Dear Annie: I have been married to my husband for 10 years, and we've been together for 12 years. I love this guy, but his hygiene is atrocious.

Once a year, I spend a weekend over at my son’s house to babysit my grandkids. They always take a trip for their anniversary so my son asks me in advance. ...

Dear Annie: I have a dear male friend, "Trey," who is in quite a predicament. Some background on him: He suffered a lot of abuse at the hands of his mother when he was a child.

Dear Annie: I am dating this guy who’s married but separated. We’ve been doing this almost three years. I am just not feeling the love from him. Will he ever love me like I need to be loved?

My wife’s brother-in-law, “Mike,” is the family character, always quick with a quip, just a fun-loving guy, seemingly without a care in the world. He has a few flaws, which are mostly tied to his excessive drinking, but they have always been overlooked, because, well, that’s just Mike.

Dear Annie: I just found out tonight that my brother’s second-oldest adult son passed away today.

My mother-in-law is a widow and lives next door to my husband and me. I have never felt like we had privacy, as she would walk over whenever she felt like it and visit without calling first.

Dear Readers: A great many of you wrote in with wonderful suggestions for the father and stressed-out grandma who are having trouble with his ex-wife because she is making visitation with the kids difficult if not impossible.

I’m a man with a very difficult problem. My deceased wife and I separated. I was halfway through a six-month cancer treatment when she left. ...

Dear Annie: I would like your input on how to handle a tricky situation. Many times, I am asked to write a letter of recommendation or make a recommendation for someone seeking a new job or promotion.

My husband is in the high-risk category for catching COVID-19, and we have lost family and friends due to the disease. The issue is that we love seeing our grandchildren, but some people in our families view the pandemic as a “hoax” and are lax about following safety precautions.

My boyfriend follows more than 3,000 people on Instagram. And almost all of them are women. It didn’t bother me when we first started dating, because I figured that now that he had a girlfriend, he’d stop investing so much time in looking at women.

My husband and I are 77 years old. Our lake home has four bedrooms and plenty of space for family visits.

I had two brothers die within a year of each other. One was 53 and the other was 62. They were my only remaining siblings. They resided in Ohio, and I live in Arizona. I had to plan both funerals by myself and clean out and sell whatever I could of their homes and possessions.

Dear Annie: I have a friend who is of Pentecostal faith while I'm of Catholic faith. She monopolizes the conversation on her religion and doesn't allow me to talk. I hate being preached to, and she has nothing else that interests her but reading her Bible and preaching.

My boyfriend and I have been dating for about a year and a half. While maintaining separate homes, we spend the majority of our days and evenings together. I have three children and get along very well with my ex-husband and his girlfriend. My boyfriend has a son, “Tommy.”

I was a high school teacher for nearly 40 years, and, before I landed a full-time public school job, spent a year or two as a substitute.

Dear Annie: My wife and I have just celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary.

Dear Annie: As we live in an electronically connected world, there is a downside that bothers me.

Dear Annie: My adult daughter, who lives in a southern state with a notoriously high incidence of the coronavirus cases, informed us she would be bringing her boyfriend to our home when she visits us at Christmas

Dear Readers: A number of you wrote in with very touching stories about your loved ones and handkerchiefs. I’m printing a few so they bring you some comfort.

Dear Annie: I liked your response to "MYOB" and "Freedom Lover" on the subject of reporting to authorities one's neighbors for allowing their children to play together during COVID-19 times.

I don’t know if you would ever run my attached thoughts, but just writing them down has really helped me. ...

Dear Annie: I work a part-time job with great people who love their jobs. One of our co-workers got married and two of my co-workers and I went to the wedding together.

I met the man of my dreams about two years ago. He showed me what it felt like to be loved by a man for the first time. I was the happiest I had ever been — until about six months ago. I caught him in a hotel with another woman.

My sister, “Nancy,” had COVID-19 back in March and ended up spending three months in the hospital. However, before she became ill, she was evicted because of her youngest son’s drug habit.

I’m having some issues with a friend. We are polar opposites politically, and it is now causing problems. I dislike one side, which happens to be her side — and she dislikes the other, which happens to be mine.

I have been struggling with an issue for a while and need some perspective. My son married a truly wonderful woman, and they now have two sons under the age of 6, whom my husband and I adore.

Dear Annie: I had been living with a widowed man for over a year. After COVID-19 hit, his grown son and his son's then-girlfriend started coming over every weekend. I am talking about arriving on Friday and staying until Sunday. They have an hour-and-a-half drive home, and they leave so he can go to work.

My husband and I have been together almost six years and married for three. ... Anyway, ever since COVID-19 my marriage seems to be going downhill, and I don’t know what to do.

Since you wrote "Ask Me Anything," I'm taking you up on it.

I met this guy, “Bill,” through work. We hit it off. He’d told me he was single. Later, I found out through a mutual colleague that Bill had a girlfriend, “Julie,” a divorced lady with two kids, but he wouldn’t be able to marry her because his family wouldn’t approve their marriage.

I’ve been with “Robby” for three years. I just moved in with him a few weeks ago, and I’ve been discovering some unpleasant surprises while using his computer.

I am 68 years old and have been married to my husband for 44 years, and we have two children and three grandchildren. Our son has the three grandchildren, and he is close to the final decree of divorce from his wife of 13 years.

Dear Annie: My wife and I are a retired elderly couple living in a ranch-style home. Over the last four years, my wife has had some health issues and is limited in what she can do.

Dear Annie: I am a 27-year-old man who needs help. Recently, I met a guy via the internet. We hit it off and have a lot in common. In addition, he lives in the same state that I do. I've seen pictures of him, so I know what he looks like. He even gave me his phone number. I want to call him so we can stay in contact.

Dear Annie: I am a 47-year-old married woman with two teenagers. I have a good marriage, although my husband is a difficult person to live with.

Dear Annie: I have been with this guy off and on for 26 years. We are the best of friends.

My direct manager recently deleted me on the networking website LinkedIn. I have repeatedly asked him, in person and through email, why he deleted me.

I am a single mom with two kids, who are now adults. My husband is also divorced. ...

I’m 52 and have dated “Bob” for six years. We both have grown children. Last week, he said one of his two daughters “didn’t think much of me.” I like and socialize with them at family dinners.

We’re a group of about 10 over-60 high school friends who get together for brunch or dinner annually around Christmastime. “Ronnie” will always make the reservations, send out the details and grab the check. She’ll simply divide for the number and ask everyone for that amount.

Dear Annie: When I was in my 20s, I thought I was in love with a man who strung me along for his own reasons but obviously didn't love me.

Dear Annie: How do you make friends when you are older? I am 60 years old, and I’ve never been a “joiner” or good at making friends.

Dear Annie: You've probably heard this story a hundred times before. One of my daughters is in an abusive marriage.

Our local gym opened back up recently. Only half the machines are in use, to encourage social distancing, and only half the lockers and bathroom stalls are available.

I realize that this is a difficult issue on which to offer advice, but I suspect it might have widespread interest.

My father did everything he could to make my life miserable, and to deprive me of anything and everything. He treated my brother and sisters far differently, ...

I have an absolutely wonderful boyfriend who I have been with for nearly two years. The only issue we have is regarding some of my exes.

Dear Annie: I often go to a large pharmacy to pick up prescriptions. They see hundreds of customers daily, so there is no way the several pharmacists would recognize me.

I grew up with an alcoholic father. It made my childhood and teenage years incredibly difficult. It strained my relationship with my dad throughout my entire life.

My husband and I have been married for 37 years. We were separated for five years and, recently, have started spending time together again, with an interest in reuniting. But we've found that we get along better while he has his apartment and I have my apartment.

Dear Annie: I’m 73 years old and having feelings like a 17-year-old. “Richard” and I were an item in high school. It ended when my mother would no longer let me see him.

Dear Annie: I feel some days I just can’t handle our society and the cruelty of men and women toward other humans or defenseless animals.

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been following the recommendations for protecting ourselves and others from COVID-19 in recent months.

I have been with my husband for 23 years now, married for the last eight. A year ago, I found out that my husband had been communicating with an old high school girlfriend without my knowledge.

Dear Annie: Every year, my sister organizes a family reunion, which is held at a local botanical garden the weekend after Labor Day.

My letter about how to deal with my wife about getting a second dog made it in your column. I never in my wildest dreams ever thought it would!

Dear Annie: I love my wife very much and try to be a good husband. However, my wife has an explosive temper.

What is the protocol when a dear friend repeatedly uses an incorrect word or incorrectly pronounces something when speaking to you?

I have been dating this guy for almost nine months, and we often talk about getting married. Yet, I find myself preoccupied with a small thing ...

Dear Annie: My daughter, “Connie,” left home when she was at 17 to join the army. I was going through a separation, and then divorce, from her father.

Shortly after I was born, my mother and biological father divorced. My mother later married the man who I grew up with and will always call “Dad.”

