DEAR ABBY: I am a small business owner. My store has local (repeat) and one-time customers. The other day, while checking out, one of my local customers spewed out a verbal and extremely bigoted rant. I was stunned speechless. I felt I should do something, but I wasn’t sure what it should be. I have […]

DEAR ABBY: My wife died unexpectedly two years ago, after 18 years of a happy marriage and two kids. While we are doing as well as can be expected, one thing seems to set my grief off. It’s when someone refers to my life as my “new normal.” I’m not sure I can put my […]

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend of two years, “Kevin,” recently broke up with me. We’ve had problems in the past about me lying to him or withholding information. I didn’t lie because I’m an awful person. I lied because he had high expectations of me, and I didn’t want to be a disappointment. He is truly […]

DEAR ABBY: Three months ago, my husband ran into a second cousin he hadn’t seen in 40 years. They were close for a short time during high school and saw each other a couple times after that. I was not aware until recently that he had looked her up on social media and has been […]

DEAR ABBY: Is it ever too late to apologize to an ex-boyfriend? I’m in my mid-40s now, and over the last three years, I have gone through a significant change. It has helped me to face myself, let go of useless hate and anger and forgive the people who hurt me. It has made me […]

DEAR ABBY: I became pregnant with my second child in 2013. When my extended family heard the news, it was not well-received, particularly by my grandmother and aunt-in-law. They said things like, “We love you, but we’re embarrassed and ashamed.” My once loving grandmother said some particularly cruel things. I have to be honest — […]

DEAR ABBY: I live with my significant other. We have been together for 13 years now. I would like to ask his stepmother why she refuses to acknowledge me. She sends holiday cards addressed only to her stepson. I am left off invitations as if I simply do not exist. Should I confront her and […]

DEAR ABBY: This may seem strange, but my husband is too nice. His late mother, a domineering woman who always got her way, trained him not to have an opinion. Almost everything he says is crafted to be neutral so that nobody can possibly take issue with him. If I ask, “What do you want […]

DEAR ABBY: A casual friend sent me a video of a comic doing a very lewd and vulgar routine. I was offended by it and forwarded it to my girlfriend to find out what she thought about it. She got very upset and told me I was being disrespectful to her by even passing it […]