My 46-year-old, divorced son is working full time and lives within walking distance of me in his own apartment. To compare, his 50-year-old, divorced sister who works full-time also lives within walking distance in her own apartment. She is independent and lives responsibly.

Re: Traveling Dad:

Two weeks is a long time, but gone doesn’t always have to be gone. Can he Skype a couple of times a week? Pre-record favorite bedtime stories that can be played while he’s away? That would lessen the bedtime burden and make the kids feel more connected to Dad while he’s away.

Hi, Carolyn:

When we first got married, my husband was really supportive of my career. When we had a baby with serious medical problems, he took paternity leave to stay home with her for the two days a week I work.

Hi, Carolyn:

What makes a relationship emotional infidelity vs. just a really close friendship with someone of the opposite sex? I know my husband would never cheat in the physical sense, but he doesn’t seem to acknowledge that there’s other behavior that crosses a line . . .

When my husband and I were first talking about having children, my husband suggested my mother’s name and his mother’s name (“Elaine Nicole”) or our fathers’ names (“Timothy James”).

Now we are having a little girl, and my mother-in-law has not stopped making comments to my husband and me about how her name has been given as the middle name and my mother’s as the first.

Hi, Carolyn:

My girlfriend and I have been together for five years. Shortly after we met, I met her best friend, Dan, who had just started a relationship with Rachel.

My wife and I split up for a couple of reasons — including that she’s likely bipolar but refuses treatment.

Slowly over the years of working together to raise our children, we seem to have developed a friendly relationship. I love being with her when she is on the up side; when she is down, I stay clear.

Dear Carolyn:

Just spent weekend with Son and Daughter-in-Law. Son behaved horribly toward Wife, to the point that I had to get between them and, concerned for safety of all, I told him to leave.

Hi, Carolyn:

I know I’m being unreasonable, but I also know there is a deeper issue here and I need help separating the two.

My new husband announced to me that he is going to the beach with his parents for Memorial Day weekend to hang out and help them get their place ready for the season. He has a history of making plans on inopportune days, like Valentine’s weekend and our first anniversary.

Dear Carolyn:

My partner and I are compatible on many levels but don’t quite see eye to eye on gender roles. He’s more traditional than I am and I wonder/worry how this would translate to raising children, sharing a life together, etc. How important is it to have similar views?

I’ve written before, but in a much elongated version. Yet the problem persists:

My brother-in-law, husband to my husband’s sister, has been verbally abusing my husband for over a year now (well, actually, through e-mail to him and rants to other relatives). His sister will not intervene, since her husband has proceeded with her knowledge and approval.

Hi, Carolyn:

My husband doesn’t handle frustration well. He gets snippy, slams things, speaks to me sharply, stomps around, etc. I told him I don’t think it’s fair that he takes his bad moods out on me. He said I take everything too personally — that since he’s not technically angry at ME, I shouldn’t care.

Is there a polite way to say to well-meaning family and friends, “Please don’t feel like you have to try to set me up with every gay man you know just because I am single”? I live in an area without a huge gay community, so I’m grateful for occasional setups with guys who share my interests; but it feels like sometimes, these matchmakers are using “you’re both gay” as their only criterion.

Dear Carolyn:

I’m seriously dating a guy, and we’ve talked about marriage. He has mostly had a history of casual dating and living up the single life. This has included going to strip clubs. He says he won’t go anymore because of my issue with it.

Dear Carolyn:

My girlfriend has borrowed my car several times over the past month (she’s moving) and has not once refilled the gas tank. This should be a softball (“Hey, please refill the gas tank next time you use the car”), but in context a tough one for me because most of the problems we’ve had in our relationship have been due to my instinct toward bean-counting. She stopped keeping track of who paid for what years ago and has expressed offense when I ask to be paid back for things.

I get this kind of support from my sister and parents but not from my wife. She has been supportive during this time, but she never comes around to giving me any kind of show of support through either an encouraging word or a hug or anything. Her support is mostly silent (and sometimes it seems to be waning or even critical).

Dear Carolyn:

A friend and I just attended a speed-dating event. She glowed. She wound up with something like 20 “very interesteds” on her contact card. She already has several dates lined up. I will add that she is single only because her last relationship ended due to distance.

My little brother and I used to be close, but have had a more tense relationship in recent years (I thought he needed to grow up, he thought I wasn’t fun anymore). I think there’s equal fault on both sides.

Dear Carolyn:

My niece is getting a nose job for her 18th birthday, for purely cosmetic reasons. Having grown up with the same distinctive Eastern European nose, and seeing the blossoming beauty in my niece, I am heartbroken.

We have been lucky to have open communication with our boys about sex over the years. Now they are 16 and 17 and have girlfriends. The 16-year-old has opted for “everything but” because that makes him feel safest. The 17-year-old is having sex and wants me to allow his 18-year-old girlfriend to spend the night. I have persuaded them to get on the pill, but I feel like they should be having sex in the back seats of cars like the rest of us had to. (Ha, just a little humor there!)