Dear Annie: For over four years, I was with and engaged to who I believed to be an incredible man. He was smart, funny and hardworking. We had to live in two separate states for work, but I commuted as much as I could and helped with his bills. I learned six weeks ago he has been cheating on me. I told him to go be happy.

We were in the same situation as Divided Family, anticipating an eight-hour drive to New Orleans for a family wedding we really wanted to attend....

My husband and I have been married for eight years. My first marriage ended because my ex was a serial cheater and all-around creep. "Mike" seemed to be the exact opposite. However, shortly after we were married, I found out he was checking out dating sites. I confronted him, and he deleted his accounts.

Dear Annie: About six months ago, a friend confided in me that he had been sexually assaulted a year prior by a blind date. After watching an episode of “ER,” we were talking about sexually transmitted infections, and he mentioned needing to get tested, which brought up the revelation of his assault.

Dear Annie: What advice would you give to a divorced man regarding “moving on”?

One of my elderly relatives is a real sweetheart, but she also is quite a talker.

Dear Annie: I need some advice on what to do about my daily journals. I keep a daily journal and have for many years — including during a time when my husband was an alcoholic. He’s been sober for 27 years. (We are in our late 70s.)

Dear Annie: My 26-year-old daughter is in a serious relationship with a partner 10 years her senior.

My husband and I have been married for 29 years. Three years ago, I discovered that he was having an affair....

Dear Annie: Unfortunately, after years of declining health, my wife's father passed away this year.

Dear Annie: We are fortunate to finally own lake property. We are thrilled! We have worked hard, and still work hard, to afford this luxury.

Dear Annie: I am a widow, 78 years old. I have a daughter who’s been married for 30 years or more, no children.

Dear Annie: I am beside myself. I am tired and frustrated. I married my husband over 17 years ago. He is 11 years older than me. When we married, he had a teenage son. Shortly after we married, his son, in his senior year, decided to go live with his mother on the other side of the world. He would keep in touch with his dad by phone and visit once a year.

Dear Annie: I guess I need to be brought into 2020 on an issue of wedding etiquette. I lived for several years in the Deep South, and it was a common practice to feed your family before attending a wedding, BBQ or other function, especially when you had children.

Dear Annie: I am a female, 67 years old, living alone, no children, and my house is paid for. I live in Virginia.

I’m recently divorced and seeing someone. We talk openly about our divorces and ex-spouses....

Dear Annie: What's the correct etiquette for giving gifts for "reverse order" weddings? I have seen several times where a couple will first have a small civil ceremony to get married without the immediate expense of a formal wedding.

Dear Annie: My husband is in his late 50s and works in road construction. Every time that he is assigned to a job that lasts at least six to eight weeks, he always seems to start trying to pick up a female co-worker, usually in the age range of 25 to 35.

The COVID-19 pandemic broke my relationship. I was with my guy for 14 years, and we live in different towns. ...

Dear Annie: For 25 years, a very close couple would get together with us for a nice meal. We did lots of things including trips and outings. Eighteen months ago, my friend suddenly died.

Dear Annie: I am about to retire. I don’t want to sit around watching TV after retirement, so I’d like to adopt a retired greyhound to keep me company. I had hoped to have him or her certified as my therapy dog.

Would you happen to know a dating site that isn’t crazy expensive and that would allow me to find someone who’s not fake?

I understand what “Unable To Open Up” is saying.

Please help me with a problem I’m having at home.

I am concerned about several of my six siblings. We were brought up very strictly, and we experienced shame if we missed church or sinned.

Dear Annie: I’m an older gent who has been doing weight training for years.

Dear Annie: My concern is my husband of 15 years. After we got married, I caught him looking at porn.

Dear Annie: I am new to your column, so I’m not sure what all you’ve shared with the public about mental illness.

Dear Annie: We have two daughters, ages 30 and 32. They are both educated professionals.

Dear Annie: Why am I in a quandary? Because I have been married most of my adult life, and I feel almost nothing for my partner of 33 years, and I’m sure we are both just going through the motions of the relationship.

Dear Annie: My live-in girlfriend and I, both 58 years old, have a dilemma.

Dear Annie: I am an alcoholic, in recovery for five months now.

Dear Annie: My wife and I have a 20-year-old son, “Joe,” who has “failure to launch” syndrome.

Dear Annie: I lost my wife to cancer two weeks ago after a two-year battle, with surgery and radiation treatments.

My wife’s nephew got married about four years ago.

I have been seeing this guy for about eight months now and don’t know how to explain what the situation is.

Dear Annie: Our 48-year-old daughter decided four years ago to legally change her name and deny us as family.

Dear Annie: When my brother-in-law is sick, he loves to cough: He says he wants to spread his germs around.

Dear Annie: Last year, I lost my dad. He had stage IV cancer, but that’s not what killed him.

Dear Annie: Reading your column on grieving, I was reminded of a quote I read regarding a parent’s grief upon losing a child.

Dear Annie: This is another letter about an alcoholic woman. I believe the people around her are enabling her drinking.

Dear Annie: I am writing in regard to “Concerned Mom,” whose daughter suffers from dumping syndrome

I have been in a relationship with my boyfriend for a year and a half.

Dear Annie: I’m 68; my sister is 66. We live far apart. She prefers talking on the phone. I prefer texting with her.

Dear Annie: My brother recently told me that my sister-in-law (his wife) was anxious about an upcoming family lunch we’d both be at because she thought I was mad at her.

Dear Annie: My boyfriend and I have been together for just over a year and a half.

Dear Annie: I’m having a difficult time accepting my parents for what I perceive as stinginess.

Dear Annie: I play in a ladies senior softball league.

Every Sunday, my family and I go over to my mother’s house for dinner.

My heart went out to the couple in today’s paper — the letter from the woman in her late 20s who is having problems with infertility.

Dear Annie: This has been bothering me for several years. I am 75 years old.

My stepson said many nasty, derogatory, hurtful things about his recently deceased father.

My spouse and I are in our 70s, with numerous health issues. We decided we needed to sell our large home and move to something easier to maintain.

Dear Annie: We live across the street from a married couple — man and woman — who have a 16-month-old girl.

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been married for almost 29 years.

Many of you were touched by the husband “Anonymous,” who wrote a letter about the loss of his wife to the disease of alcoholism.

I want to thank you for your response to the man who wrote to you concerning getting closure with the father who had abused him.

Dear Annie: Recently, during a visit from my 50-year-old son, I was bullied, threatened, taunted and treated cruelly by him.

Dear Annie: I’m 29 and single. I’m proud to have worked my butt off since college and am now seeing the fruits of my labor.

Dear Annie: My very good friend “Pamela” has a son who recently got married. The wedding took place in the middle of September. The bride decided at the beginning of December that she didn’t want to be married. My question is this: Who gets the gifts?

Dear Annie: I am writing about our 23-year-old daughter, who is having trouble with her digestive system.

Every December, my ex-mother-in-law organizes a holiday party for all of the women from her side of the family.

People who complain about giving gifts and not getting one in return should remember an old saying.

Again, it is time to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. He would have been 91 on Jan. 15.

Dear Annie: About a year and a half ago, I met a woman whom I liked very much.

Dear Annie: Our beloved family dog, Dasher, passed away last year.

Dear Annie: I have a problem with my friend “Julie” that I’m not sure how to handle. She’s a really good friend in many ways. She’s always there when I’m going through hard stuff. She’s generous with food and gifts and other thoughtful gestures.

Dear Annie: I am a 32-year-old married man with two children.

Dear Annie: I am in my 60s, as are my brothers and sisters, and we’re all retired.

Dear Annie: I read your column daily and always like your tough love and sensible advice.

Dear Annie: My husband, “Robert,” and I moved back to our hometown several years ago to help with aging parents.

Dear Annie: I’m a little chagrined to admit that we can’t come up with a solution to this situation by ourselves, but we are really stumped.

Dear Annie: I have a 31-year-old son who has always struggled with mental illness issues.

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been married for five years. We are in our early 30s and child-free. We talked about having children before we got married. At the time, we were both very much on the fence.

Dear Annie: Since I was a little girl, I’ve always known I wanted to be a mother.

Dear Annie: New Year’s Day is approaching, and it’s time for new resolutions. I’m ashamed to say that mine will be the same it is every year. My goal is to get into shape. Each year, I start with a few workouts but quickly fall back into my old lazy routine and let my diet slip.

Dear Annie: My wife is an alcoholic.

Dear Annie: My former boyfriend has a wife in the Philippines.

Dear Annie: My husband and I are in our mid-60s and have been married for 45 years.

Dear Annie: I’ve dated my boyfriend for more than 12 years. We got along fine when his grown kids were out of the picture, but now they’re back living with him. His youngest is 21, yet he treats them like infants. The daughters are manipulating and controlling.

I am writing this letter to warn your readers about an alarming trend that I have noticed over the last decade. Namely, parents will attend their kids’ sporting events, but then spend most of the time on their smartphones.

Dear Annie: When I was growing up, my father used to tell my brothers and sisters and me how important it was to set New Year’s resolutions.

