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DEAR ABBY: What financial responsibility do parents have to their adult children and grandchildren? We are a blended family of 35 years. It is the second marriage for my wife and me, with four children and eight grandchildren. One child insists it is our responsibility to assist with the cost of educating his two children. Over the last 15 years, we have gifted him and his family well over $50,000. We are middle income, and trying to stay solvent enough to assure we are able to meet any unforeseen expenses of senior living while enjoying local arts and educational opportunities in our retirement. What is customary in other blended families? -- WONDERING IN THE SOUTH
Read moreDid you know the official bird of Redondo Beach, California, is the Goodyear Blimp?
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DEAR ABBY: I have been married for nearly 10 years. I guess I never noticed this while we were dating, but as our marriage has progressed, it’s becoming increasingly apparent he’s a complete “mama’s boy.” He calls her constantly with updates (some I’d prefer she didn’t know about) and invites her over frequently without consulting me.
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When state or federal entities create impossible situations due to unfunded mandates, unpredictability, or conflicting laws, public schools have always managed to figure things out. Inevitably, the central-planned solutions become politically impossible messes that school boards, parents, and educators are expected to unravel. As we have seen since this pandemic started, local control is a very convenient scapegoat when one-size-fits-all solutions hurt more than they help, but we may have finally tied ourselves up in a knot that local schools cannot untangle.
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DEAR ABBY: I’ve been dating a great guy for a year and a half. For eight years before we met, he dated a woman with teenage daughters. He never had children, so they are as close to his own kids as he will ever have. He was recently invited to the graduation party of one of the daughters. It will be a weeklong trip, since they have moved across the country. He intends to stay awhile and visit with the girls and his old girlfriend. I’m grudgingly OK with that.
Read moreDEAR HARRIETTE: The other day, I left my house in a rush and forgot the key to the main entrance of my apartment complex on the table.
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Dear Doctor: I just saw on the TV news that there’s a new fungus killing people in Texas, and that there’s no cure for it. They’re calling it a superbug, which sounds scary. What is it? Is it going to be everywhere, like COVID-19?
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I met my former mother-in-law, “Mama Lou,” and my former father-in-law, “Poppo,” when I was not yet 20 years old.
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