Friend or foe

Dear Friend or Foe, I’m in my 30s and have been friends with “Erin” since we were 6. Erin is getting married next month. I think she's making a mistake. I like her fiance as a person, but he strung her along for nine years. She also frequently complains to me that their sex life is nearly nonexistent. What’s more, she confided last year that he admitted to having a one-night stand with another man. In fact, she expressed fears about his sexuality just a few months before he proposed. I happen to be a bisexual person in a committed, monogamous, hetero-marriage, so I'm not judging him based solely on one bicurious episode. But a couple that only has sex twice a year before they walk down the aisle seems destined for serious intimacy issues. Read More »

Dear Friend or Foe, My (now ex-) friend—“Liza” —started dating my brother about a year ago. They are now living together and show all signs of staying together indefinitely. My relationship with Liza has deteriorated to the point that, when my house actually burned down, she didn't respond to my e-mail, let alone call to see how I was doing ... Read More »

A couple of weeks ago, my two closest friends and I went to a small live-music venue to hear a band. While at the concert, someone “slipped me a mickey.” I remember nothing about the rest of the evening, but I was told that the police officer found me lying alone on the sidewalk. I came-to in the hospital E.R.—alone. Read More »

Dear Friend or Foe, I just turned 37, and I’m getting married in two months. Most of my closest friends have been married for a while now and have at least two children. I'm pretty sure everyone is thrilled for us, since they’ve been waiting for this day FOREVER. Everyone except for my “best friend” Carin. She’s being kind of awful about the whole wedding part. I’m not one of those bridal people who has been looking forward to this day since I was 5. It’s my husband-to-be who really wanted a big wedding. So that’s what we’re doing: three days, destination wedding, the whole shebang. And Carin is, of course, one of my bridesmaids. But as the day gets closer, I’m feeling less and less like she belongs in the bridal party. Recently, she asked, “When is the latest possible time I can arrive at your wedding? Also, just so you know, I’ll be leaving at the crack of dawn the next day.” Read More »

Welcome to "Friend or Foe," a regular Double X advice column for your queries about the trickiest of all love affairs: friendships. Lucinda Rosenfeld, author of I'm So Happy For You, a novel about best friends, is now taking questions at lucinda@imsohappyforyou.com.

Dear Friend or Foe,

I'm at a loss over a situation with a close friend of mine who recently had a baby. When “Kelly” was pregnant, she was at my house nearly every day, hanging out, asking if various pregnancy symptoms were normal, and playing with my kids as "practice." I helped her deal with the mood swings and hormones. I tried to comfort her after she found out her boyfriend was cheating on her throughout the pregnancy.

By Lucinda Rosenfeld

From DoubleX

Dear Friend or Foe,

My best friend “Taylor” and I have been friends for more than eight years, going back to high school. We share the same outlook on a lot of things, but lately we’ve been having the same fight over and over. I have a problem with her butting in on my sex life or, really, my lack of one.