Dear Annie: I was abused by my dad as a child, and my relationship with my mother was hell growing up. She was verbally and physically abusive toward me well into my 20s. She began a new relationship and things got worse. The situation between us got a little better when she became sick and I ...

Dear Heloise: You had a letter from a woman who complained that geography isn’t being taught in schools nowadays. It is a subject that has always interested me, and I was lucky to study it in school. Also, my mother bought my sisters and me a jigsaw puzzle of the United States. The capital ...

A lady named Marla, who lives at Cherokee, Iowa recently mailed me an antique artifact. I know that it’s antique because it’s a little bit older than me. The relic in question is a chapbook that was published by Iowa State College in September of 1954. The 70-year-old booklet contains a ...

Dear Annie: I am very confused. I have a friend who is 70 and is in the hospital. She has put a mutual friend, “Dorothy,” down as her daughter. She has a son, but he is a man-child. Our friend Dorothy has so many obligations as it is. Dorothy and I are close, and we are similar ages. I do ...

Easter is unique among holidays in that it skips around on the calendar. It depends on the vernal equinox and a full moon. Regardless, it comes in spring. Which is perfect. New life, resurrection, birth, greening of nature: all of a piece. There was one Easter morning in history. But we ...

Dear Annie: I have eight beautiful grandchildren. I have been blessed to help care for six of them from birth to 5-6 years old. My daughter has twin 7-year-old boys. She has issues with me that I’ve apologized for and have given her space to work through things. I’ve never met my twin ...