Dear Dr. Date,

“Happy birthday sweetheart! I hope you have a great day! (P.S. try not to spend it all in one place!!!)” Cute card, right? My grandma wrote it. The problem? She wrote it to my ex-boyfriend!

After dating for about two years, I broke up with my now-ex-boyfriend because things just weren’t working anymore. It was amicable, but we decided we couldn’t be friends, at least for a while. That was about four months ago. I was ok with not being friends with him, but he maintained a couple “mutual friends,” you could say.

My parents have had him over to dinner several times — no, I was not invited. He recently went rock climbing with my sister — again, I was not invited. My grandma even sent him money for his birthday! 

I don’t mind him being friends with my friends or maybe adding my family to his holiday card list, but I really don’t like that he is spending so much time with my family! Please help, Dr. Date! I’m scared they might adopt him.

Sincerely, 

Orphaned by my ex

Dear orphaned by my ex,

Point blank, that’s weird. If you are friends, or I guess even if you aren’t, you should tell him that he’s crossing a line. But maybe more importantly, I think you should tell your family it’s time to move on. Tell your grandma it was fun while it lasted, but maybe she should bother your other siblings’ significant others. If none of that sounds good, the least you can do is make a little money and intercept his mail from your family. It might be a federal offense, but him trying to edge you out of your family is pretty criminal too.

Sincerely, 

Dr. Date