Dear Annie: Lots of people need nothing, but everyone wants something.

Dear Annie: I am a clinical social worker and have some training in, and experience with, domestic violence in my work. I think you do a fine job educating and counseling people.

Dear Annie: My son, who was in the U.S. Army for 13 years and became a major, took his own life.

Dear Annie: There is an elderly man who attends daily Mass at my church.

Dear Annie: I lost my wife of 32 years, and two months after, I lost my son. I will never be the same. How can I get through this?

As the parent of a 16-year-old daughter who does a fair amount of babysitting, I wanted to vent about how inconsiderate I find many “parents” in dealing with babysitters.

Dear Annie: I recently retired, and my younger brother is still working in a high-pressure job.

Dear Annie: My wife of more than 31 years recently passed away.

Dear Annie: About two years ago I was pregnant with my firstborn.

Dear Annie: I was a lousy husband.

Dear Annie: One of my cousins lives about two hours away.

Dear Annie: I smoked cigarettes for 18 years and tried to quit many different times.

Dear Annie: Christmas is coming up, and I like to give each of my friends and neighbors a little something.

Dear Annie: It seems as if many people are looking for an alternative to buying things for people for Christmas out of habit.

Dear Annie: Since 2013, my mother has inherited $475,000, which she has cast into a bonfire of casino losses, church donations, failed business investments and undisclosed other ventures.

Dear Annie: With the holidays coming up, and people going here and there for dinner at others’ houses, I would like to know why some people feel they can just sit on their butts after the big meal (or before), while the others, always the same ones, get up and clean up!

Dear Annie: Christmas is around the corner, and my mother has asked me to host Christmas at my house.

Dear Annie: My wife and I are both 86 years old and retired from meaningful careers.

My husband, “Fred,” and I have been married for 58 years.

Dear Annie: I’m in my last year of a pre-university study program and need to choose a university program in a couple of months.

Dear Annie: I used to love the holidays, but now I am dreading them. I have recently been divorced.

Dear Annie: My daughter recently passed from complications of myasthenia gravis.

Dear Annie: It seems impossible for me to mend my relationship with my son. He is 38 and I am 68. Back when he was 22, he came out of the closet and told us he was gay. It took me nearly two years to accept that, and two years of hardly talking. Finally, I accepted it — with a few years of counseling.

Dear Annie: My wife and I feel we are being taken advantage of by our family and friends.

Dear Annie: I am having a problem with my mother-in-law and my husband. She is a control freak who wants to control my husband. His sister died a year ago, and his mother told him she wanted to have a memorial dinner at our house. She never spoke to me about it. In fact, she doesn’t speak to me at all, due to a prior bad experience.

I am writing in response to the letter from “Concerned Care-Daughter,” who said she was approaching caregiver burnout.

Dear Annie: My husband, “Craig,” is an attentive, considerate and truly loving partner. The one quality that causes me to lose sleep is this: He is in his late 70s, yet he enjoys the attention of young women, ranging in age from their 20s to their 60s.

Dear Annie: A close friend’s father died suddenly two months ago, and she’s been distant ever since. We’re relatively young, and this is my first experience having a close friend lose a parent.

Dear Annie: My wife does not work outside the home.

Dear Annie: Our best friend’s son just got married in July. We gave them a generous check as a gift at the beginning of June when we saw the son and his fiancee at dinner. We were not going to be attending the wedding later in the month due to a prior engagement.

Dear Annie: About 65 years ago, my 20-year-old sister, “Pat,” had an affair with a married man that resulted in the birth of my nephew, “Harry.”

Dear Annie: I rarely felt heard by my outgoing husband, who talked for hours with others. We have been married for 54 years.

Dear Readers: I am printing these two letters together to remind anyone who is in an abusive relationship to leave as soon as possible.

Dear Readers: A great many of you wrote in expressing concern for Whiskers and her owner. Your letters bring up a number of insightful points about the correlation between animal abuse and spousal and child abuse.

Dear Annie: My group of girlfriends is planning our annual ski trip for February.

Dear Annie: My husband and I went to dinner with his sister and her husband, who live in another state.

Dear Annie: I always enjoy sharing my baked goods and also my soups with my neighbors. Some will return the favor by making items for me. I never expect them to reciprocate, though I know I always try to reciprocate when people do things for me.

Dear Annie: Both my wife and I are in our 80s, and we like to take walks together.

Dear Annie: I was the one who set off a whole flurry of responses because I wrote that I hated being old, hated the wrinkles and hated the condescension and obligatory solicitousness that people showed to old people just because they were old.

Dear Annie: I’d like to hear from people who were children of a mother with Contamination OCD.

Dear Annie: I’ve been in a relationship for two years now, and I have decided that he really is selfish. I’m 24, and he’s 25. Everyone in my life is fed up with him, including my parents. They tell me how I should be treated, and he’s not doing it.

Dear Annie: My husband is controlling. Everything has to be his way.

Dear Annie: I read your column in the local paper, and I’ve notice that folks always write in to say that they are older and alone or in a new town — “How do I make friends,” etc.

Dear Annie: My so-called “best friend” (she was the maid of honor at my wedding) ghosted me right after my wedding 23 years ago.

Dear Annie: Soldiers still cry 50 years after their experiences with horrendous trauma.

Dear Annie: I have been my mom’s power of attorney and medical proxy since she was deemed incompetent with a dementia diagnosis five years ago.

Dear Annie: Recently, we had new neighbors move in beside us. They are extremely nice people, and we like them very much. However, there is one problem: They drop in unannounced.

Dear Annie: Please remind your readers how important it is to RSVP. My 6-year-old granddaughter was so excited about her birthday party and having her friends come over.

Dear Annie: I would like to use your column as a platform to urge everyone reading to get a flu shot.

Dear Annie: I live in the Midwest. My husband and I have a good friend who dines with us quite often, usually once or twice a week, as well as on holidays.

Dear Annie: I read your column almost every morning, and I’d love to hear your advice on my situation.

Dear Annie: My son was married eight months ago and now lives on the other side of the country.

Dear Annie: When I lost our son to suicide in 2012, there were no words to take away the pain.

Dear Annie: My neighbor has a huge tree growing squarely in the middle of her yard. The tree is so big that a limb crashed down and broke part of a fence I share with another neighbor. I was left with the repair and the cleanup.

Dear Annie: I guess my question is more just about the state of my life. I went to great schools, played college sports, got married to a wonderful woman, and we have four terrific children. We live in a nice house. Yet despite all these outward appearances of success, I don’t feel satisfied.

Dear Annie: I’m a 62-year-old woman. Twelve months ago, at my check up, my doctor recommended that I eliminate animal products from my diet due to high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

Dear Annie: Every day, I see kids in the front passenger seat with their feet on the dashboard.

Dear Annie: I’ve been divorced for a long time. My ex-husband, “Joe,” is living with “Sue.” She is the one who broke us up. I don’t care about that part anymore; she can have him.

Dear Annie: My boyfriend broke up with me pretty suddenly and over the phone right after spring semester ended.

Residing in an assisted living center is what scares me.

Dear Annie: There is a family in our congregation, “Fred” and “Wilma,” who have two kids who are the same age as ours. My wife is friends with Wilma, and the kids all get along well. The problem is Fred. He’s a fat jerk.

Dear Annie: Having been a registered nurse for the past 40 years, I have seen many changes in health care. I believe that nursing is a calling and not just a career. In my initial, youthful bliss, I took great joy in helping people in their hour of need. Patients and families were grateful and appreciative for every little thing that was done for them.

Many of my friends love to get out on the dance floor and dance the night away. I’ve never enjoyed dancing...

Dear Annie: My sister and her husband are both in their mid-80s and live on a farm.

Dear Annie: I’ve had a HUGE sweet tooth all my life. I have also always been very active, and I eat healthy foods. However, I’m nervous that this is not enough to balance my intake of sugary goodies.

Dear Annie: I have worked in the same office for 18 years. For many years, there were five of us in our division: three women and two men. One of the men left for a different job a year ago, and he was replaced by a woman, “Carla,” who is very difficult to work with. In fact, I’m convinced that she is a liar and a troublemaker.

Dear Annie: I consider myself to be a self-aware social media poster. However, there is a family member on Facebook who posts her child care needs at least once a week. She posts the day and time she needs and has said the names of the children who need a sitter. She has three children.

Dear Annie: Finding topics of conversation can often be difficult during long visits. Since “Grinding My Teeth” feels that this may be the last time she and her husband will visit with these in-laws, why not take this opportunity to encourage these people to talk about their lives?

Dear Annie: My husband of 42 years discovered a new way of breathing, and it has made me scared to death. I am afraid that he might die in his sleep.

Dear Annie: My wife left me a little over a year ago.

Dear Annie: I am looking for some help in dealing with my alcoholic, grossly overweight brother-in-law.

Dear Annie: Recently, my girlfriend had a dinner party for six people. One of the guests took it upon herself to bring her dog to the affair. I was livid.

