later, we traveled 2,500 miles to visit them for Christmas again. On Christmas morning, my husband and I received these raffle prizes for Christmas presents. We don't believe they had forgotten that they had shown us ...Read more

Dear Eric: I am a recently retired woman who is appreciating my morning routine at the gym. I love the group exercise classes. My issue is with one woman who insists on counting very loudly with the instructor, slipping in loud singing with the music and thinking she is entertaining during class.

She does it during every class twice a week. The...Read more

Dear Eric: My girlfriend (30) and I (35) can’t seem to agree about this one thing. She’s friendly with her male neighbor in her apartment building. They don’t go to each other’s apartments, but they’ll say hi in the halls and chat. I don’t like this. I’ve asked her to stop and she won’t. Am I wrong?

– One-woman Man

Dear Man: ...Read more

Dear Eric: Over the past two years, I have buried both of my parents. My place in the world going forward feels uncertain and untethered, but in reflecting on their lives and long, long marriage, I now see that everything we are, we have, and we do – to me – really only matters through the lens of story.

From my earliest memory, I wanted to...Read more

Dear Eric: I have a friend that I generally enjoy spending time with, however she feels the need to constantly put into the conversation how great she is. I call it “Tooting Your Own Horn.” She can be very dramatic in general; I usually just don’t engage with those comments, because giving it air would be validating her grandiose ideas of ...Read more

Dear Eric: I’m 35 years old with a dad who is 67. We talk frequently about business, sports and politics. We talk just by ourselves and as a group with my wife and mother.

The issue is that my dad asks me questions that are simple to look up online. They very often do not relate to the conversation and are silly.

I have brought up my issue ...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband and his ex-wife have 50/50 custody of their 15-year-old son. I despise this child. He is completely useless, rude, disrespectful, selfish, ungrateful and lazy. All he does is stare at his computer screen.

I have carefully planned my entire life schedule around his schedule, to avoid being at the house on the days he is ...Read more

Dear Eric: My husband has two sisters. One sister's adult son and daughter have always been mean to me. It started when the niece and my son by my first marriage dated about five times. She talks negatively about everyone and everything.

He also told me he did not want to cause any family problems, but he also did not want to date her. I told ...Read more

Dear Eric: Our son, who is in college, began losing his hair in high school. It could be genetic, but this does not run in the family. Although he is skinny, he eats terribly. He fills up on junk food, juice and soda. Sometimes he eats nothing.

When he lived at home, I could influence at least some of what he ate, but he always denied there was...Read more

Dear Eric: I was married for several years to a woman who unbeknownst to me cheated. Frankly, we probably shouldn't have been married in the first place. I divorced her.

After a number of months, she called me out of the blue and wanted to come over. She admitted to cheating and said it was over with the married man and asked for forgiveness. ...Read more

Dear Eric: I have been with my husband for almost 35 years. We both had been married and divorced once. But there have been three of us in this marriage: my husband, myself and his mother.

She has always treated me poorly and he always defends her.

She has bullied me over and over again. She fully believes that she is supposed to be everyone's...Read more

Dear Eric: I'm 65 and have been retired for the past two years. To stay active, I went to work as a personal driver for a very wealthy man. I'm salaried, so when he travels (on average one week a month) I still get paid. It's really not about the money; I enjoy the position.

What I don't like is getting the schedule on Friday (for my personal ...Read more