LW#2 should read that book called He’s Just Not That Into You. It was a real eye-opener for me, I’ll tell you that. This sounds like a classic case of, well, he’s just not that into her.

I think the real issue is that it’s making his wife uncomfortable. He should have enough respect for her feelings to rein in his behavior to something they both can live with. My guess is that she’d be okay with him having female friends if she didn’t feel left out. Nobody wants to feel like a third wheel (or a fifth wheel) in her own marriage.

There’s a website just for selling stuff like that platinum wedding band. It’s www.exboyfriendjewelry.com. I’ve never used it, but it sounds like the place you’re looking for. You can sell stuff your ex gave you and add a little bio to tell what a rat he was.

Will you people please get with the program? Both columns are written by the same person, Margo Howard. They’re not in competition. On Slate she writes as "Dear Prudence", and on wowOwow she writes as "Dear Margo".

I agreed to take in and adopt a 7-year-old that I’d never even met. She was a foster child whose adoptive placement was being disrupted. She needed a permanent home fast, someplace where she could get the love, guidance and patience that she needed. I read her file and decided I could deal with the problems I saw there. But those first few days and weeks were pretty scary for a single parent with no prior experience. But now, nearly two years later, she’s doing great. Straight A’s, piano lessons, Girl Scouts, sports… And she’s very happy. All the hard work has been worth it.

I wouldn’t be so sure that those children don’t understand what "gone" means. I adopted my daughter from foster care after she "lost" her parents to the prison system for neglecting her and her sister so badly that her sister died. The parents are in prison for the next 20 years. She was seven years old when I adopted her, and I can promise you that she knows exactly what "gone" means. She knows what it’s like to lose everything, in fact. When a child is placed into foster care, they lose everything that’s familiar. She had three different foster placements, and each time she was moved, she lost everyone that she was close to and everything that was familiar to her. That’s what happens to foster children. They lose everything and they’re expected to move on and be happy that they’re in a better place.

Sorry, Andrea, but incest is not a verb.

#2: Instead of sitting back and judging, do something about it. As a single woman, I became a foster parent and then adopted an older child from foster care. If more people did that, we’d have a better chance of breaking the destructive cycles that produce single parents with more children than they can take care of.

Her fifth decade would be her 40’s, not her 50’s, and she said she was "close to" her fifth decade, so she’s in her fourth decade, which is her 30’s.