Dear Annie: I cannot tell you how elated I was to read the letter from “Eating and Satisfied.”

Dear Annie: My sister started smoking cigarettes when she was 18 and still smokes today at 48. She has quit several times over the years, but then she goes back to smoking again and again. Her husband and children want her to quit, and my older brother goes ballistic on the subject -- yelling and screaming at her when she goes outside to light up.

My boyfriend, “Joseph,” grew up in a lower-income household in what we would now call a “food desert.”

Dear Annie: I had to respond to the letter, “Sleepless in Los Angeles,” about the 6-year-old who insisted that her parents sleep with her. My husband and I had a similar problem. I was a nurse and worked on the swing shift, which meant I did not get home till 11:30 at night. Dad had to feed our four kids and see that they had their baths and got to bed.

Dear Annie: My stepfather loves to volunteer for community work.

Dear Annie: My mother has been a bad drug addict for most of my life.

Dear Annie: I graduate from college in December (hopefully), and before then I have some important decisions to make about my future.

Dear Annie: My boss considers me a friend.

Dear Annie: I’m about to be a sophomore in college, and I am on summer break. I have not really talked to any of my friends from college since we have all been busy with internships and traveling.

Dear Annie: I’m a 30-year-old male in my first year of marriage to a charming, beautiful woman, “Sonny.” I am madly in love with this woman, and she says the same to me. This is a second marriage for both of us. Unfortunately, I’m finding out that she has lied to me about a number of things, and my love for her is being weakened by these revelations.

Dear Annie: I’m often frustrated when people say that family always comes first.

Dear Annie: After more than 40 years addicted to meth, and being an alcoholic, I have been clean and sober for two years now and I am nothing like the old me.

Dear Annie: I have a 40-year-old son who seems to think I am his personal piggy bank.

Dear Annie: I am 68 years of age and actually very lonely. Most of my friends have either moved on or passed away. I don’t make close friends very often because I don’t trust too many people. I guess I expect a lot.

Dear Annie: I’m heading to college next year and am scared of making new friends.

Dear Annie: Your recent letter from, “Grieving My Childhood,” reminded me of a very old German song, written by a renowned clergyman, that begins with the line, “Der Mond ist aufgegangen.”

Dear Annie: We have a son and daughter-in-law who live in Wisconsin, while we live more than 1,200 miles away in Florida.

Dear Annie: I want to change my career path to pursue what I really want to do in life. I have two kids, a 2-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter.

Dear Annie: My family moved from Shanghai four years ago and have settled in a lovely home in California.

Dear Annie: I have been with my boyfriend for six years.

Dear Annie: Several years ago, after my late husband passed away, I reconnected with an old friend whom I’d dated in high school.

Dear Annie: I met a great gal. We seem really good together most of the time, but here’s the rub. She has a dog.

Dear Annie: I have a problem I’ve been struggling with for quite some time. I am in my late 40s and have been married for over half my life. For the past five years or so, I have been dealing with the idea that I may be gay. I have always kind of felt that I could be, but I went the traditional route and married a man.

Dear Annie: Recently, I stayed with my niece and nephew while my brother and his wife took a trip. This seems like a trivial problem, but I know it can lead to serious health issues in the long run. Neither of my brother’s teenaged kids brushed their teeth regularly.

Dear Annie: I have a problem that many other mothers-in-law may have, but mine has a twist.

Dear Annie: Recently, I was contacted by a person who had just received results from a popular online DNA test, which I had also taken some time ago.

Dear Annie: Frequently, we read letters from your readers who are mystified about the fact that when they send a card or a package carefully wrapped and mailed, the recipient does not even think about the fact that love played a major role in this.

Dear Annie: I am part of a cooking club that meets the second Tuesday of each month. Each member buys food and we cook a recipe chosen by the host. There are 15 members. Each has to host once every 15 months. We are all females in our 50s or 60s.

Dear Annie: The problem is not with our son, but his wife.

Dear Annie: I live out in the country and have found a consistently wonderful kennel for my dog.

Dear Annie: Recently, I got married after being single and a widow for 23 years. My husband and I are in our late 70s and very active. We went on a tour to the Midwest. There was a very attractive 70-plus woman with whom I noticed my husband flirting, and she with him. I mentioned that I did not appreciate the attention he was throwing her way, and he assured me it was all in fun.

Dear Annie: We are grandparents who have adopted our twin 9-year-old grandchildren, a boy and a girl. They have lived with us permanently since they were 2 years old. They have separate bedrooms upstairs but have always slept together.

Dear Annie: My wife and I are approaching 50 years of marriage.

Dear Annie: My boyfriend and I are coming up on our sixth anniversary.

Dear Annie: I live in a large apartment building in a very safe part of town. It’s an older building, and all of the mail for the complex is in one room. Large packages are placed by the mailbox in that room rather than brought up the four flights of stairs.

Dear Annie: My friend has been dating the same guy for about a year, and I have always gotten along with him just fine.

Dear Annie: I’m getting sick of my living situation. After college, I moved in with a very close family friend. He has an awesome house right by the beach and was kind enough to offer me his spare bedroom for very cheap rent while I’m still looking for a full-time job.

Dear Annie: I’m a grandmother to five children. My son Brian and his wife, Amanda, have a 3-year-old and a 6-month-old together.

Dear Annie: I had a falling out with my elder brother. It happened when the whole family had gotten together for Thanksgiving dinner.

Dear Annie: My wife is nuts.

Dear Annie: I’m writing because I hope the person this will help most will read it.

Dear Annie: I am a divorced male in my early 50s.

Dear Annie: I have a friend who has experienced a difficult life, including abuse, cancer and loss.

Dear Annie: I’m a 70-year-old man happy to still be working and productive. I work with a great crew of seven other people, but I don’t know how to handle this particular situation.

Dear Annie: My son is 7 years old and is attending a soccer camp this summer. He is an average player and loves the game, and he has made friends at the camp. The problem is that one of the boys is a bully, and he targets my son all the time, calling him “a bad player” and kicking the soccer ball right in his face.

Dear Annie: I work in a big city. After work, I enjoy going to the local bar. I’ve been doing this for three years, and everything was fine -- with occasional problems -- until the past few months. Now it is what I seem to be living for.

Dear Annie: I finally realized that I cannot change people or their behaviors. I can only change mine. Now, how I react? I am working on that.

Dear Annie: I have been dating my boyfriend for two years now.

Dear Annie: I am writing because I’m seeking your help about my relationship with my 30-year-old granddaughter, “Nadia.”

Dear Annie: My husband constantly lies by omission of details of what he has done.

Dear Annie: I’m freshly moved out of my parents’ house.

Dear Annie: I am a grandmother who is seeking your advice about my married granddaughter. Her father is my son. Her parents divorced when the children were quite small. My son was awarded custody of my granddaughter and her brother. We did our best to provide help to our son and the children. The mother has a drug addiction. We provided monetarily, we babysat, took them food and did other similar things to help out.

Dear Annie: My husband and I are very close. We have been married for 27 years and agree on most things and share many common interests. There is only one issue where we differ, and I’d like to hear suggestions for how I can help him to change, so he will join me in my daily walks.

Dear Annie: My mother very sadly passed away in January from cancer.

Dear Annie: My older brother is disabled. He was quite functional after he first had a stroke, but did not take care of himself.

Dear Annie: I will be moving soon — several states away — and I’m torn about the state of my relationship. I’ve been with my significant other for five years. That’s not something I can easily let go of. But we have been growing apart for some time now, and we’ve discussed that we both feel we’ll break up eventually.

Dear Annie: Am I the only one who feels that life is too complicated these days and that I feel absolutely powerless when it comes to calling a big company to get service? I am old enough to remember the days when we bought a television, put it in the car, drove home, plugged it in, played with the “rabbit ears” for a minute and then were able to watch TV.

Dear Annie: I’m getting married in a few months, and I’m paying for everything myself.

Dear Annie: I will turn 65 this year and can’t help but look back on my life. For the most part, until recently at least, I was feeling very satisfied. I was married right out of college, at 22, to the wrong person, and we split up after 10 months. She has since been married four times. But I found the ideal person for me, and we were married when I turned 30 and have been together — happily — ever since.

Dear Annie: I have discovered something that your readers might find helpful, and if you agree, I hope that you will print my letter. For the past 20 years, I have wanted to lose the same 10 pounds. In fact, I have lost them dozens of times and then regained them after going off whatever diet I tried. And I have tried them all!

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been married for 1½ years, though we started going out more than three years ago.

Dear Annie: I find that I have a real problem with aging. When a flight attendant nicely says, “This way, young lady,” I want to punch him.

I just read the letter from “Missing My Son” and felt compelled to write a response. I, too, was in a bad marriage for 17 years. ...

Dear Annie: This is to the woman whose 81-year-old mother was about to be scammed out of $10,000. I would suggest that you get your mother’s bank involved.

