>Dr. Date,

So, I recently started dating this girl I’ve known for a long time. I’ve never been happier. She has everything I could ever want in a girlfriend.

There is one thing that has really weirded me out about her, though. The other night we were lying in her bed and I grabbed one of her pillows to lay my head on. I felt something inside the pillow.

I proceeded to look under the pillow case and found a nasty-looking baby blanket that obviously had seen a lot of use. When I asked her about it, she told me she has always needed a baby blanket in order to fall asleep at night and that she hides it there so no one else will see it.

I was EXTREMEMLY weirded out by this. I don’t know what to think of her anymore. Is it normal for a 19-year-old girl to still have a blankie? If not, what should I do?

– Not a fan of the blankie

Dear Not a fan of the blankie,

I would never let something like an old soggy blankie get in the way of what you describe as a “perfect” relationship. You say you’ve never been happier. Don’t ruin it.

A quick, informal poll of some of my colleagues revealed that many have heard of grown-up people – even some married couples – that still depend on a blankie. As bizarre as this is, the blankie is a form of comfort for your girlfriend. She has hidden it from you for this long. Maybe you could ask her to put it somewhere else when you’re around.

On the other hand, your uneasiness about the blankie could be masking any uneasiness you’re having about the relationship. Are you freaked out about how well it is going?

If it is just the blankie, don’t let it freak you out.

– Dr. Date

Dear Dr. Date,

I am a second-year dental student here at the University and I have recently broken up with my long-term boyfriend.

There are two guys that I am interested in dating right now. One is your average nice guy who we will call “Mr. Columbia.” We have been friends for over a year now and lately I have had some dirtier thoughts about us.

The other one is an incredibly good-looking who I like to call Ice Man because he looks just like that character from “Top Gun.”

I know that we probably wouldn’t last long but it would be fun while it lasted. While I

normally would not have a problem dating both of them to see which would be more “compatible” with me, they are both in my same class.

So I can’t date both of them without them finding out. I just can’t choose. Do I have to pick one before the other? Would it break some social norm to date them both at the same time?

– A hussie with a dilemma

Dear Hussie with a dilemma,

We’ve gotta clarify something first. Is he “Ice Man” because he has a crappy haircut with his tips bleached, or just because you’d let him in your cockpit?

If it’s the hair, forget about him. You’ve gotta talk to him afterwards. Those guys can never hold a decent conversation; all that hair treatment and tanning gets to the brain.

If the latter is the case, remember, Ice Man was the number two man. Number two men are always jerks. They’re pissed that they’re second. He’s not Maverick, and he never will be.

The long and the short of it, (likely short; that hair is trying to compensate for something) is go for Mr. Columbia. You actually like the guy, plus you won’t have to chew your arm off to get away from him once he falls asleep after your two-minute dogfight.

You seem to like Mr. Columbia enough to chat after he screams, “Voy a llegar!”

– Dr. Date

Dear Dr. Date,

Recently, I’ve been put in an awkward position with a colleague of mine.

Not too long ago, we both returned from a trip abroad. At the start of it, I had been struggling to cope with death in my family. I got to the point where I was having a severe case of insomnia, afraid to go to sleep fearing that I’d dream about my sister being killed.

My colleague knows of this form of massage therapy that was an effective remedy and tried to convince me to join her in sessions of that practice in her room. At first, I resisted since it was very intimate and found excuses to avoid the whole thing. Eventually, I got comfortable, I mean very comfortable.

As the months rolled by, we formed a strong bond together and I could sense it was something much more than friendship. One night, let’s just say we did something she claimed was only an experiment, but was hardly just that. We remained very close for the rest of the trip. However, when we returned and visited her mother, traditions had caught up to her. Her family believes in arranged marriages and frowns heavily on marriages with outsiders. Though she has sorta split from these beliefs and refused to marry her betrothed, politics were destroying her mother’s livelihood and the only way she could stop it was to agree to the arranged marriage, which she did.

When she broke the news to me, I was devastated. I honestly felt there was something between us and had been working hard to earn her mother’s favor. In the end, I had come to terms with the fact that she really had no other option and began thinking that we probably weren’t meant for each other. The wedding was hard for me to attend, but I thought it was probably for the best because she had a world of pressure on her shoulders. Did I make the right decision or should I have helped my colleague more in convincing her mother and her husband’s family that the marriage was inappropriate and find some other way to help her mother?

– The Magic Fingers

Dear Magic Fingers,

It sounds like you have a real problem on your hands. But I have one bit of advice for you: Suck it up.

Stop replaying this sordid event in your head over and over and over again and get over it.

First of all, this “traditional” girl you had this fling with was probably just living-up her single life while she had one, knowing full well this marriage was coming. Best case scenario, she just used you for some fun.

Second, even if you like this girl, she is MARRIED. Even me, Dr. Date, likes to mess around now and then, but only with the single ones.

If the girl really wanted you to step in, she would have asked you.

It sounds like she was using the time away to think, get a little action and have a good time.

– Dr. Date