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“Four years ago, when my father lost his job and ran out of savings, we rented him a small apartment in the area and paid all of his expenses…”

I might be meeting my mother-in-law for the first time over the holidays and I’m wondering how best to handle our first encounter. My husband of three years (5 years together) is an only child and he currently has no contact with either of his biological parents. His father walked out on the family when he was a baby, but his estrangement from his mother is more recent, although it pre-dates our relationship. She is a drug addict who refuses to get help and who drained my husband of money and assets. She also fraudulently used his SSN and ruined his credit for some time, although he has been able to straighten…

“I have a small 5-year-old dog whom I’ve raised from a puppy. My boyfriend gets jealous of her and will comment on how he doesn’t like her or resents her…”

“I met my fiancé over a year ago and we started dating almost right away. When we’d been together seven months, we found out we were pregnant.”

I have been with my now husband for 15 years. When we first met, he didn’t want to get married; I did. So we did. In the last few years we have started our own business that is doing well. For the most part, we’ve been happy – with the usual problems, though – until the last 12-15 months or so. I wrote you earlier about my homeless father and some of the sister stuff I alluded to has reared it’s head again recently. I’ve been worried about it, but trying not to bring it into my home. They can take care of themselves – and have thus far. But it weighs…

“I recently learned that my parents are buying my fiscally-irresponsible sister a house. Unlike me and my husband, my sister refuses to learn how to budget appropriately and spends more than her husband makes each month.”

“He said he’s been through a divorce and knows I have hard times ahead to get through and doesn’t want to try dating me for 12 months…”

“My husband has been invited to a small 40th birthday dinner for his sister. I have not been invited nor has the absence of my invitation been addressed.”

I am a stay-at-home mom. My mother-in-law is our primary babysitter on the rare occasions one is needed. She loves our kids so much and they have a great time with her. On my husband’s side of the family, there is a history of Alzheimer’s. I’ve noticed many times that, unless I write down explicit directions, my MIL usually forgets them. It’s rarely a big deal, and I don’t mind writing things down for her if they are important. The other day, though, I got a little bit of a scare. When I came home, she told me how the baby had loved drinking water from a cup. The cup she held…