Dear Carolyn:

My parents make a strong, overt distinction between married and non-married significant others, meaning the former are included in absolutely everything, appropriate or not, and the latter are routinely excluded from things that are family-only.

Dear Carolyn:

I began dating someone about three months ago. Things are going really well (we’re 30).

My problem is that his ex is very intertwined in his life. They broke up about a year and a half ago, his decision, after dating three years, and have remained friends. They have close mutual friends (some of whom are also my close friends ... that’s how we met), and his mom, brother, aunts, uncles and cousins are her Facebook friends, post on her wall, etc.

Hi, Carolyn:

This question concerns my husband who is either oblivious or willfully hurting/irritating me. Or, I am a controlling, overly sensitive witch, I guess.

I’m married with a child and another on the way. I’ve seen a couple of e-mails on my wife’s phone related to dating Web sites, like eHarmony.com. After a little investigation, it appears that there is no way to sign up to receive those e-mails without posting some type of profile.

Dear Carolyn:

What to do about a good friend who constantly complains about her boyfriend and won’t make the obvious choice? I want to be there for her, but she’s bringing me down.

Just been uncovered that my dad has been having a (quite public) affair. The other woman is a friend of my mom’s, and my mom’s friends have known about the affair for some time. My mom is heartbroken, and so am I.

Dear Carolyn:

My husband’s brother is in the middle of a very nasty divorce, and my husband and I are grieving the loss of a wonderful friendship with our ex-sister-in-law.

Hey, Carolyn:

I’m 17, and a junior in high school. Up until this year, I’ve had two best friends, “Beth” and “Carly.” Carly and I are still best friends, but Beth has decided to ditch us completely to hang with a crowd of people who drink and party, things my friend and I were never interested in.

Dear Carolyn:

So my nephew, 7, is unquestionably spoiled. Sadly, I think he’s taking after my sister, who has always been an I-want-I-want type.

With a gift occasion coming around, I honestly feel like getting him squat. He has so many toys, he doesn’t appreciate them. I asked him to stop throwing his toys in the bin, they’ll break, and he said, “Who cares, I’ll just buy more.” I bought him a spontaneous gift once. He asked me to return it; he wanted something else. Between this and crying whenever he doesn’t win, he’s getting harder to be around.

My parents tend to treat my wife as an unwelcome intruder in the family. My dad usually just ignores my wife, and my mom is critical/passive-aggressive with her. We all moved closer to one another recently and I hoped the closeness would breed better relationships, but, alas.

Hi, Carolyn!

So, long story short, I met this woman with whom I am infatuated. I think she likes me, too. The problem, however, is that only a few short months ago, she broke up with her boyfriend of four years. I am looking to develop a long-term relationship; she said she is not ready for that yet. But, she still wants to keep in touch with me.

I’m a single guy who has harbored feelings for one of my best friends for a number of years. I’ve never said anything to her since I don’t want to put her in the position of having to reject me, and I know in my head it wouldn’t work out between us due to a number of lifestyle and religious hurdles.

Dear Carolyn:

I have cordial relationships with my ex-husband and my boyfriend from high school — the occasional phone call and seeing each other once or twice a year in a group setting. My boyfriend thinks this is really, really, really weird. So weird. And he says all his friends agree with him. Am I crazy?

Dear Carolyn:

Do you think there is any reasonable explanation for a spouse to spend 7 to 10 hours a week on the phone or texting with someone of the opposite sex who they met online?

Dear Carolyn:

A girlfriend gave me a sunflower for my birthday. I appreciated the sentiment but the flower was huge and the stalk as thick as a broom handle. I had no idea on the next steps, and I didn’t have a large vase.

I’m in the early stages of a long-distance relationship. We see each other as many weekends as possible.

Whenever he visits me, I clear my calendar from Friday to Sunday. When I visit him, I can’t help but feel like I’m intruding on his life.

Dear Carolyn:

I’m 33; I’m smart, funny, reasonably attractive, and I have my life together. I love my job, volunteer, exercise, have great friends and have enjoyable hobbies.

How much am I obligated to my boyfriend to try to find treatment for medical problems that make it impossible for me to have children? I’ve been shuttled around between various doctors for the past year and a half, none of whom are familiar with the problem or know how to treat it.

Dear Carolyn:

How do I convince my wife that she needs to let our kids participate in life and to stop smothering them? She’s terrified her children will be physically or sexually abused if they’re out of her sight (no, she does not have any history of abuse herself).

Dear Carolyn:

I’m hoping you could share your thoughts on using gifts as a platform to give a well-meaning nudge in a new life direction.

My adult daughter (now in her 30s) has been something of a disappointment in terms of her career development. Most other members of the family of her generation are extremely successful doctors, lawyers, executives, etc. She is a mid-level manager, and, although she has a good income and clearly enjoys her job, she doesn’t seem terribly ambitious.

On things people say when you’re grieving:

When I was pregnant with my fourth child, I held off telling people until fairly late in the pregnancy because my second baby had died in utero when he was 20 weeks. When I explained that to a newish friend who is also a mom, she was really sympathetic, which was great, but then she said, “I could not have survived that.”