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I’d love some of your wisdom and that of your generous and intelligent readers. I am remembering your post about how your 40s are a time when life gets real — friends get divorced, children or spouses die, parents die or get old, etc., and I am learning that is true. I’m also thinking about your post from a few years ago about showing up, which really impacted me and I’ve done a much better job about showing up for my friends since reading that, but I want to be even better. Specifically, I’d like advice on how to support friends who are dealing with difficult challenges that often come with this…

I’m 50-year-old man who likes being single and free. I don’t really want to get married. I don’t want to live with a woman. It’s too much of a compromise now and I’m very set in my ways. I live alone and I like my own space. If I get lonely, I can just ring someone. If I want a date, I can use Tinder. If I want sex, I can visit a prostitute (if unsuccessful on Tinder). And this is uncomplicated for me. I have my interests and hobbies. I’ve been told I’m good looking for my age. I’m employed, financially stable, fit and healthy. I’m close with my parents. I…

I am a 57-year-old man and my significant other is a 54-year-old woman, “Linda”. We have a good relationship, I do love her, and she’s a good person who has been good to and for me despite some reservations I have about the way she entered my life. I was a drunken pothead when we met. Now I very seldom drink, but I still smoke my pot. Pot makes life a little easier for someone who is bipolar. Now for the kicker to this whole relationship. Her son, “Luke,” and his lady, “Maria,” have been together for six years and have a 5-year-old son together. Somewhere in their relationship, before their son…

About a year ago my husband, through text, said he would do a favor for my sister if she did one in return. Then he texted her and said his deed was done so it was her turn to hold up her end of the bargain. I confronted him and asked what exactly his deed was and what she was supposed to do in return. Apparently, he said he would set her ex up with someone and in return she would send him a picture of her boobs. My sister says she would never send a pic of her boobs and yet there are texts from her to him saying, “Why would…

I am recently engaged and feeling frustrated with my fiancé lately. He has a tendency to become less attentive at times, and we are in the middle of this cycle right now. It seems like we have less and less time for each other, and quality time is so important to me. For the first time in a month, we went on a date tonight. While we were waiting for our table, we started having this great talk about where we wanted to go on our honeymoon. Then he got a text from his dad asking how to buy movie tickets online, and he said he had to go make a call….