ArcaMax

Dear Annie: I just finished reading the letter from "Caged Bird," and my heart broke for her. The reason is because I lived that same life, and her letter could have been my own.

What was done to her by her mother and to me by my mother were not the products of "motherly love" or "misguided motherly concern." These were the actions of a ...Read more

Realizing that sex is an integral dimension of well-being, I will incorporate sexual fulfillment into my singleness in ways that mesh with my personal morality.

Being of adult age and with a reasonable amount of life experience, I will aim toward being both sexual and autonomous, assuming full responsibility for my decisions.

I will adopt a ...Read more

Dear Annie: I spent my early childhood years with a loving foster family, and today, at age 75, I have a great relationship with my foster brother.

I lived with my biological family from age 7 until I left for college. I have one biological brother, and long story short, we are not close.

Today, I can hardly stand him or his family. He brags ...Read more

Dear Annie: I had a high school boyfriend 47 years ago but left him. He came to my house the day before I was marrying someone else and begged me not to marry him, but I did. Long story short, after getting divorced, I tried to find him, but I couldn't. I married again and got divorced again. I then focused on trying to find him again only to ...Read more

Dear Annie: I have been married for more than 24 years, and we have three wonderful daughters. My husband has always been a wonderful father and an OK husband.

However, he has always treated me with a lot of disrespect, and over the years, I always brushed it off because he was such a great dad to my daughters and because he provided everything...Read more

I shook off the snowflakes and put the pumpkin roll in the Christmas gift bag in the passenger seat. The snow hadn't let up as I visited with a constituent whose daughter was a baker. Neither had the emails, but they were a similar sweet gift: meeting cancellations due to inclement weather.

It meant I had time to pick up the kids with my mom as...Read more

Dear Annie: "Numb and Lost" wrote to you regarding emotional detachment as a result of trauma and challenges in their life and struggles with finding proper therapy. As a 37-year-old male who has had difficulties and consequent challenges in therapy, I can relate.

In many ways, finding good therapy is its own battle, on top of the battle ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am in a quandary. My husband (67) and I (65) are both retired; I do work from home two days a week for around seven hours or so a week now. He takes Social Security while I do not. He had no 401(k) to speak of. Me working now was to make up the difference.

My problem is my husband sees no problem or need to get a part-time job, ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am a college student, and I just finished my finals for the fall semester and am now on winter break. Right toward the end of finals week, one of my professors had a medical emergency and had to miss our final day for surgery. My entire class sent her supportive emails, including me, but I find myself still worrying about her. ...Read more

Dear Annie: My wife and I have been very blessed. We both were able to find and keep jobs in our chosen fields and worked through the years without any layoffs, slowdowns, serious illnesses, etc. We made good middle-income wages, and we always lived within our means while saving for retirement. We made some good investments along the way, and ...Read more