August 8, 2018
Stories this photo appears in:
Dear Annie: Torn apart by adultery
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: Invited, invited, invited ... not invited
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.
Dear Annie: Breaking the gift limit?
With the upcoming gift season, a question regarding dollar limits set by clubs.
Dear Annie: Son’s house is disgusting
Dear Annie: My son and his wife hardly ever really clean their house.
Dear Annie: Snubbed by nephew
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: Keeping in touch
Dear Annie: For almost three years after college, I worked at a science camp in the nearby mountains year-round.
Dear Annie: Problematic friendship
Dear Annie: I started to gradually notice changes in my friendship with “Marla” while I was having marital trouble.
Dear Annie: The stranger in my house
Dear Annie: I’m wondering whether you have a copy of a piece that I believe was in an Ann Landers column.
Dear Annie: Husband is nice to hurtful neighbor
Dear Annie: I am an active member of my small community and have served on many boards, including as an elected official.
Dear Annie: Husband’s ex keeps popping up
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: Overboard cat lady
Dear Annie: I am writing about a friend I’ve had for 35 years. My friend is 60 years old.
Dear Annie: Supervisor’s friend got the job
Dear Annie: My supervisor hired a friend for a job when there were others who appeared to be more qualified.
Dear Annie: Worried about a promiscuous woman
Dear Annie: My husband of 23 years has been working for a four-man department for that whole time.
Dear Annie: Unemployed and sluggish
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.”
Dear Annie: Let unwanted guests know they’re not welcome
Time for these ghouls to go haunt somewhere else.
Dear Annie: Should his girls always come first?
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: Fluent in just one language
Dear Annie: I’ve always been great at gift-giving. I enjoy giving others things that they will thoroughly enjoy.
Dear Annie: Clique here
Dear Annie: I am still in high school, meaning that having an interconnected friend group is very important.
Dear Annie: Whistled for interference
Dear Annie: My ex-daughter-in-law believes that her 10-year-old son, my grandson, has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Dear Annie: Grandparents are past abusers
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: A ‘natural’ woman
Dear Annie: My adult daughter recently visited from out of state, and she has developed some odd and off-putting habits.
Dear Annie: Concert etiquette
Dear Annie: I had something happen this weekend and am wondering what the solution should have been and who was in the right.
Dear Annie: ‘Gramma’ is feeling used
I’m 64. I have known “Ashley” for seven years. She is a mother of two young boys, ages 7 and 5.
Dear Annie: Deciding between two men
Dear Annie: I am in my mid-20s, and I’ve found myself in a tough spot.
Dear Annie: Why can’t we not be friends?
Dear Annie: My husband and I have become friends with another couple from church.
Dear Annie: Be an organ donor
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: Whether to fill parents in
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: How to deal with a problem son
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: Does someone with Alzheimer’s deserve an invitation?
Dear Annie: My father has late-stage Alzheimer’s and is in a nursing home.
Dear Annie: Daughter-in-law eyeing ring an etiquette no-no
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: Boyfriend has something to hide
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: Not at his beck and call
Dear Annie: I was widowed two years ago. I joined a group last year that gets out and does things together.
Dear Annie: Time spent looking at their phones
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: Sitting idle while grieving
Dear Annie: I’m a retired man. My elderly mom lived with me for a long time, and I stayed busy with her.
Ask Annie: Regretting having children
Today we’ll hear from parents who, if given the chance to start over, would opt not to have children.
Dear Annie: Childless and happy, with no regrets
Dear Readers: In a column last month, I posed a question: “If you had to do it all over again, would you have kids?”
Dear Annie: Parents who would do it all over again
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: Wife digs for details from ex
Dear Annie: I am currently in my second (and final!) marriage.
Dear Annie: Embarrassed by her husband’s past
Dear Annie: My husband and I are alcoholics in recovery with multiple years of sobriety.
Dear Annie: Husband wants to wipe the slate clean
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: Forced to chose between beard and a wedding
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: Breakdown on Facebook
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: When the going gets rough
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: Too much joking?
