Columns

No, it’s not Friday yet (sorry, it’s just Tuesday), but since I expect many of you will be enjoying a shortened week/long holiday weekend, I thought I’d post Shortcuts a few days early. Plus, I don’t have any letters at the moment I feel inspired to answer (so, if you have a burning/juicy relationship question, send it in!). For every question, I’ll give my advice in just a few sentences because sometimes the answer to a person’s question is so obvious and the need to hear it so great that being as clear and frank as possible is simply the best way to go.   Is it inappropriate for the sister of…

My best friend of 20+ years has also been my roommate for the last 2.5 years. Last summer we met a really hot guy at the pool in our apartment complex. Upon meeting him, my friend had a love-at-first-sight reaction while I was mildly attracted to him at best. Since she was really into him, she asked for his number. From the summer months into the fall she got closer to him by inviting him over to our place for dinner occasionally and hanging out with him outside our place or over at his. I started to get attracted to him and enjoy his company but maintained my distance out of respect…

I am a first-time mom, living in Spain with my Spanish husband in the neighborhood where he grew up. My MIL has been pressuring me to leave my 5-week-old with her so I can go out and do errands or have some alone time. I am exclusively breast-feeding at the moment and, frankly, am not ready to leave the baby with anyone other than his father. She has already said that she will give the baby a pacifier when I am not around and I worry that she might give him a bottle if I am not there, too. It doesn’t give me much confidence in leaving him with her, EVER, but…

It’s time again for Shortcuts. For every question, I’ll give my advice in just a few sentences because sometimes the answer to a person’s question is so obvious and the need to hear it so great that being as clear and frank as possible is simply the best way to go. My girlfriend is completely blinded by her mother. She’s so far up her mom’s ass and she’s the only one who doesn’t know. All of our friends and family see it. Except her. She’s 22 and, instead of taking me, her girlfriend, to her pap smear appointment, she’s taking her mom. Her mom is a very malicious and vindictive person. She…

In the beginning, I absolutely adored my MIL and had no worries about the promise my husband had made (long before I knew him) to always take care of her because she had a stroke several years earlier. Now, my husband has medically retired from the Army and I am a full-time student and mom. When he retired, we found out I was pregnant so we talked about moving in with one of his parents until his VA pay kicked in. I chose for us to move in with his mother not realizing how bad off she was. The very day we got to her house she began accusing us of taking…