Category: Advice Column

My wife (31F) and I (46M) have been together six years and married for two. She used to talk to me constantly — sharing her day, her thoughts, everything. But she also wanted to talk a lot about problems in our relationship.

It often felt like every conversation was about what I was doing wrong. She said I spent too much time talking to my exes (we’re friends), that I prioritized work over her (it’s my career), and that I didn’t care enough about her. It felt like we were always having serious talks.

About a year ago, I told her I didn’t want to talk anymore. I was tired of hearing criticism and felt like I deserved a break since I provide everything we need. I told her if she didn’t like how I did things, she could leave and we’d divorce. She said she was trying to communicate because she felt unappreciated and thought I had one foot out the door, but I felt she was being unreasonable.

I have a huge crush on my wife’s cousin, Lauren, and it’s a terrible situation. I genuinely believe I have the greatest wife in the world, Maya — she’s an amazing woman, mother, and partner.

When I first met Maya, she approached me at a bar. We hit it off instantly. Later that night, her cousin and best friend Lauren showed up, and my jaw hit the floor. Lauren is unbelievably gorgeous. I wondered how things might’ve been different if I’d met Lauren first, but 10 years later I’d say life worked out. Maya and I got married and have a great little girl. The thought eventually faded — until recently.

My husband’s (33M) dad (60s) and his wife (60s) are visiting and my baby will be 17 months old when they’re here. They’ll stay at our house for a couple of weeks and a resort for another week. The resort is an hour away from our house.

They have never babysat for us before — not even for 10 minutes — but my stepmother-in-law is trying to convince us to stay at the resort for a night for our anniversary. I keep saying no because we’ve never been away for a night, but somehow she isn’t getting it.

My husband dances around things, so he says stuff like, “Ahhh we’ll see… probably not,” even though he’s a hard no too.

I’m 34F and my partner is 46M. We’ve been together a little over two and a half years, and I just found out I was the other woman the entire time.

For a while I had this gut feeling something wasn’t right. He would always mention his “former partner,” saying they stayed close because of their history and that they were basically family now. I asked questions here and there, but he always made it sound reasonable and I didn’t have any real evidence, so I tried to trust him.

A few days ago I asked to borrow his tablet to look something up, and he told me he didn’t own one. That immediately felt suspicious because I had seen it before at his place. After he left for work, I looked around and found it in a drawer. I shouldn’t have opened it, but I did.

My girlfriend (26F) and I (27M) have been dating for 3 months. She’s super cool and it’s all going really well, so I thought it was time to introduce her to my friends from school back home.

Some things to note about my girlfriend: she’s quite petite, probably about 5ft, and she dresses like (I quote) a “kids’ TV presenter.” She also gets very excited about things very easily. This means that she often gets read as being a lot younger than she actually is, which can be annoying but is also hilarious as she’s probably the most intelligent person I’ve ever met. It’s an odd contradiction but I think it’s really cute.

When we got to my hometown, we decided to meet my friends at a local park which has a lake and a set of gardens. It had been raining the day before and the ground was still pretty wet, but we planned on walking around the lake with my friends. We got there and everyone seemed to like my girlfriend and they all got on well.

If you want to attract a quality girl you have to be a desirable, fit, put together man etc etc.

As female behavior trends ever more downward, the pool of desirable females shrinks ever more.

A shrinking pool of desirable females means male competition becomes more fierce and the male arms race intensifies.

I regularly visit a strip club in my area and for the past few months, I’ve been seeing one particular dancer, “Amber” (not her real name). In addition to tipping her and getting dances I buy Amber at least one drink every shift. She always requests the same thing – a screwdriver made with a certain brand of vodka.

Last night, I went in and Amber sat with me as usual. I ordered Amber’s drink from the bartender and got one for myself as well. But when I sipped it I didn’t taste any alcohol at all despite having seen the bartender pour from the same bottle she used to make Amber’s drink. Amber excused herself to freshen up and after the bartender walked away I grabbed the bottle and poured some into the empty glass. As I suspected, it wasn’t vodka, it was plain WATER.

I (25M) have been dating my girlfriend (24F) for almost a year now. Before we became official, we were friends for at least 4 years.

Other than my girlfriend, the second most important person in my life is my best friend (24F). We’ve been best friends for more than a decade, and she’s been there for me for all my lowest points. I literally would not have survived this long without her.

Our relationship is purely platonic. I admit that I’ve had a crush on her before, but we both admitted that it would be better for us to stay as best friends, and that was that.

I (47F) lost my spouse about three years ago and I have a 17-year-old son.

When my spouse died, he left me a large inheritance and told me to trust his advisor. About a year later, I sold our long-time home for a great price and used the inheritance plus the sale proceeds to buy a coastal house we’d always dreamed about.

I had never handled a home purchase or major finances on my own, and I didn’t anticipate the ongoing costs. The advisor strongly warned me against the move. I stopped taking his calls and hired a new money manager who promised extremely high returns.

I’m 27F and my boyfriend is 30M. We’ve been together a little over two years, live together, and split bills evenly. We don’t share accounts. I make about $15k more than him, but he has a stable job and always pays his share.

The issue started this week when he said he wants us to be “fully transparent” financially since we’re talking about getting engaged. I thought he meant reviewing credit reports or discussing financial goals. Instead, he asked for my online banking login so he could “see everything in real time.”

I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t. He said couples planning a future shouldn’t have private money and that refusing means I’m hiding something. I told him I’m not hiding anything — I just don’t want someone else able to access my account or track every purchase I make. He said he wouldn’t touch anything, he just wants “visibility.”