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“I’m getting married in April and having a kid-free wedding. My fiancé’s sister has suggested that she and her husband will be unable to attend because of this…”

“My partner, Rob, and I each have children from our previous marriages (he has three and I have one). We have been together less than two years now…”

I work in a small office of about fourteen people and for the most part everyone gets along quite well. “Rachel”, however, is causing everyone a lot of stress due to her overbearing communication style. First, Rachel is a loud talker. If she is speaking, especially in our small break room, no one else can. Literally, you can’t hear anyone else speak. She’s also a “one-upper.” Any problem you manage to bring up, she’s had it way worse. (Or, failing that, she has a distant relative who’s had it way worse.) She’s the type of person who asks about your weekend only because she wants to tell you about hers. Additionally, she…

“My boyfriend and I have been together for nearly five years and are in our late twenties. He recently told me that my past negativity made him fall out of love with me.”

My boyfriend and I met at a birthday party a little over a year ago. We lived in different states and at first just kept in contact. We went on vacation together a few times and did the long-distance thing. Then he asked me to move to his hometown this past July. I had just finished college and he had a growing business and a more steady life, so it made more sense for me to move to him. He lives in a very small town where everyone knows him. Only after moving here did I quickly realize how much his ex-wife is around. My boyfriend’s ex is everywhere. Granted, they were…

I’m the youngest of three girls, and the oldest, who has three kids and recently moved back to our town, stresses me out. Now that she’s back, we have begun to see more of her daily struggles. Her two older children are in elementary school and her youngest is one. She gets so frustrated with them and doesn’t seem to enjoy motherhood, yet she works hard to make her life appear perfect on Facebook. She just texted us (my other sister, who also has kids, and me) that she is upset that the kids are out of school again for a snow day. Her husband works from home, and it appears that…

“I have been with my boyfriend for a year and a half now. I would like to outline the pros and cons of the relationship.”

I recently made friends with someone who keeps talking about her postpartum depression every time we meet. She always seems stressed out, she talks a lot, and it’s hard to get a word in when she starts talking. She has two kids (one toddler and a 5 year-old) and has a good career. The kids seem ok, though I know the older one gets spanked from time to time if he misbehaves. She has shared that one of the reasons for her depression in the past was a negligent partner and that she was hospitalized once after her second one was born. I don’t know how to deal with this situation since…