Twitter user close to crossing border

Dear Amy: I’ve been following a woman on Twitter for a few years now. I’ve always thought she was great, but lately (even before quarantine made us all lonely), I’ve started to really like her. She’s fun, endearing, passionate, hilarious and beautiful!

We’ve never met, but I’ve occasionally messaged her ideas that are relevant to her interests, and sometimes she’ll politely respond with a “haha” or “lol.” Part of me thinks that if she was interested in me, she would have said more and that I should stop bothering her. (She has a bit of a following, so I’m surely not the only guy contacting her.)

I like her so much. I think about her all the time, but maybe this is one of those times where someone is infatuated with the idea of a person?

I’d hate for that to be the case. I’d like my feelings to be virtuous and not borderline creepy. responding to your contact. Those one-word, lower-case responses are merely pro forma acknowledgments that she has read your message. Please believe this.

I can’t characterize your private feelings, but you do seem to be approaching the border of “borderline creepy.” You’ve got a crush on someone you feel connected to, much as anyone might have a crush on a favorite writer, actor, musician or public figure. But it is as unrequited as my crush on Ryan Gosling, and you need to understand and accept that.

If you are ruminating excessively about this woman and it is interfering with other activities and relationships, then you should take steps to deliberately dial down your access to her postings. Repeated Twitter triggers reminding you of how awesome you believe she is don’t help.

Dear Amy: I am 59 and reflecting on the good and bad aspects and events of my life. I had a friend in high school (we drifted apart). His father used to play basketball with us and invited me along on some of their family outings to the city and to interesting restaurants.

I ran into the father 20 years ago in a work-related setting and couldn’t believe how warm and helpful he was.

I would like to reach out to the father and let him know what high regard I have for him. In raising my kids, I have often thought of him and wanted to emulate his positive behavior.

I have no desire to seek out the son (my former friend). I realize it might seem a little odd to the old friend that I would reach out to his father, but not to him, so how should I handle this?

Dear Conflicted: You are almost 60 years old. High school is long behind you. If you have this older man’s contact information, then write him a note. Unless you need to contact the son to obtain his dad’s address, there is no need for you to include the son in your outreach. This is a very thoughtful and kind thing for you to do. Don’t overthink it — just do it.

Dear Amy: I disagree with your response to “Deceived,” who attended a wedding ceremony and reception, and later learned that the wedding wasn’t legitimate (no wedding license).

I don’t feel the couple needs to share the details of their wedding ceremony. They invited guests to share in their wedding celebration. The license is only a piece of paper. It is no one’s business if they didn’t legally tie the knot. The only mistake made was the couple not keeping this information private.

Dear L: I received many responses to this letter, including from members of the clergy. All agreed with you, that — when celebrating a wedding — the presence of an actual wedding license should not matter.