Dear Annie: I am also a parent of a child who lost his battle with addiction in 2022. There are so many of us with difficult stories to share. My son found alcohol and drugs at 15 and battled those demons until his death at the age of 30. I have come to know that there are some types of ...

Of all the essential infrastructure that we take for granted — I’m including Taylor Swift here — perhaps none is more important than soft water. I’m among those who says a prayer of thanks every time I turn the tap and water comes out. This is because running water wasn’t always a ...

I was at Mass Sunday evening at New Ulm Cathedral. As usual at church, thoughts swirled in my head. The act of stilling myself for worship and letting the busyness of life come to a stop is like braking suddenly in a car. It takes a while to go from sixty to zero. The Second Reading from 1 ...

Dear Annie: I grew up never allowed to have pets. I’ve been married almost 30 years to a man who allowed me to have a small inside dog, and he doesn’t mind her so much but hates the two we have outside. Both are rescues, one from his oldest son that had him tied to a tree, the other from a ...

May is the month is which we observe mental health awareness, an issue that has strong personal resonance with me. I’ve had two instances in my life when I suffered from delusional thoughts. One occurred in 2004 when I had to make a decision about giving up my job and going to graduate ...

Dear Annie: My mother, who is now 62, has always been a dominant personality, keen on having things go her way. I’m 34, an independent graphic designer, and I pride myself on being self-sufficient and creative. But every time I share aspects of my life with her -- be it career choices, ...