Dear Annie: My in-laws who live across the country have basically tricked us into agreeing to host them for almost a month.

Dear Annie: I’ve been going through a lot lately, and it’s taken an emotional toll. Among other things, I’m in love with someone I can’t have.

Dear Annie: I have a message I hope you will please share. The last several years have seen numerous natural disasters. The human toll has been great, but there are thousands of other victims that have no voice. Pets, especially cats, are left behind. I encourage all pet owners to have a disaster plan for their pets.

Dear Annie: I have some co-workers who irritate me.

Dear Annie: I have a friend who I have known for many years, and suddenly I have noticed that she is getting possessive with me.

Dear Annie: I used to drink coffee only now and then, just for enjoyment. But since my job has become more intense and stressful, I’ve found myself needing at least a cup a day to keep me alert and functioning at full capacity.

Dear Readers: A recent column talked about someone being grossed out when entering a bathroom stall because the previous occupant failed to flush.

Dear Annie: I endured a very traumatic childhood. I was verbally abused. I was physically abused. I was sexually abused and raped.

My grandfather was violently abusive to his wife, and then his daughter (my mother), and then to me. He was also very racist — he punished me for having a black friend in grade school — and just generally cruel.

Dear Annie: As much as I hate to admit it, I think about divorce practically every day. Divorce, however, isn’t something I want.

Dear Annie: I hope this is not out of your area, but I have a parking-related question for you.

Dear Annie: A few years ago, I joined a duplicate bridge group in town and got paired with an older man who had just broken up with his partner.

Dear Annie: I wanted to send you my observation about your advice and columns: You are outstanding! Your replies are heartfelt, and I feel your compassion.

Dear Annie: I need to vent here. I have a group of girlfriends, and there is one, “Melanie,” who dominates the conversation.

Dear Annie: I’m sitting at Reagan National Airport close to dinnertime.

My son has prosopagnosia, which is a neurological condition characterized by the inability to recognize the faces of familiar people.

Dear Readers: Fathers and father figures deserve more than one day of recognition for all their work and love, and the amount of beautiful words send in reflected this. Below are a few more moving tributes submitted for Father’s Day.

Dear Readers: Below are just a few of the very touching and beautiful tributes you submitted for Fathers Day. It was so nice to read about all of the love, gratitude and humor you expressed about your fathers. Happy Father's Day.

Dear Annie: I have known one of my friends, “Pam,” for more than 50 years, and at times she has been a very good friend.

Dear Annie: I lived with my husband for 50 years. We met spontaneously, and I moved in with him soon afterward.

Dear Annie: My daughter was 14 weeks pregnant when the baby died.

Dear Annie: My 81-year-old mom and I live together.

Dear Annie: My wife and I have three perfect grandchildren, ages 1, 5 and 7. We love watching them at least one day a week.

Dear Annie: When did airplane seats become so small? I hadn’t flown in six years until this past spring, when I booked a flight to attend a family wedding. I reserved a window seat so that I could relax in comfort. But the experience was anything but comfortable.

My youngest is set to move out of the family home in the next month or two.

Dear Annie: My office mates and I enjoy a good prank as a way of keeping things light.

Dear Annie: Growing up, my siblings and I would make fun of my mom’s snoring all the time. To be fair, the noise seemingly could wake the dead; she sounded like she was sawing logs every night. Her snoring became one of our favorite family jokes, and to this day it’s brought up on a pretty regular basis.

Dear Annie: I’m a mother to five beautiful children.

Dear Annie: I lived in a bad marriage for more than 25 years.

Dear Annie: I want to take a cross-country road trip — just me, myself and the highway.

Dear Readers: Though I do my best to keep my personal life out of this column, I’m writing today about something that has deeply impacted me. A person very close to me was recently diagnosed with stage IV esophageal cancer.

I was overwhelmed by the love and empathy that many of you expressed for “Just Existing,” the man who was hoping to fade away from life.

My husband and I bought a house in a safe neighborhood 12 years ago primarily because it has a great school district. We have two children, a boy and a girl, and I am writing about our oldest child...

Dear Annie: Our daughter, “Jenny,” is graduating from college in a few weeks, and my husband and I are very proud. We were unable to afford college, but once we had a child, we knew how important it was for her to go. My husband has worked in a factory his whole life and two years ago became a supervisor.

Dear Annie: I was brought up to say, “Excuse me,” when someone was in the way and I needed to pass. I have noticed when I say this to younger people they reply, “Oh, you’re fine,” and don’t move.

My boyfriend and I have been dating for almost five years now. He says that he wants to get married soon; however, he is almost 30 and we still don’t live together.

Dear Annie: I am a waiter in a restaurant and enjoy my job. I am 34 years old and struggled to find work that I like before I found this job. I really love being a waiter. The customers are mostly friendly, the food is good, and I try to make eating at our restaurant an enjoyable experience for all diners.

Dear Annie: I have three grandchildren from my stepdaughter who live in another city. Their mom has said that she plans to come and visit with the kids this summer. One of the children has a lot of mental health issues.

Dear Annie: Our dear grandson is 5. He’s bright, energetic, kind and wonderful.

Dear Annie: Over the summer, my sister was raped. She chose not to report it.

Dear Readers: We were overwhelmed with letters about the college admissions scandal, and this is a continuation of yesterday’s column, filled with questions, criticism and praise from my many talented and brilliant readers.

Dear Readers: Many of you have strong opinions about the college admissions scandal, and because there were so many thoughtful replies, I am devoting a few columns to reprinting some of the feedback to my proposed solution of fining the parents to pay for scholarships:

Dear Annie. I have a 6-year-old daughter who won’t go to sleep on her own. She has an innate fear of staying alone in her room.

Dear Annie: I have chronic back pain thanks to sciatica. I chose to treat it with physical therapy and exercise, and I take muscle relaxers and or anti-inflammatory drugs when the pain really flares up.

Dear Annie: My husband and I moved to another state following our retirements a few years ago. We moved to a resort town six hours away from my brother “Billy” and his wife, “Patty.”

Dear Annie: I’m having a hard time trying to keep in touch with my boarding school friends.

Dear Annie: I am in my 80s and recently lost my beloved sister-in-law, who was 90.

Dear Annie: I’ve been in this relationship for five years now, and my boyfriend, “Steve,” still puts his adult daughter, “June,” before me.

Dear Annie: I’ve been with my significant other for five years.

Dear Annie: My husband and I have very different television interests.

I’ve been working as professional for more than 10 years, and I’m arriving at the point in my career where I’m now responsible for spending more time meeting with clients.

We plan on having our daughter write out a thank-you card to those who give her a gift and help celebrate her big day.

Dear Annie: Over the years, I’ve read a number of beautiful Mother’s Day poems and notes in Ann Landers’ column.

Dear Annie: I am an older gay man. The bullying started when I was young.

Dear Annie: I’m caught in a cycle of being too busy, tired and stressed out to ask my family for help with household chores.

Dear Annie: I am in a relationship with a 71-year-old woman.

Dear Annie: Your recent column signed by “Blamed for Bedlam” struck a chord with me, and I’d like to share my story.

Dear Annie: I’ve been married for 32 years, but my wife and I have never made a great pair.

Dear Annie: Recently, I met “Todd” through a friend of a friend. I went back to school to study graphic design a couple years ago and will be graduating this fall.

Dear Annie: I’ve been working at the same company for the last 10 years.

Dear Annie: I just turned 39 and am freaking out about my next birthday, when I will go from being a young person to a middle-aged person.

We raised our children in church, and then lost our religion. There were so many reasons for that, but there’s no going back to any church in the future.

Dear Annie: My boyfriend and I have been together for seven years.

Dear Annie: I had my 14th birthday two weeks before I gave birth to my son. The hardest thing I have ever done was to sign the paper for him to be adopted.

Dear Annie: My friend Jess and I recently moved into a three-bedroom apartment together.

Dear Annie: My boyfriend’s mother was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It’s been really hard on him and his family. I’ve been trying to be there for him as best I can, but it seems like I’m always saying the wrong thing.

Why do some people stand in your way — in restaurant waiting areas, on sidewalks, etc. — and refuse to move? When they’re blocking you, what is the correct way to get past them?

My wife and I have a perpetual disagreement with each other about cleaning. I tend to be neat and organized. My wife tends to be messy and disorganized....

I am in my 70s, have been married for 42 years and have three grown children. I found out two years ago that I had a child with a woman I had dated 10 years before I met my wife.

Dear Annie: Every summer for the past 15 years, my mother has insisted on driving 1,500 miles to spend 10 days with me. We have had some really fun visits, but now she is 88 years old and just had heart surgery. She frequently falls despite using a walker.

I’m in a really bittersweet situation. I hit it off with a friend who happens to live quite far away....

Dear Annie: My co-worker, “Jane,” is the front-desk person and has a bird’s-eye view to everything.

Dear Annie: I am hoping you can help me sort this out. I am an avid animal lover, and I have had animals all my life. I am now on the brink of turning 65 and have no pets.

