Storage rental can hold items until needed

Dear Annie: I married my husband, a widower, after we had known each other for five years. I thought I knew what I was getting into, but I was silly.

We are living in the home my husband has been in for more than 30 years and the place he is unlikely ever to leave. Six years ago, his daughter, “Tina,” quit school and left home. Her bedroom was waist-deep in a terrible mess that took me months to clean. Her things now are stored in our house. Also, Tina’s mother died 12 years ago, and many of her items were kept for Tina. In fact, nearly all the storage in the house is filled with things belonging either to Tina or her mother.

Tina wrote me a letter, saying she did not want any of these things and to give them away. She is building a small home, and although I’m not sure it will have any space for this mass of items, I am reluctant to assume she won’t want them in the future. I suspect she will someday change her mind.

I want to get the things that belong to my stepdaughter and her mother out of the house. It annoys me to have them stored in every nook and cranny. We even have his late wife’s wedding dress, even though Tina says she never will want it.

I feel like a tenant in this house. Please help. – The Newer Wife

Dear New Wife: You’ve been quite patient with Tina, but since you are reluctant to part with these things, perhaps you can put them in a storage facility so your home is no longer a warehouse. When Tina’s house is finished, go through these things again with her. If she still wants nothing, by all means, give her mother’s keepsakes to someone in the family who would value them and the rest to a worthy charity.

Dear Annie: I read the letter from “Disappointed in the South,” complaining about parents who don’t come to their children’s school functions or pick them up on time. She hit the nail on the head.

My husband is a band director. He always has to stay at least an hour after every event, waiting for parents. His solution is to call the police if the parents are more than 30 minutes late. It certainly has stopped the parents from being lazy. – Tired of It

Dear Tired: We don’t think the police would be thrilled about this, so we’ll make a different suggestion. Parents should be informed that if they are more than 30 minutes late picking up their child from a school event, they will be fined and the money will be used to buy school supplies.

Dear Annie: This letter is in response to the dentist who talked on the phone to his wife while working on a patient’s mouth. As a dentist, I feel compelled to respond.

Dentists have to multitask. I am asked questions all day during treatment, from my receptionist, my assistants, my hygienists, my patients and my colleagues, and I also take phone calls. It does not interfere with my work.

The best way for patients to let me know they are unhappy is by phone call or letter. I would not appreciate a patient going behind my back and writing a syndicated columnist for advice in this situation. – Dentist from Miami

Dear Dentist: We agree that dentists often need to multitask, but only for professional reasons, not to discuss their son’s Little League game while working on a patient. Those calls can wait. And by the way, the woman who wrote did complain to her dentist, who brushed her concerns aside. That’s why she wrote to us. Apparently her dentist wasn’t the only one who struck a nerve.