Advice for – Advice column responses address a former college friend returning after decades of silence, a woman grappling with a husband’s renewed drinking and a DUI, and a family torn over what to do with their late mother’s false teeth.
A former college friend has reappeared after more than 35 years of no contact. and the reader at the center of the situation doesn’t know why it’s happening now.. The woman says she and her longtime girlfriends lost touch with one friend more than three-and-a-half decades ago. even though that friend moved to the Midwest and stopped communicating.. She adds that the friend still has family in the area and regularly visits nearby. even after disappearing from their lives.
Over the years. she built a full routine—new job. marriage. two kids. divorce. a move. and retirement—but the reconnecting message has pulled the old history back into focus.. She says she has friends who supported her throughout her life and deserves her attention.. She also tells Dear Abby the former friend was not a good friend to her. while acknowledging that the other woman was “brave to reconnect.”
Dear Abby’s response offered a straightforward fork in the road: either ignore the attempt to reconnect or respond by asking what prompted her to reach out after all these years.. The column says that if the friend wants to get together. the reader should weigh the reply—either agree or explain that their paths diverged decades ago and that she has a busy life and isn’t available.
For another reader. the problem isn’t an old friendship—it’s the strain of a marriage that has been shaken by addiction.. She says she has been married for 11 years, and most of those years were good.. Two years ago. her husband started drinking again. and she describes a cascade of consequences. including a DUI. plus the breakdown of family relationships: “my family won’t come around anymore.” She says she is feeling incredibly isolated.
She also writes that she recently met someone who has become her best friend, and that they have strong feelings for each other. Her question is whether it’s wrong to want to move on.
Dear Abby told her the urge to move on feels natural. given that the last two years have involved “an addicted stranger.” The column then lays out a choice framework: would she be open to staying in her marriage if her husband were willing to quit drinking and get help?. If the answer is yes. she should offer him a clear ultimatum—“Dry out or lose you”—and if he lapses. she should follow through.. If she decides to end the marriage. Dear Abby urged caution: even with strong feelings for the new man. she should “take your time” and “really know him” before pinning her future on him or anyone.
The third letter turned to an unexpected, deeply personal question—what to do with a late mother’s false teeth.. The family members, the writer says, cannot agree, and the item has stirred mixed feelings.. On one hand, the teeth feel too personal to discard.. On the other, keeping them feels “creepy,” especially because there are already other reminders of their mother.
Dear Abby pointed the reader to a practical first step: talk with your dentist. The column says some dentists can dispose of dentures or recycle some of the parts, framing it as better than throwing them away or burying them in the backyard.
A clear through-line runs across the letters: when a relationship strains—whether it is a former friend returning after 35-plus years. a marriage destabilized by drinking and a DUI. or a family disagreement over handling an intensely personal keepsake—the advice keeps coming back to choosing an honest next step based on what the other person’s actions and intentions make possible.
Dear Abby relationships old friend reconnecting marriage DUI drinking isolation false teeth dentures family advice