Dear Ellie: My new neighbor in an apartment upstairs is unhappily married. She confessed this and told me she's very lonely because her husband is away a lot.
Dear Ellie: My older brother's having an affair. It's not his first, and I know about these flings because he confides in me as his younger brother.
Dear Ellie: My girlfriend broke off our engagement, though she'd been pushing to get married. I finally bought a ring because she's 37 and was getting upset all the time. I wanted to have everything perfect. I'd been building a house for us and it takes time to find the right contractor, decide materials, etc.
Dear Ellie: I love my husband but we seem to disagree on so many areas of child-rearing that I'm exhausted from the fights.
Dear Ellie: My boyfriend and I are in our mid-20s, dating more than a year. He stated recently that he wants kids. I definitely don't.
Dear Ellie: My husband and I are finally renovating our kitchen. I'd like an open concept for more space; he can't picture it and feels it'll take too much room from the family space in the living room.
Dear Ellie: Last year I met a man on a dating Web site. We developed an intense and satisfying relationship, but I soon suspected that he was hiding something.
Dear Ellie: Is it worse to separate from a partner you don't love and upset your children, or better to stay together and be unhappy the rest of your life? -- Undecided
Dear Ellie: My daughter, 21, and her daughter, 2, lived for six months with the child's father. He's verbally abusive and puts her down or blames her whatever's wrong in his life. He doesn't work and they're currently living off assistance.
Dear Ellie: I'm in a 17-month relationship with someone who has four kids from two previous relationships. We have a beautiful 6-month-old daughter yet he treats our baby differently from his other kids. He doesn't give her any attention, though he has no problem giving attention to the other kids.
Dear Ellie: My girlfriend and I haven't been close lately. She used to always invite me to outings with her friends or to parties. I thought we'd sorted out earlier problems, but recently she's been keeping me distant and only wants us to spend time together without her friends.
Dear Ellie: I've been living with my boyfriend for seven years. Around my birthday, I received a card with no return address, mailed from Chicago. I assumed it was from my one girlfriend living there. I opened the card in front of him and it was a romantic birthday card signed, "LOVE YOU. CAN'T WAIT..." I called my friend in Chicago to see if she was playing a joke on me but she swore she didn't.
Dear Ellie: My boyfriend of 18 months and I lost a baby last year, and now I'm pregnant again. I wanted to have an abortion because we broke up.
Dear Ellie: I'm 31 now and met her when I was 18. We dated for four years and loved each other deeply.
Dear Ellie: I'm a man in my 20s who gets depressed when I see a beautiful woman -- whether I'm walking down the street, watching TV (an actress or an anchorwoman), see a friend's girlfriend or basically any hot girl, I'll get depressed.
Dear Ellie: I'm a male, 27, with a huge fear of rejection, when it comes to approaching women. I never had a high school girlfriend or prom date.
Dear Ellie: My brother and his wife (23 and 21) had their first child six months ago. My sister-in-law says that since she carried the baby for nine months, why should she allow any one else to hold her or take care of her (except for her mom).
Dear Ellie: I've been with my boyfriend over 10 years, living together for five. He owns his own home. I've done landscaping and work on it.
Dear Ellie: I've been in an intermittent relationship with a woman for 25 years. This past year, it's been steady and intimate, involving many trips and frequent overnight stays at my home.
Dear Ellie: After three years of dating my boyfriend, I feel increasingly resentful, used and hurt because he still hasn't proposed.
Dear Ellie: I'm an engaged man and lost my job a week before Valentine's Day so was unable to plan anything. We couldn't even meet on the day because of our schedules.
Dear Ellie : My boyfriend of three years lives in a tiny rural village. I live in the city, but the distance isn't the problem -- his friends are. They're all incredibly close and connect, yet when I'm there, I'm excluded.
Dear Ellie: My husband will consistently walk a few paces ahead of me, always blaming me for walking too slow, yet he'll adjust his pace for others. I'd laugh, but it's not funny anymore.
Dear Ellie: I'm a busy mom of three with a husband who works long hours at his computer job, both in the home office and outside as well.
Dear Ellie: I'm 23, have been with my girl for five years. Wwe have three wonderful children but our relationship has been in a downward spiral for two months, since I introduced her to my male co-worker.
