Dear Margo® from Creators Syndicate

This Is Not "The One" for 09/18/2009

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: I am a 30-year-old man with a college degree, a good job in these hard times and a girlfriend of six years who is starting her professional life soon. I love her, but now I am having doubts about our future. Part of the job training she's getting is halfway across the country, so we would have a long-distance relationship for the next year. Furthermore, while we have a strong bond, ...

Updated: Fri Sep 18, 2009

I Would Make This a Deal-Breaker for 09/19/2009

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: I would like advice on how to be treated with respect by my husband in front of his son and male friends. He is very caring, loyal and considerate when we're with each other. However, whenever his 18-year-old son is with us, my husband always belittles me in some way. It unfolds the same way every time. I make a comment to join the conversation: He either dismisses me completely or ...

Updated: Sat Sep 19, 2009

Life Is Choices for 09/25/2009

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: I have been with my husband for 12 years. We have two sons and a very young daughter. Before I got pregnant with my daughter, I started communicating with a man, "Sean," online. We talked because we were both unhappy with our marriages (or maybe just bored). After a few months of this, I found out I was pregnant with my husband's baby and stopped all communication with Sea ...

Updated: Fri Sep 25, 2009

Why Choose To Feel Rotten? for 09/26/2009

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: My father was unwilling to support and nurture his family and never gave my mother the love and care she deserved. When I was 13, she finally kicked him out. He moved across the country, and I haven't seen him since. I wasn't really upset, but rather relieved; we are so much better off without him.

I'm now 23 and recently married. I knew my father wouldn't come to the wedding ...

Updated: Sat Sep 26, 2009

Seriously Playing Games for 10/02/2009

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: My wife and I regularly play an online video game. Since I work full time and she doesn't, she plays more than I do. A few weeks ago, she asked me if I had a problem with her spending a lot of time playing the game with an online friend, who happens to be male. I said that as long as he was "just a friend," it was no problem. Over the past few weeks, however, I noticed beh ...

Updated: Fri Oct 02, 2009

Her Mother, the Dinosaur for 10/03/2009

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: I'm a 22-year-old student who just moved back in with my mother to help ease the cost of medical school. I moved out of our house when I was 17, one day after my graduation from high school, and never wanted to come back. However, I find myself having to make certain sacrifices so I can become a doctor. The problem is that my mother has always treated my little brother and me differ ...

Updated: Sat Oct 03, 2009

A Troubled Person Must Want To "Fix" Himself for 10/09/2009

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: I am a 28-year-old woman with a conundrum. I am married to a man I love very much, who says he loves me. However, things are unraveling fast for us. Before we got married, we spoke of all the things we would like to do together — travel, buy a house, make a life for ourselves. Yet, not long after we officially tied the knot, he lost interest in doing any of those things.

< ...

Updated: Fri Oct 09, 2009

When Mean-Spiritedness Becomes Cruelty for 10/10/2009

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: I am 31, and my brother is 28. Our parents divorced five years ago. Our father is remarried to a woman with a 12-year-old daughter, "Leigh." She is not especially bright, but she isn't a hopeless nitwit. Our dad, however, is quite cruel to her. He calls her "Brain Damage" to her face (which Leigh thinks is a joke), writes e-mails to us about stupid things she doe ...

Updated: Sat Oct 10, 2009

Phone Sex in the Office! for 10/16/2009

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: I have a contract position — very much needed after six months of unemployment. I'm doing a good job and get on well superficially with my supervisor. Here's the problem: I am required to sit next to a 40-something schmo in an office with very low cubicle walls. He has easily audible sexual conversations with his multiple girlfriends and either doesn't realize or doesn't care ...

Updated: Fri Oct 16, 2009

And We Have a Winner for the "Skunk Award" for 10/17/2009

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: I am in desperate need of advice. My inability to let go of my husband's past is causing a rift in our marriage and a decline in my health. We've been married for a year and generally have a happy relationship. I know he loves me and would never be unfaithful … but here is my problem. I always believed you should wait until marriage for sex. Naturally, I was intimidated when my husb ...

