ArcaMax

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

Dear Eric: My 26-year-old grandson has never held a job. Three years ago, he earned a master’s degree. Despite his achievement, he engages in all-night computer gaming, sleeps during the day and lacks motivation to seek employment.

His father is out of the picture, and his mother, my daughter, maintains him in every way. She loves him and ...Read more

Dear Eric: We play music with a group of friends on a regular basis. It is an informal, open group in a public space and generally everyone is welcome to join us and play along at whatever skill level they have.

However, there is one woman who comes along with her husband, who is a good player, but she has no skill at all, and her playing is ...Read more

Dear Eric: I'm an African American man in my late 60s. Nobody would call me the most religious guy on the planet, but the center aisle in the church would not open up and swallow me if I walked in.

I have a white friend, proud of his Jewish heritage, who I have known since we were kids. He spends as much time in the synagogue as I spend in the ...Read more

Dear Eric: For the past several years, our family has celebrated the new year with another family at a very specific location on the Jersey Shore. It’s been a lovely yearly tradition.

This year, for whatever reason, we did not book the hotel. There was no mention of the trip all year, with us assuming it was not happening.

Then, a couple of ...Read more

Dear Eric: During our morning walks, my husband and I became acquainted with “Ron”, a homeless man who always sits on the same bench and always has a cheery hello. During the holiday season, we decided to gift him a box of homemade cookies and a Christmas card with $200 in cash slipped inside. I’ve imagined him treating himself to a decent...Read more

Dear Eric: My sister's daughter is getting married in the fall. My 20-year-old daughter has not been invited because it is “adults only.” This upsets both of us because she is close to her cousin.

When I asked if she could attend the wedding ceremony, I was told that I wasn't even invited to the wedding ceremony because it was immediate ...Read more