Dear Francine

Dear Francine, My brother is 53. He has one child, my 12-year-old nephew, 'Mason'. Our father was difficult and not very involved in our childhood. Neither of us have many happy memories of the occasional times we spent with him. Perhaps in response to this, my brother seems incapable of socializing without his son. Many times, he suggests outings to my husband or friends and then throws in that…