My problem is that my friends are highly critical of everything I try on, but not of each other.

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day always present a dilemma for my family, and I was hoping you and your readers could offer some advice.

My three siblings and I are in a terrible situation right now over our 88-year-old mother.

My husband has a friend, “Ralph,” who is half his age and was recently married. Ralph’s wife, “Katherine,” is always texting my husband, and not me, to make plans to go out to eat.

Dear Annie: My best friend and I agree on almost everything, but something has come up that has caused us to argue, and we decided to turn to you for advice. We both have children who are in their first year of high school, and when they graduate they want to go to college.

Dear Annie: I am feeling so conflicted. My niece, “Melanie,” is getting married in June.

Dear Annie: My oldest sister has five grown children. Four live out of town, and one lives with his mother. My sister has never been able to stand up for herself very well.

Dear Annie: I am trying to decide if I should print out the following letter and give it to my wife. What do you think?

Dear Annie: For the past four years, I have taken a yoga class at our local senior center.

Dear Annie: Usually active and energetic, I will be turning 80 in the spring. How I dread that birthday! Once my favorite season, spring now haunts me.

Dear Annie: I enjoy my job, but I’m not satisfied.

Dear Annie: My family is dealing with an aging mother.

It has become quite obvious that our kids’ generation is totally consumed with a certain famous coffee brand. I like to refer to it as “Fancypants Coffee.”

Dear Annie: I recently went no-contact with my father. We had a tumultuous relationship when I was growing up because of his struggle with mental illness.

Dear Annie: I’ve noticed that these days, people say “I love you” almost as a way of saying goodbye to friends or “see you later.”

Dear Annie: I’ve been suffering from various symptoms of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder since I was about 11 years old.

How do you politely handle “the talkers”? There seem to be a lot of them out there.

Dear Annie: Our 28-year-old grandson is marrying his college girlfriend, whom we have known for over seven years.

Dear Annie: My employer is conducting a weight-loss incentive program for the month of April. Whoever loses the most weight gets a $250 gift card.

Dear Annie: I care for my brother-in-law, “Steve,” but both he and his wife, “Tracy,” are a tad egotistical -- your classic know-it-all types, the kind of people most can handle only in small doses.

Dear Annie: I love learning languages. I grew up with immigrant parents who spoke their native language to me, and I studied another language in high school. I’m also a native English speaker. I wouldn’t say I’m trilingual, but I can get by in those two languages I’ve learned aside from English.

I have a 75-year-old uncle who recently retired.

Dear Annie: My husband and I own a second home. Our daughter, her boyfriend and their two small children live in that house and pay us rent.

Dear Annie: My daughter and daughter-in-law had a close relationship and worked together for a social networking business.

Dear Annie: We often invite my brother-in-law to share dinner with us. He lives alone across the street and seems to enjoy the food when he comes over.

Dear Annie: I am a woman in my late 30s marrying the woman of my dreams this fall.

Dear Annie: I’m a happily married almost-70-year-old woman who has been sorting and purging the contents of boxes in my attic in preparation for downsizing.

Dear Annie: As long as I can remember, my parents have controlled the majority of my actions.

She tells me that I help, but I feel lost because even though she’s been sober for months, her anger is still the same.

I received a great deal of helpful feedback for “Heartbroken on Valentine’s Day.” Thank you to everyone who wrote in.

My question is about the fact that they never bring anything, such as a bottle of wine, and they have never invited us out to dinner or to have dinner at their home.

I read your response to “Loving Mother,” whose children bought her gift cards to clothing stores rather than generic, credit card-type gift cards.

Dear Readers: Spring is a beautiful season full of new beginnings. The hibernating animals come out of their slumber to play.

I am an officer in an old but still active community cemetery with graves dating back to at least the 1800s and with plenty of available space.

Dear Annie: My sister “Katy” is 10 years older than I and has never married or had children. She was a devoted and loving auntie to my kids when they were young, but they have grown up and don’t hang with her much anymore.

Dear Annie: You always give thoughtful advice, and I would appreciate your opinion. My husband of 20 years, “Earl,” can be friendly when he wants to be.

Dear Annie: I work in the summer at an art college, with a program for high schoolers who want to take classes for college credit.

Dear Annie: I have four cousins, whom I love a lot. There’s “Piper,” the eldest at 10, with whom I connect on a social and BFF level.

Dear Annie: Is it considered old-fashioned to send an actual thank-you note by mail these days?

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been married for 48 years. We have endured really expensive medical issues over the past several years, and our funds are stretched to the limit.

At my job, I’m the newbie on the team. The others I work with seem to know one another well, and they chat and make jokes in the office all the time.

Dear Annie: Lately, I’ve been reading that people aren’t getting enough vitamin D.

Dear Annie: I work in the service department office at a car dealership.

Dear Annie: My new rescue dog is rather skittish.

Dear Annie: I am a member of a small Midwestern church and in the choir.

Dear Annie: I’m in my 20s, and I just recently had a facial for the first time.

Dear Annie: I saw the advice about tipping a hairdresser and the shampoo person.

Dear Annie: I like doing kind things for people. It makes me feel good.

Dear Annie: Recently, my father-in-law retired. This has made my mother-in-law a different, not-so-kind person. She has always confided in me her worries about many different subjects, and I have always been honest but considerate of her very touchy emotions.

Dear Annie: I was recently on a cross-country flight, and the person in front of me reclined her seat all the way for the entire flight.

Dear Annie: My companion and I recently went to a very popular play that had no intermission. We were sitting in the first row of the balcony seats, and there was a short wooden wall in front of us to keep things from falling over the edge. But the result was that there was no room to move my feet and legs.

Dear Annie: I pride myself on being an empathetic person. I’m known in my friend group and family as a person who “has it together” and is a comforting shoulder to lean on.

Dear Annie: Our beautiful 44-year-old daughter is making plans to be married for the third time.

Dear Annie: I just adopted a dog who’s quite overweight. Right now, he’s about 24 pounds, and the vet wants him to be about 17 to 18 pounds.

Dear Annie: I enjoy my job, but my boss is a bit hit-or-miss. Sometimes he’s very friendly with me, whereas other times, he’s blunt and unforgiving.

Dear Annie: “Jeremy” and I have known each other for a few years and hung out as friends in group settings. Last year, he moved to my neighborhood, and we started occasionally grabbing a drink after work or carpooling to mutual friends’ things together.

Dear Annie: I'm wondering whether you could weigh in on a disagreement my wife and I have.

Dear Annie: For the past few years at our summer holiday party, a family friend has taken to inviting his own guests without my knowledge.

Dear Readers: The letter from a woman who is thinking about walking out on her 40-year marriage struck a chord, and many of you thought my suggestion of marriage counseling was the wrong advice, even though I said that if the counseling proved fruitless, she would know what to do.

Dear Annie: I have a friend, “Sarah,” who openly admits to having obsessive-compulsive disorder but isn’t receiving any kind of treatment for it.

Dear Annie: My husband and I both have adult kids from our prior lives.

Dear Annie: I’m a freshman in high school, and I’m starting to make friends. I’m always trying to be silly with them. I guess I enjoy the validation when they laugh. But I don’t want to be seen as too crazy or immature.

My 25-year-old son, “Andy,” has been dating “Cassie” for a year and a half.

Dear Annie: I know that I am very lucky to have a pair of active in-laws who love their children and grandchildren.

Dear Annie: With Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day coming soon, I would like to make a suggestion to children who send gift cards to their mothers or fathers.

Dear Annie: Can hoarding be cured? If not, I’ve reached the end of my rope.

Dear Annie: Each Valentine’s Day, I am filled with incredible sadness. Two years ago, my husband and I were expecting our first baby girl.

Dear Annie: I’m hoping to adopt a small dog soon, and obviously, my apartment needs to be prepared.

Dear Annie: I have been married for 25 years. My husband grew up in a foreign country and has been drinking alcohol his whole life. He drinks beer the way I drink water.

Dear Annie: I’ve been seeing this woman for about a month.

Dear Annie: I am a 25-year-old woman with an embarrassing problem: I blush easily — like, really easily.

Dear Annie: My husband and I had a wonderful relationship, and he was a great man.

Dear Annie: I’m a 74-year-old single man who has never been in circulation.

Dear Annie: I moved four months ago, and there are still boxes and bags waiting to be unpacked.

Dear Annie: I’m writing to you about something that I’m not sure is a problem.

Dear Annie: I am extremely disappointed and saddened by your advice to “Sad in Wisconsin,” whose son’s family does not acknowledge the gifts “Sad in Wisconsin” gives.

Dear Annie: The subject of intimacy involves almost everyone, especially couples, so I’m writing to you not necessarily for advice but in hopes of finding out whether other women relate at all to my observations and suggestions about intimacy.

Dear Annie: At what point does a child quit trying to have a relationship with her mother? Is it natural for a mother to have to call her firstborn every single time before she calls another child?

Dear Annie: I have been married to the same man for almost 40 years. We have two beautiful children, who have happy lives and their own careers and families.