Updated: Sat Oct 17, 2009

...And Maybe Cut Down on the Tequila for 10/23/2009

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: My husband and I (he's 50, I'm 41) have been together for five years. Everything looked like roses and sunshine till lately. The man is acting like he's single. For example, I was sick with a nasty case of stomach flu and could hardly lift my head. He had a choice of taking care of me or going to a party. You guessed it: He went partying, and it took four grown men to carry his tequ ...

Updated: Fri Oct 23, 2009

Backing Up and Coming Clean for 10/24/2009

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: In my senior year of college, I had an affair with my much older professor. It took a while to get over, but now I'm in grad school and he's still my adviser and friend. A few friends and my current boyfriend of 11 months know that there was some kind of attachment (I never said who), but as far as anyone is concerned, I've been single between my high-school boyfriend and this one.< ...

Updated: Sat Oct 24, 2009

This Was, Perhaps, an Ill-Considered Offer for 10/30/2009

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: I honestly don't know where to turn. I can't share this information with family or friends, and my husband is so ashamed, he doesn't want me to tell anyone.

Now 52, he has been an alcoholic since he was 14. When he decided to quit drinking, he wanted to go out "with a bang." I was so proud of him for his decision that I told him whatever reward he wanted he could ha ...

Updated: Fri Oct 30, 2009

When Idiot Strangers Speak for 10/31/2009

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dear Margo: Why do people feel the need to make comments about unusual numbers and sexes and looks of families? I am a mother of three daughters, one son and a stepdaughter. Invariably, when we're out, someone makes a comment. Before the birth of my son we would hear, "That's a lot of weddings" and "Are you going to keep going until you get a boy?" People would actually ask ...

Updated: Sat Oct 31, 2009

Please Google Karen Carpenter for 11/06/2009

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Dear Margo: I am very worried about my boyfriend. "Lake" is 21, 6 feet tall and 140 pounds. Lately he's begun eating less and less — like one salad per day along with coffee and diet soda. He told me he was "just trying to lose a few pounds," but I think this might be something more serious. He now insists that we walk if we're going somewhere, and he runs for at least ...

Updated: Fri Nov 06, 2009

He Wants You To What? for 11/07/2009

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Dear Margo: My husband of three years has suddenly become a real pervert. We dated for five years prior to marriage, and he was never this way. First, we are a May (me) December (him) relationship. He was always a gentleman, and there was nothing jaded about him. He is well educated and successful. Our sex life has been incredible. He's said he could only have dreamed of having this kind of sex ...

Updated: Sat Nov 07, 2009

Marrying a Guy in the Mormon Closet. Oy. for 11/13/2009

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Dear Margo: My wife's 30-year-old daughter is quite immature emotionally and sexually. She has never had a boyfriend. Her father's family is Jewish, but she converted to Mormonism at 18. She has a close friend who is gay, also a Mormon, so he cannot come out to his parents — though most of his friends and a cousin who is also gay know of his homosexuality. (He is extremely effeminate.) I ...

Updated: Fri Nov 13, 2009

Beyond Tasteless, Not To Mention Tacky for 11/14/2009

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Dear Margo: Can you give me some guidance regarding how to respond to a strange request? A friend we see occasionally got engaged six months ago. He's quite the social butterfly and has a ton of acquaintances. A couple of months ago, his fiancee sent an e-mail to 20 friends and acquaintances soliciting money for a surprise 50th birthday party she's planning to throw him! I casually ignored the ...

Updated: Sat Nov 14, 2009

When You Think You've Heard Everything ... You Haven't for 11/20/2009

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Dear Margo: I have a doozy for you. My first cousin, "Lily," is a living, breathing waste of space. This girl had her first child at 15, her second at 17. Subsequently, she's had two more. When her first child was 4 months old, Lily's mother died and she came to live with our family, along with the baby. My mom did everything she could to help them, even quitting her job to watch Lily ...

Updated: Fri Nov 20, 2009

When Dad/Gramps Just Ain't Interested for 11/21/2009

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Dear Margo: By his choice, my father-in-law, "Herman," has had little to do with my wonderful family. He is a negative, toxic individual whom I don't trust given his manipulative and abusive behavior. When his wife finally moved out some years ago, Herman did as he had long ago threatened: He cut off contact with his son (but not his daughter). He seems to have a particular dislike fo ...

Updated: Sat Nov 21, 2009