I hate a messy kitchen and my more casual husband has come to recognize it's more pleasant for him to clean up after himself rather than deal with me hating a messy kitchen.

I'm not a big advocate of living together before marriage. It can be the right thing, but it can also leave two people stuck together who haven't figured out what they really want out of the relationship.

I try to direct people in distress to the right resources, where they can get comprehensive help. I've heard from many people that simply putting down in a letter what is going on in their lives is therapeutic in and of itself.

Children need adult men in their lives.

I do feel haunted by some of the letters and the suffering people have endured. But I keep in mind that the people who write to me know that I am a journalist and an on-line advice columnist, not a social service professional.

Not many people could juggle graduate school and two jobs.

The biggest problem is that people want to tell the whole story, and they write letters that are way longer than anything I could possibly run.