Dear Annie: A few months back, I mentioned to my husband that I wish the style of men in suits and hats would come back.

Dear Annie: Have things changed since I was dating, which was a long time ago? Does the male still pick up the check, or is the female also paying sometimes?

Dear Annie: I just received an invitation to a wedding that I’ve been told will be lavish.

Dear Annie: My husband of two years was divorced from his ex six years ago. They had no children.

Would you please remind people to call and ask before they donate items to charity, animal shelters, nursing homes and thrift stores?

Dear Annie: I am 75 and in a great relationship with a wonderful man of 83. He is a widower after 57 years of marriage.

Dear Annie: We live in Florida, and my sister and brother-in-law are coming today. They will be here for six months and are expecting us to pick them up from the airport later.

Dear Annie: There is an issue that has been going on for quite some time now, and I don’t know what to do.

Dear Annie: My boyfriend, “Mark,” can be a sore loser, and it’s beginning to ruin game night.

Recently, you published a letter from someone whose good friend was being abused by a girlfriend physically, verbally and financially.

In the past month or so, I’ve noticed that I get headaches when I skip coffee for a day.

Dear Annie: Here I am, 78 years old, heading into another New Year’s resolution. I’m hoping you will let me share my sentiments with your readers.

Dear Annie: I have struggled with weight my entire life. I have been on every diet imaginable.

Dear Annie: The other day, my teenage daughter came to me because her good friend is being bullied on social media.

Dear Annie: I have gotten to the point that I no longer like to go out to eat, especially if it is a restaurant that my wife and I have not gone to before. Here’s why.

Dear Annie: I want people to know that depression can happen to someone even if her life appears wonderful.

Dear Annie: Christmas used to be a time that I enjoyed. I have always enjoyed spending time with siblings and cousins who live in other cities and catching up with them.

I am a soon-to-be divorced man who has suffered a great deal of pain after the collapse of my lengthy marriage.

Dear Annie: I recently went on vacation with my mom, stepdad and siblings. We went to the river where my stepdad has been going for about 30 years.

Dear Annie: My husband, “Bob,” and I have been married for over 30 years.

Dear Annie: I am writing to ask your opinion about the change in my sister’s behavior toward me. I have two sisters, and the one I am speaking of is my elder sister, “Ruth.”

Dear Annie: My brother-in-law “Albert” wants to loudly dominate any conversation by either talking about his life or showing his “great” knowledge and opinions on other subjects.

Dear Annie: I’ve played basketball with an informal team of women for well over 10 years.

Dear Annie: Without trying to sound arrogant, I am smarter than the average bear. Not quite a genius but certainly up there.

Dear Annie: I am a published author and have been struggling to write my next book. I’ve written a handful of adult-oriented fictional books. My most recent published book came out almost five years ago.

ecently, a friend confronted me about something that I didn’t think was a big deal: Sometimes I forget to respond to texts for a while, and then I reply and say that I just saw the message.

Dear Annie: When I was 10, I began asking for a phone. Every kid in my class had one, and I was being left out and bullied because I was the only kid without one.

Dear Annie: I used to write every day — mostly poems but also essays.

Dear Annie: My twin sister and brother-in-law visited me for the recent holiday. I love my sister, and we have always gotten along well.

Dear Annie: Politics took over as the main topic at our holiday dinner.

Dear Annie: I love most dogs and have had pets all my life, but there are times and places in which pets should not accompany their owners.

Dear Annie: I have a good friend who has been like a kid brother to me. He has always been a very thoughtful, caring, respectful man whom I’ve gotten along great with.

Dear Annie: The couple who live in the apartment next to mine are, well, noisy.

Dear Annie: I work as an editor at a publishing company. It has been difficult to find capable proofreaders.

Dear Annie: I am the mother of three boys.

Dear Annie: A friend and I enjoy shopping for clothes together. We always have fun.

Dear Annie: My ex-wife, “Daisy,” has custody of our two children. She makes several times my salary, lives in a home where the mortgage and taxes are sky-high, and has an expensive lifestyle.

Dear Annie: I have social anxiety, and I find that it’s really impacting my life.

Dear Readers: To all of the children out there and all of the children young at heart, I wish you all a very merry Christmas.

Dear Annie: I have an addictive personality, and this time of year is really tough for me.

Dear Annie: I have been a widow for almost 10 years.

Dear Annie: A couple with whom I have a very close relationship have recently become friends with their new neighbors.

Dear Annie: I hope you will publish this, as the holiday season is upon us and people will be rushing to the mall and the grocery to shop for Christmas gifts and supplies for festivities.

Dear Annie: I don’t want to continue to let two of my friends steal my time.

Dear Annie: Over the years, my son, his wife and our granddaughter have been the recipients of many gifts from my wife and me.

Dear Annie: I got engaged in June 2017. My fiance and I are planning the wedding for next year, in November 2019. But I’m having some doubts about my fiance. He

Dear Annie: My boyfriend is still taking his ex-girlfriend to see his son and his son’s family, who reside in another state.

Dear Annie: I have two grandchildren, ages 11 and 7, and I am worried about them.

Dear Annie: I have a full-time job, and I love it.

Dear Annie: My husband is friends with a couple from college with whom we have exchanged Christmas cards and graduation announcements over the past 25-plus years.

Dear Annie: A therapist recommended that I try EMDR in order to process past traumas. It sounds intriguing and fancy, but I don’t really understand what it involves.

Dear Annie: I love being a grandpa, but it seems all my fellow adults have a totally different impression of what a grandfather is supposed to be. My wife says I should be a role model and authority figure, which to me translates to being stern and official. Our daughter says essentially the same thing as her mother.

Dear Annie: Two years ago, I met a homeless man and took him in.

Dear Annie: I have a sibling who struggles with an eating disorder. I give her constant love and support and do everything I can to help her.

Dear Annie: Whenever Christmas rolls around, I feel sick.

Dear Annie: I was recently out of town for a long weekend with some girlfriends.

Dear Annie: As the holidays draw near, I like to be prepared and buy my gifts early.

For years, I’ve used ziplock bags for storing leftovers. Over the past two years, he’s insisted on buying a kind that has to be lined up perfectly to be pressed together. I hate these bags, and he knows it.

Dear Annie: I have not seen this problem discussed in your column and would really like your advice on this situation, as it’s damaged a 50-year friendship.

Dear Annie: I’m a 26-year-old man who’s very nice, thoughtful and kind.

Dear Annie: My problem certainly is not unique, yet I’m at my wits’ end on how to handle it.

Dear Annie: I want to do therapy, but I don’t think I can afford it right now.

Dear Annie: My daughter and son-in-law live in another state. He is a doctor, and she is a nurse.

Dear Annie: What is the etiquette with handicapped stalls in restrooms? When I go into a public restroom and there are multiple stalls to choose from, I like to go with the handicapped one because it’s roomier.

I am a widowed stepmother of a man and a woman. My husband and I had a cordial relationship with their mother. I grew to love her, and I think she liked me.

Dear Annie: I have a tricky problem going on right now. I am married and have been for a while — 20-plus years. It’s been a typical marriage, with its ups and downs, but I’d say I’ve been fairly content and things have been pretty good.

Dear Annie: I recently dated a woman for five months.

Dear Annie: We would like your advice before there is a problem. We will be moving later this year to live with our son and his family.

Dear Annie: Nearly a year ago, my sister was in a devastating accident. She had been drinking heavily.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to thank all of you - my readers.

Dear Annie: Over the past year, I’ve discovered that there are some people in this world who are OK with “just getting by” with what is available — including leaning on or using what another person under the same roof has.

Dear Annie: My sister and I grew up in a pretty troubled home.

Dear Annie: I have a work colleague whose married son died about six months ago of cancer. His son was in his 40s.

Dear Annie: Ever since we moved to a place that is central to all my husband’s relatives, they have treated us as the Free Holiday Inn.

Dear Annie: I am the youngest of five siblings between the ages of 63 and 72.

Dear Annie: I am a college student and have met few people I would consider friends.

Dear Annie: Many years ago, I was in the U.S. military. I was sent to Southeast Asia and served three six-month tours.

Dear Annie: A former co-worker of my husband’s invited us to his son’s wedding. We received the usual “save the date” card one year prior to the ceremony. For the whole year, he asked us whether we would be attending every other week.

With the upcoming gift season, a question regarding dollar limits set by clubs.

Dear Annie: My son and his wife hardly ever really clean their house.

Dear Annie: Yesterday my husband and I spent three hours on the road, traveling from our home to our nephew’s college football game.

Dear Annie: For almost three years after college, I worked at a science camp in the nearby mountains year-round.

Dear Annie: I started to gradually notice changes in my friendship with “Marla” while I was having marital trouble.

Dear Annie: I’m wondering whether you have a copy of a piece that I believe was in an Ann Landers column.

Dear Annie: I am an active member of my small community and have served on many boards, including as an elected official.

