Category: Asking Eric

Dear Eric: While I can appreciate that my partner’s mom trusts me enough to confide in me, I didn’t want to know this info, and now that I know, I wish I didn’t.

Dear Eric: I’m a craft hobbyist. I enjoy embroidery, painting by numbers, building papercraft models, etc. My joy is really in the process of creating these, but I find our walls and shelves overflowing with the finished products.

Dear Eric: I’m 65 and have always had a cordial but not loving relationship with my 64-year-old sister as our parents never encouraged their children to be loving to one another.

Dear Eric: While in grad school, I got a call from my ex-girlfriend saying her oldest child, then five years old, was my son. We met and she showed me pictures. She was married and she didn’t ask for anything. She just wanted me to know.

Dear Eric: My brother and his wife just had their first child, and the first grandchild on both sides of the family. I am so excited to be an aunt, and love the baby. So does my mom, however she keeps saying something to my brother and I that we both are getting tired of.

While your intentions may be good, the situation you’re in isn’t working for anyone, writes R. Eric Thomas.

Dear Eric: I certainly understand that it is their right to smoke on their property and I don’t care if they choose to smoke pot. I just don’t want to smell it.

Dear Eric: The other night, I was tired from my workday, and he suggested I go to bed early. He mentioned finishing the latest episode, since it had just started. I said that sounded fine. I woke up over two hours later for a drink of water, and there he was, still up, five episodes past where we left off.

Dear Eric: My psychologically disabled adult son who also suffers from chronic physical illnesses will live with me for the remainder of my life as I care for him.

Dear Eric: I have rented a room in my home to a woman for the past year. Her finances are limited. I charge her $400 per month versus the going rate in my area of $1,000. Per the rental agreement, I pay two-thirds of the utility bill, and she pays one-third. She spent this past summer visiting family. When she returned, she told me she would not pay any of the utility bill for the time she was away because she “was not here”. I don’t like confrontations, so I let it go. But I find my opinion of her character has become somewhat negative. Am I wrong on this?