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From the forums: I need some much needed advice on what I should do. My husband became a truck driver a little over three and a half years ago. He did not have his CDL when we first started dating. I knew that he wanted to drive for a living, but it was always explained to me that he would drive over the road for a couple of years for experience and then he would pursue something local that would get him home daily. Unfortunately, I feel like I have been manipulated to pursue a relationship with him based on false information. His intentions have been to continue to drive over-the-road even…

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I grew up as an adopted member of a seemingly close family. Fifteen years ago, my mom left my then-17-year-old brother with her ex and moved in with a hermit in the mountains of Tennessee. (I was living in college dorms at the time.) The boyfriend won’t leave his house and won’t permit her to leave either due to his “anxiety.” When his mother was still alive, my mom could leave for short periods of time to go to the grocery store or by paying his other family members to stay with him for a few days every 18 months or so. Unfortunately, his mother died and now my mother won’t come…

I’m a self-employed hairstylist. While I pride myself on being a dedicated listener and keep an open and nonjudgmental mindset with each of my customers, I have one client who always finds ways to make me uncomfortable. She’s an older woman who is very high maintenance and has biweekly appointments. Every week she moves her appointment several times because she travels a lot, which feels like she doesn’t respect my time. She often talks about the conferences she leads about anti-abortion and anti-homosexuality. She has no idea that I’m bisexual and side with pro-choice. This week she said that gay people deserve to feel deep shame. I don’t reply much to these…

My sister, “Rose,” and I are both in our late 30s, but she has always been supported by our parents. I think she suffers from anxiety and possibly mild bi-polar disorder, but to my knowledge she’s never been diagnosed so I don’t know for sure. However, I strongly believe that my parents are hurting her rather than making things better. They have a very co-dependent relationship, which I feel has isolated her from her peers and has contributed to her low self-esteem. I think if they withdrew support or at least strongly encouraged her to seek mental health help, she would be in a much better spot. Rose has always wanted children,…

I’m a mother of a soon-to-be 5-year-old boy. His dad and I are not together, and we haven’t been for a couple years now. When I first gave birth, the relationship between us was pretty rocky. He was still young and not ready to be the consistent dad he needed to be. I then became a single mother months before my son turned 1. Soon after, I met a guy who was well aware of my having a child and my relationship with my child’s father; we talked for a year before making things official. He and my son then formed an amazing bond, and he became the closest thing my son…

I met the man of my dreams – “Erik” – on a solo trip to Alaska. I was from Seattle, he from the Netherlands. We fell in love nearly immediately and were inseparable for the two weeks we were both in Alaska. At first I told myself, “This is just a vacation fling, so get yourself in check. No long term plans or feelings.” Upon returning home, I hoped we could remain in contact and be friends but had no real ideas or hope of it progressing further. Erik pushed for a long-distance relationship and I resisted, reciting all the known challenges. But what really never left me were two feelings: how…