My husband and I have been together for nine years and married for four years. His ex-wife remarried 12 years ago, but she is not happy in her marriage.

Dear Annie: I am writing about a friend I’ve had for 35 years. My friend is 60 years old.

Dear Annie: My supervisor hired a friend for a job when there were others who appeared to be more qualified.

Dear Annie: My husband of 23 years has been working for a four-man department for that whole time.

Dear Annie: I have read columns like yours since I was a child in the 1980s and always figured, “Yeah, I have problems, but I can handle them.”

Time for these ghouls to go haunt somewhere else.

Dear Annie: I’ve been dating a gentle, kind and loving man for a while. He goes to church, constantly reads his Bible and plays Christian music. We get along great.

Dear Annie: I’ve always been great at gift-giving. I enjoy giving others things that they will thoroughly enjoy.

Dear Annie: I am still in high school, meaning that having an interconnected friend group is very important.

Dear Annie: My ex-daughter-in-law believes that her 10-year-old son, my grandson, has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Dear Annie: I’m engaged to an amazing man, and we spend our days in a cute little house with our wonderful daughter.

Dear Annie: My adult daughter recently visited from out of state, and she has developed some odd and off-putting habits.

Dear Annie: I had something happen this weekend and am wondering what the solution should have been and who was in the right.

I’m 64. I have known “Ashley” for seven years. She is a mother of two young boys, ages 7 and 5.

Dear Annie: I am in my mid-20s, and I’ve found myself in a tough spot.

Dear Annie: My husband and I have become friends with another couple from church.

Dear Annie: Last year, I wrote to you about my beautiful 35-year-old daughter and the kidney transplant she’d just received through the United Network for Organ Sharing. I am “A Very Grateful Mom.”

Dear Annie: I wrote to you several months ago. I’m “Trapped by Parents.” I have a disability that has caused me to have great difficulty in both obtaining and retaining jobs.

Dear Annie: I am writing to you about the adult son of a friend of mine. This young man, “Dwayne,” has had a bad couple of years.

Dear Annie: My father has late-stage Alzheimer’s and is in a nursing home.

Annie: My husband has adult children from his first wife. My new daughter-in-law has become quite vocal about jewelry items that I wear.

Dear Annie: I have a question and hope your advice will make me see the light. I have been dating and living with my boyfriend off and on for 12 years.

Dear Annie: I was widowed two years ago. I joined a group last year that gets out and does things together.

Is there such a thing as mobile phone etiquette? The general answer to your question is no, it is not OK for people to be on their phones while in your presence.

Dear Annie: I’m a retired man. My elderly mom lived with me for a long time, and I stayed busy with her.

Today we’ll hear from parents who, if given the chance to start over, would opt not to have children.

Dear Readers: In a column last month, I posed a question: “If you had to do it all over again, would you have kids?”

Several weeks ago, someone requested that I pose a question to my readers that Ann Landers asked in 1975: “If you had to do it all over again, would you have kids?”

Dear Annie: I am currently in my second (and final!) marriage.

Dear Annie: My husband and I are alcoholics in recovery with multiple years of sobriety.

Dear Annie: I thought my husband and I had a great marriage - until I looked on his phone and found text messages to another woman. I was crushed.

Dear Annie: My niece, “Becky,” is getting married next month, and according to my younger brother “John,” I can’t attend the wedding because I have a beard.

Dear Annie: Recently, I’ve noticed that a “friend” on Facebook has been making very erratic posts, sometimes going on religious, political and metaphysical rants for hours on end.

Dear Annie: I started dating this wonderful man. It was a perfect courtship, with the exception of some minor troubled-teen issues in his life — we both have teenagers — that he was working on but didn’t tell me much about.

Dear Annie: I just started high school, and it’s been going great, but it’s kind of crazy.

Dear Annie: My wife is a self-employed accountant, and she did work for some friends a few years ago.

Dear Annie: I wish I had listened to my mom when she told me to go to college. I was 18 and didn’t want to do it.

Dear Annie: Ever meet someone who plays the victim and always needs a villain in her life?

What’s with people saying “I apologize” instead of “I’m sorry”? The former is just used to tell somebody that you know you did something wrong. When you tell somebody that you apologize, to me it means nothing.

Dear Annie: This is a burning question I’ve had for a while. As a student, I always have homework, but should I procrastinate or spread out the work over a longer period? Both end up with similar results for me.

Dear Annie: My husband and I enjoy getting together with a group of friends every couple of months.

Dear Annie: My brother-in-law, “Ted,” and his wife decided to call it quits over the holidays after being together since high school (about 25 years).

Dear Annie: Many years ago, my cat-loving sister clipped out an Ann Landers column called “How to Give Your Cat a Pill.”

My wife and I have been married for many years. She was and is my business partner and a great businesswoman. We would not be where we are today without her business acumen, drive and determination.

Dear Annie: I live in a neighborhood with two non-state-maintained roads. One is a long, straight, steep hill with about 20 residences. My neighbor “Sally” lives in the middle of the hill. She lets her pets roam free in her yard and has toddler grandchildren.

I have been at my job for almost 12 years. About three years ago, I met a girl who had recently started working there.

Dear Annie: I go to school and often see some of my classmates who are considered “popular” teasing my classmates and friends.

My wife has been guarding her phone since I found out she had been texting a guy she first claimed was a childhood friend.

Dear Annie: I have been overweight my entire life. Because of a diabetes scare a couple of years ago, I lost 50 pounds, primarily through running and modifying my diet.

Dear Annie: My husband of over 30 years is a great person, successful and well-educated. I love him dearly except for one annoying thing. He draws on people’s photos in magazines and newspapers.

Dear Annie: Next month, I’m moving into an apartment that’s smaller than my current one. So in the meantime, I’ve been going through all of my stuff, trying to purge anything I don’t use.

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been married for seven years. Having both been married and divorced before, we committed and agreed before we married that the words “separation” and “divorce” would never be discussed in our future.

Dear Annie: I have a dear friend who lives nearby, but for some reason, he will not contact me.

Dear Annie: I’m an old guy with some advice for other older people in the workforce.

Dear Annie: I have been married for one year to a classmate whom I reconnected with at our 50th high school class reunion. While he was courting me, he seemed perfect.

I am always fascinated to hear diametrically opposed yet equally valid viewpoints. Such was the case with the following two letters, which appeared in my inbox on the same day in response to “Undecided in Ohio,” who isn’t sure whether she wants kids. Read on. ...

Dear Annie: My husband and I have four young children. Generally, our children are well-behaved; however, sometimes they don’t listen to me or my husband.

Dear Annie: During the past year, I have had some health issues that have required that I stay in a hospital and then a nursing facility for several months.

Dear Annie: I have a problem with my brother, “Josh.” Josh seems to want to cut me and our mom out of his life.

Dear Annie: OK, I realize there are innumerable insurmountable, earth-shaking universal problems in our world.

Dear Annie: You recently wrote that an adult daughter was wrong to discard her mother’s pantry food without asking her first — even food that had expired.

A couple of years ago, when I was starting a business, a friend put me in touch with her friend “Margaret,” who had just started her own boutique marketing and public relations firm.

Dear Annie: I was recently shopping in a department store, when I heard the very loud screams of a child. Because the screaming was so abnormal, I wanted to seek the child out to see what was causing it.

Dear Annie: I read your column daily, but this is my first time writing to you.

Dear Annie: Next month, I will be moving into my boyfriend’s apartment, which he shares with two other guys.

Dear Annie: I need advice regarding a recent nanny experience.

Dear Annie: I’m writing about my 53-year-old stepson, “Sam.” I helped to raise Sam starting when he was 11.

Dear Annie: I’m worried that my boyfriend is abusing his prescription drugs.

Dear Annie: I’m not writing in about any problem you can solve. This letter is about a much bigger problem — namely, the state of the world today.

I have been trying to decipher my recent bad feelings toward a friend who is much wealthier than I am.

Dear Annie: It’s important to have etiquette on the phone, no matter to whom you are speaking.

Dear Annie: My best friend’s 20-something-year-old stepdaughter, “Tina,” unsuccessfully attempted to seduce my husband of 25 years, “Brad.”

Dear Annie: As a college student with no job, I made the foolish decision to sign a lease with a friend to move in together.

Dear Annie: I am seeking some advice. I have a disability, and my place of employment is discriminating against me based on that disability.

Dear Annie: I am married to a man with two children from a previous marriage.

Dear Annie: I hope you can offer a solution to my dilemma.

Dear Annie: My family (my husband, our young kids and I) vacations with two other families once or twice a year.

A man who extends his hand demanding a handshake is presumptuous and arrogant.

Dear Annie: I know I am stuck in the “old ways,” but I am trying to adapt to changing times. It is becoming very common for couples to live together before marriage.

Dear Annie: I have a friend, “Rosie,” who kicked me out to the curb (metaphorically speaking) when her sister moved into her mobile home park.

Dear Annie: My granddaughter, “Melanie,” thinks that she has a half-sister 24 years younger.