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Growing up, my mom and older brother always had a strange connection. He had some health issues when he was younger, which led to her coddling him throughout life. I used to be pretty resentful of this, but it doesn’t bother me much any more. (I’m in my early thirties and have two toddlers. I don’t have much time to mope about childhood favoritism!). Unfortunately, my brother and I have very little in common. He’s extremely bitter and negative. He’s nearing forty and is unmarried with a dead-end career. I limit the time I allow him to spend around my children because he is incredibly vulgar. He often talks about graphic sex…

I am dating a girl, “Theresa,” who is 35 and I am 45 (I look a lot younger), Neither of us has ever been married. We have been together for seven months and things are serious. She is going to Vegas for a bachelorette party with her sister (31) who is completely narcissistic and influential on Theresa. There will be four of them, including Theresa’s best friend, who is very, very tight and married. Theresa went to a sex shop in the Manhattan last week to bring things to Vegas and, I am not embellishing — I swear she got condoms. Over the last few months I have heard talk of male…

Your relationship with Drew seems lovely. How did you know for sure he was the person you wanted to marry/spend your life with/share your love with? Please don’t say ‘I just knew’! I know in some ways this question is ‘over done,’ but maybe you have an interesting perspective! And even if you did absolutely ‘just know,’ what would you recommend for people who are inevitably natural doubters/analyzers — people who may deep down ‘just know’ but who inevitably question the ‘just knowing’? I suppose I’m interested in your personal experience, rather than a generalized one, because I think generalized explanations of ‘How to know he is Mr. Right’ can be a…

My boyfriend and I have been dating since February, and I just found out on Twitter that he is having a baby girl due in October. When I first found out I was so angry and didn’t know what to do. When I asked him about it, he lied but later that day told me the truth. He said he didn’t know how to tell me and he thought that it would hurt me — and it did, dearly. I decided to stay with him, and now I’m thinking that’s a terrible decision. I can’t accept the baby. But I love him so much, and he tells me he loves me too….

I’m middle-aged, with four teenage kids. Two years ago when my husband and I got separated, I fell in love with a guy seven years my junior, also newly separated. We had a wonderful, touching year of bridging gaps, supporting each other through the trauma of failed marriages, and rediscovering fun and intimacy. I travel a lot for work, like to exercise regularly, and also like time with myself and sometimes alone with girlfriends. My kids, of course, take a lot of time, too. His only child is 22 and busy (although she lives with him), he doesn’t travel, and, although he does have friends, he doesn’t seem to crave long evenings…

In a feature I call “Your Turn,” in which you, the readers, get to answer the question, I’m presenting the following letter without commentary from me: This guy, “Jake,” and I have been together for 3 1/2 years now. During this time he has told me that he wasn’t in love with me but he does love me and really does care for me (he has broken up with me three times and then taken it back). For the past four months we have been trying to be just friends, but the other day he told me that he was in love with me again and that he doesn’t want to lose…