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No claim after decades together

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been together for 34 years, married for 25 of them. We both brought children from previous marriages into the relationship; he has two and I have two. A week before our wedding, he surprised me with a prenuptial agreement. I had no time to consult an attorney. The choice was to sign or cancel the wedding. At the time, he owned three properties, and I owned none. One of those properties became our marital home, where we have lived for the past 33 years. I always wanted us to buy or build a home together, but he insisted we already had “our” home. ...

Dealing with girlfriend grief

I was beset with numerous challenges back when I was a beginning dairy farmer. There were the ho-hum things such as wrestling with finances and farming with rickety, worn-out machinery. But there were also some really important issues like formulating the precise mixture of junk to haul around in the box of my pickup. All of those pale in comparison to the biggest challenge I faced as young farmer: procuring a girlfriend. My procurement system worked like this: I would saunter up to a pair of Possible Future Girlfriend candidates and dazzle them with my smooth banter. “Hi,” I ...

Unwanted attention lingering doubts

Dear Annie: I have been married to my wife for 25 years, and overall, we have a strong, trusting relationship. But something happened recently that I cannot seem to shake, and it has been gnawing at me more than I would like to admit. My wife’s best friend’s husband, whom I will call “Charlie,” came to her with a very strange request. He told her that a mutual acquaintance of his, “Carl,” a man with a reputation as a ladies’ man, had asked him to approach my wife on his behalf and see if she would be interested in going out with him. According to my wife, she told Charlie ...

NU Film Society heads to the bullpen with screening of ‘Bull Durham’

NEW ULM – The 1988 romantic comedy “Bull Durham” is next on deck for the New Ulm Film Society’s next screening in its Baseball Film Series.  The screening starts at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 9 at the New Ulm Public Library. “Bull Durham” is cited as a romantic comedy set in the world of Minor League Baseball. The film title is a reference to the Durham Bulls, a Minor League team in the Carolina system. The movie follows two players on the Bulls team and their odd love triangle with a devoted fan. “Bull Durham” definitely fits the genre of romantic comedy, but the ...

You can help save a life by asking the question

Saving lives may sound like the job of first responders or emergency room clinicians. Yet saving a life from suicide can begin with a caring conversation. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and the courage you show when you talk to someone who’s struggling might be lifesaving to a friend or family member. Many people think about suicide; in fact around 12.8 million people report having seriously thought about suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Close to 50,000 people die by suicide in the U.S. every year. Professionals in behavioral ...

Husband holding hostage my birthday gift

Dear Annie: I recently had my 50th birthday. My boyfriend and I have been dating for seven years, with a two-year break. His friend recently asked me if my boyfriend gave me a present from him. I hadn’t received the present, so I didn’t say anything to my boyfriend, hoping maybe time just got away from us and he forgot. It has been over six weeks now, and still nothing. There is no chance my boyfriend is jealous of his friend in any way. Could my boyfriend be holding an old grudge from our past breakup? We broke up because of a trauma of mine that he did not handle well; he ended ...