“I Feel Guilty Moving Out and Leaving My Ill Mother Alone”

My boyfriend of seven years and I have decided to move in together as a next step to marriage. I feel ready for this step, but my mother, whom I currently live with and help care for and I have a tense relationship with, is against living together before marriage. I had a hard time telling her, she reacted angrily as I expected, but later apologized and has been acting extra nice to me. However, she’s been making snide comments about it here and there, such as, when I tell her I’m going shopping for my new home, she says I’m playing house and it’s the wrong path. I have a hard…

“My Husband Flirts Too Much With Our Neighbor”

My husband is 80 years old and very interested in the beautiful and flirtatious 48-year-old lady next door. When we met this lady, I knew immediately he’d be very attracted to her. It’s a habit. (He’s been diagnosed as a narcissist, by the way). We recently moved from Florida back to the Midwest and away from two ladies whom he spent as much time with as possible. Although he was friends with their husbands, he clearly was embarrassingly attentive to these ladies, even visiting one or the other while the husbands were out of the state on fishing trips, etc. All three guys are friends. I’m proud that I have a husband…

“My Sister-in-Law Wants to Crash in our DC Apartment for the Inauguration”

My husband has a brother who is two years younger than he whom he’s always been close to. His brother has been with his wife since high school, and my husband, and many others in his family, have had a difficult relationship with her. My husband feels that his SIL has always purposely tried to isolate his brother from him to prevent them from being close, and he describes her as being negative, unhappy, and critical of everyone. For many years, though, my husband tried to maintain a friendly relationship with her so that he could maintain a relationship with his brother and niece (now 8 years old). Two years ago, my…

“My Boyfriend Won’t Let Me Spend Holidays With His Kids”

I’m 53 and my boyfriend is 58. We’re “engaged,” and I use quotations because it’s not publicly announced or acknowledged, all to protect his 17-year-old daughter. She probably knows, but “Carl” makes sure that, since the divorce nearly three years ago, their time together is void of any mention of my existence. Carl and I have been together five and a half years, and, unfortunately, his daughter knew about us before he was divorced. I’ve met his 36-year-old son and his wife, and I just helped welcome the first grandchild at the hospital along with other family members and friends. I’ve spoken to one of his other grown sons (age 24) on…

“How Can I Ask My Parents If My Boyfriend Can Move In?”

When I was 21, I met a man and entered a long-distance relationship in secret as my parents, who are super religious, wouldn’t approve. Then I got an apartment with him, moved all my stuff to that apartment two and a half hours away and introduced him to my parents with a: “Sooo, this is a guy I’ve been dating for six months…and, by the way, I’m moving in with him.” We eventually got married and had a kid, and then he left me for someone else (the whole relationship was five years in duration). When he left, I moved back in with my parents — we had repaired and rebuilt a…

“My Father Voted For Trump And I Don’t Know How to Reconcile This”

I am a woman, and I feel so betrayed that my father voted for someone who clearly sees me as “less than” — someone who thinks women are there to grab and touch and lord over without consequences. It feels like, on some level, he has to be able to accept that behavior to have voted for him. It’s a betrayal to me, to my non-white boyfriend whose parents are immigrants, to my friends of color, to my LGBTQ friends, to my women friends, and to my mother. He’s spent time with all of these friends and likes them, but he was still okay voting against their civil rights and safety. He…

“He Didn’t Come With Me To My Abortion”

I just had an abortion and my boyfriend didn’t come with me. I begged him to come, and he said he would be there, but he didn’t show up. He chose to hang out with his friends instead of coming and supporting me. When I first found out I was pregnant, he expressed very deeply that he wasn’t ready to be the father. He also made comments saying he didn’t want me to have his child. He called me three times after the abortion to tell me he cares. When I asked him why he didn’t come, he said he didn’t want to see haunting images of the baby or see me…

“He Wants to be Buried Next to His Ex-Wife”

I have been with my boyfriend for six years, and for the last year we have lived together. He divorced his ex-wife sixteen years ago after she cheated on him. He helps out his ex a lot, and I understand that. But his two kids are now 19 and 18, and, to this date, I am not allowed to go to any of their events — birthday dinners, graduations, even most football games — although I did go to two games his son played in only because they were out of state and his ex-wife couldn’t make it to either. His children do not want me at their events; they only want…

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