Short Answers

By Jeff Johnson and Paula Forman

MARRIED TO THE BLOB

Dear Short Answers:
How do you deal with a husband who is getting fatter and lazier as he gets older?  Do I keep pushing him to go to the gym and get out of the house?  Or do I finally just give up and find new friends and new ways to entertain myself?
Still Active

Dear Active:
We know of very few cases in which pressure by one spouse to exercise, diet, or change a life-long pattern results in happiness or satisfaction for either.

TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES

Dear Short Answers:
It’s already New Year’s Eve and I have not received a single thank you note or phone call from any of my 7 nieces and nephews who I bought significant Christmas gifts for.  Should I just keep waiting?  Or complain to their parents?
Uncle

Dear Uncle:
Cool your jets. Talk to us again in a few weeks. If your gifts have still not been acknowledged, try writing your ill-mannered kin a clear but affectionate, and hopefully amusing, note about your expectations. If a response is not forthcoming, you may feel free to adjust your gift giving accordingly.

A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN

Dear Short Answers:
Man Caves seem to have become all the rage around here — since when does a man get his own room?

Still Sharing

Dear SS:
Historically, in families that could afford large homes, the husband and wife each had their own space.  The man of the family had an office or a study or even a “smoking room.”  Women had a ladies parlor, a sewing room and perhaps a dressing room — and a nursery for the kids. In most families today, we have to make do with a lot of shared space. Too much sharing from our point of view. The ideal is as described: Private space for everyone. (Perhaps the personal computer has become the contemporary substitute?) But if you are asking if a Man Cave has greater validity than a woman’s private space, the answer is we think NOT.

PAST TENSE

Dear Short Answers:
An old flame wants to come visit with his new girlfriend — should I say yes?
Match Girl

Dear MG:
Sure. Why bother to look for trouble when it’s ringing your doorbell?

GO WITH THE FLOW ON THIS ONE

Dear Short Answers:
My girlfriend and I have a long distance relationship. She is about to go on a cruise without me to the Caribbean with her roommate. It’s her last spring break and she says she wants to do something alone with her roommate. I mean we hardly see each other anyway and now she’s taking a vacation without me — time we could be spending together. I trust her, it just feels like she’s picking her roommate over me. Should I be upset? Should this a deal breaker?
Jealous

Dear Jealous:
Oh, just wait and see.  Go spend spring break with your buddies and have a great time!  This all seems perfectly reasonable to us — don’t precipitate a crisis. If, in fact, this is a deal breaker, the deal will fall apart on it’s own.

MADE FOR EACH OTHER
Dear Short Answers:
How do you recognize carbohydrates?
B.

Dear B:
We recognize carbs by their easy relationship with butts and bellies.

Life is complicated. Short Answers isn’t.

Send a question about whatever is bothering you to [email protected] or go to www.shortanswers.net and a psychologist and sociologist will answer. A selection of the best questions will be printed every week in KonkLife.

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