Apologize and beg her for forgiveness

Dear Annie: My son’s wife sent me an e-mail saying if I step foot on their property, they will have me arrested for trespassing.

It all began when I suddenly had to constantly retype my e-mail addresses. At first, I thought I was entering something incorrectly, as I’m not a genius with computers. But when I had to keep asking my daughter-in-law to send me my address book information, I realized someone was erasing things. The only person who knew my password was my son’s wife.

To verify my suspicion, I sent an e-mail to a friend my daughter-in-law didn’t know and included a remark about her. Within hours, my daughter-in-law had my son call me about it. When I told him my suspicions that his wife was reading my mail and deleting things, he screamed in my ear that my sister had sent the e-mail to her, which is impossible. I changed my password, but she got that one, too. So I ended up using that e-mail address solely for junk mail.

Now I can’t see my two grandsons, whom I love with all my heart. My son talks to his brother and always asks him how his dad and I are doing, but he won’t call us. His father and I have both been in the hospital since this happened, and we didn’t hear a word.

Our whole family is upset. Please help me find a way to get my son to talk to me. – Miss Those Kids

Dear Miss: There is a possibility that your daughter-in-law was not responsible for your e-mail problems. Deleted addresses can be the result of computer viruses. Even if you are right, accusing her could not possibly have brought you anything but trouble. What did you think would happen? She may not deserve it, but if you apologize profusely and beg her forgiveness, things might improve. Please try, for the sake of those grandchildren.