Misunderstanding, and jealousy chip away at relationship
DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend and I love each other very much. But we fight every day. The only time we get along is during sex and right after. Recently, he found an email I had written in reply to a message I had received about becoming an escort. I didn’t follow through with it, and I have never cheated.
How can I earn his trust and keep our relationship from becoming toxic?
— Trying to Make it Work DEAR TRYING: If the only time you and your boyfriend get along is during sex or right after, your relationship is already toxic. Rather than fight every day, couples in healthy relationships build each other up and support one another. If he can’t believe what you tell him, there can be no love, because there is no trust.
DEAR ABBY: Iama 13-year-old girl and I hate my family. I have had an eating disorder for three years, and my parents haven’t noticed. They try to stuff me into a mannequin shell that doesn’t fit. I don’t know what to do, and I am suicidal. Please help me.
— Depressed Teen in Washington
DEAR TEEN: Because you feel your parents may not take you seriously, be brave and tell a trusted teacher or counselor at school everything you have written to me, including your thoughts of suicide. Because your feelings of depression are so strong that you sometimes feel you can’t go on, you need more help than an advice columnist can give you in a letter. Please don’t wait, and please let me hear from you again.
DEAR ABBY: When did it become someone’s right to walk into a business with a pet? People walk in and never ask. Some of those animals hike their leg, and their owners giggle and never offer an apology or to clean it up. Dogs have jumped up on other customers while their owners stood there and said, “Don’t worry. He won’t bite.”
I’ve gone through training on service animals, and these are definitely not service animals. What happened to common courtesies?
— Taken Aback in Oklahoma DEAR TAKEN ABACK: The demise of common courtesies happened right around the time when people began believing they were the exception to the rules. When ADA legislation was passed, it was so that people with disabilities would have access to things that able-bodied people take for granted. What you are experiencing is an abuse of that law by dishonest, uncaring individuals who have no sense of shame. Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069. UNIVERSAL UCLICK