Dear LFTP: wife fishing for age compliments
- Is my wife rude for fishing for compliments about her age, or am I the one with the problem?
- Is it wrong to publicly call out my wife's compliment-fishing after asking her to stop for forty years?
The reader reads a Dear LFTP letter: the writer's wife constantly craves compliments about her age, asking strangers how old they are (and then how old she looks) when they meet people; he thinks it's rude, she thinks something's wrong with him. The hosts agree she's 'fishing' and the etiquette question is the wrong question — the real issue is her self-image and whether he's filling her bucket with words of affirmation. A host asks the room whether it's wrong to publicly call it out after forty years of it. The 'Secular' answer is read: asking strangers their age is inappropriate; her validation-seeking is sad.
More on Marriage
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Dear LFTP: the spontaneous husband and the 7 p.m. date
- My spontaneous husband starts a project at 5 p.m., fails to cancel our 7 p.m. date, and shows up late in work clothes. Please advise.
Mike reads the second letter: a planner wife of two years whose spontaneous husband started a household project at 5 p.m., agreed to cancel their 7 p.m. date, never told the other couple, then showed up 45 minutes late in work clothes.
From No. 601 · Humble Faithful Idiot
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Dear LFTP: the basement musician whose wife never asks him to play
- Am I asking too much to expect my wife to ask me to play, or should I just let it go and stop writing songs?
Mike reads a letter from a married-31-years basement musician and songwriter whose non-musical wife has never once asked him to play — he wonders if he's asking too much or should stop writing.
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God
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Dear LFTP: the reluctant grandmother
- Am I wrong to prefer not to drive an hour and a half to visit my husband's grandbabies?
Mike reads a Dear LFTP letter from a 56-year-old married twelve years who doesn't want to drive an hour and a half to visit her husband's grandbabies — she's 'not into babies or children' — and can't understand why he won't stop asking.
From No. 596 · Mr. Prayer Closet
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Dear LFTP: the incarcerated husband
- My husband is serving a life sentence and I have met someone new — what should I do?
- How would you counsel the incarcerated husband who wants to divorce his wife to free her from the marriage?
Mike reads a heavier letter: the writer's husband is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole, having turned himself in a year and a half ago for a crime from…
From No. 596 · Mr. Prayer Closet