Dear Annie: I just started high school, and it’s been going great, but it’s kind of crazy.
Dear Annie: Friends won’t pay what they owe
Dear Annie: My wife is a self-employed accountant, and she did work for some friends a few years ago.
Dear Annie: The skills to pay the bills
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: Antagonizing sister always looking for a fight
Dear Annie: Ever meet someone who plays the victim and always needs a villain in her life?
Dear Annie: ‘I apologize’ instead of ‘I’m sorry’
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: Is procrastination the answer?
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: Who is she?
Dear Annie: My husband and I enjoy getting together with a group of friends every couple of months.
Dear Annie: Questionable mom enters the family
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: How to give your cat a pill
Dear Annie: Many years ago, my cat-loving sister clipped out an Ann Landers column called “How to Give Your Cat a Pill.”
Dear Annie: Business-savvy wife gets no respect
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: Heavy-handed neighbor pushing signs
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.
Dear Annie: Having a crush in the workplace
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: Standing up to bullies
Dear Annie: I go to school and often see some of my classmates who are considered “popular” teasing my classmates and friends.
Dear Annie: When is it OK to snoop wife’s suspicious deleted texts?
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: Weight loss means new wardrobe
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: Husband’s doodles can be good stress relief
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: Trouble with purging gifts
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: Explosion and silence
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: Is he really a friend?
Dear Annie: I have a dear friend who lives nearby, but for some reason, he will not contact me.
Dear Annie: An old dog learns a new trick
Dear Annie: I’m an old guy with some advice for other older people in the workforce.
Dear Annie: The real man comes out after marriage
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.
Dear Annie: Revisiting decision to have children
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. ...
Lane: What to do when your children won’t listen
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: Seducing another woman’s 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: Brother stays at arm’s length
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: Elusive expiration dates
Dear Annie: OK, I realize there are innumerable insurmountable, earth-shaking universal problems in our world.
Dear Annie: Ask before tossing
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.
Dear Anie: Unwilling to be a reference
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: Dealing with a screaming child
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: When composting goes too far
Dear Annie: I read your column daily, but this is my first time writing to you.
Dear Annie: Moving in with dirty guys
Dear Annie: Next month, I will be moving into my boyfriend’s apartment, which he shares with two other guys.
Dear Annie: Baby sitter is a nightmare
Dear Annie: I need advice regarding a recent nanny experience.
Dear Annie: Trouble ‘child’ in his 50s
Dear Annie: I’m writing about my 53-year-old stepson, “Sam.” I helped to raise Sam starting when he was 11.
Dear Annie: Boyfriend’s problematic drug use
Dear Annie: I’m worried that my boyfriend is abusing his prescription drugs.
Dear Annie: The state of the world
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.
Dear Annie: A friend who flaunts
I have been trying to decipher my recent bad feelings toward a friend who is much wealthier than I am.
Dear Annie: Distracted and rude on the phone
Dear Annie: It’s important to have etiquette on the phone, no matter to whom you are speaking.
Dear Annie: An unwanted come-on
Dear Annie: My best friend’s 20-something-year-old stepdaughter, “Tina,” unsuccessfully attempted to seduce my husband of 25 years, “Brad.”
Dear Annie: Wanting to make amends
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: Discriminated against and given the runaround
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: Adult stepdaughter’s presence Is a burden
Dear Annie: I am married to a man with two children from a previous marriage.
Dear Annie: Couple brings uninvited guests
Dear Annie: I hope you can offer a solution to my dilemma.
Dear Annie: Violated by husband’s friend
Dear Annie: My family (my husband, our young kids and I) vacations with two other families once or twice a year.
Dear Annie: Are handshakes really bad?
A man who extends his hand demanding a handshake is presumptuous and arrogant.
Dear Annie: The old ways don’t need to change
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: No more hemming and hawing
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: Waiting for confirmation on sister suspicions
Dear Annie: My granddaughter, “Melanie,” thinks that she has a half-sister 24 years younger.
