Dear Abby: Couple’s long, joyful marriage based on three principles

Many of your published letters come from unhappy married women. Some of them seem unable to get objective advice that would make themselves and their marriages happier. The way you talk about him to your friends is an expression of your fidelity. If you do, he’ll admire and encourage your close friendships and take a sincere interest in your friends as people. If your MO is to grouse and complain about him, in his mind and heart he will feel you’re abandoning him. Thank you for sharing those words of wisdom because they apply to husbands as well as wives. Partners who treat each other as equals and with respect — and the key word is “respect” — usually have long-lasting and happy unions. How do you deal with adult “children” who ignore issues about their health? Pick up the phone and tell your daughter-in-law to call the dentist who did the root canal and ask whether what her husband is experiencing is normal. [...] if the answer is that it’s not, she should tell her husband that “the surgeon wants him to come in for a recheck” to be sure his wounds haven’t become infected.