DEAR ABBY: I am in my early 30s and happy in certain aspects of my life: I recently moved to a house and married a man I love very much. I have friends, hobbies and dreams. One of these dreams is to be a novelist, although I do marketing for a tech company right now.
This brings me to my problem: I have been feeling depressed by my job. Working in tech marketing is not something I enjoy; it’s something I have done in recent years to pay the bills. My job is high-stress and fast-moving, and people can be impatient.
Typically, I keep any work-induced depression at bay by running, writing and spending time with loved ones. But lately, these things haven’t lessened the negative feelings I have from work as much. In fact, I have begun feeling less joy in the things I typically do with my free time.
I feel like a failure for trying to write a novel in the midst of so much work. I am afraid if I quit my job, I won’t be able to make mortgage payments and will burden my husband with an unfair amount of stress. He is also unhappy at his tech job but doing it to help support us.
Getting a new job won’t fix this, because I’ve felt down at other tech marketing jobs that pay me enough to afford our house and save up for having a child (another dream). How can I get out from under this rain cloud? Do I want too much out of life?
— STYMIED IN CALIFORNIA
DEAR STYMIED: A solution that might work for you would be a part-time job in tech that would help you to pay the mortgage, while affording you free time to pursue your writing. Give yourself a one-year deadline, see if there is any interest in what you have produced and proceed from there. I wish you luck.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: Should I change my financial arrangement with my husband? We have been married 18 years and have a joint checking account. He has a separate account for his side business that’s just for him. I have a separate account I use for my job to renew licenses and finance my continuing education. During the last few years, he has insisted I pay my own medical bills (which had always come out of our joint account before).
I have a history of thyroid cancer, and my family has a history of more serious cancers. He tells me I go to the doctor too often. I typically go for an annual physical, annual thyroid exam and to the gynecologist. We have medical insurance.
I’m starting to wonder if I should just ask for my paycheck to be deposited into my own account and then transfer money over to the joint account to cover our household bills, which he also pays. I don’t want to start a fight about it as he and I are quite traditional in most ways. Help! I feel like I have no money even though we both work full time.
— DIVIDING IT UP IN INDIANA
DEAR DIVIDING: You have a valid point. It’s time for you and your husband to sit down with a FINANCIAL ADVISER and work something out that is fair to both of you. Your CPA may be able to help you or recommend someone.
Way back in 2022, when Philadelphians gathered on an abandoned pier to watch a man eat a rotisserie chicken, folks on social media began to wonder: “Is Philadelphia a real place?”
Sure, that perception has a lot to do with an unbelievable event that actually happened in the suburbs (Delco never fails to carry its weight), but Philly also saw its fair share of the bizarre this year, too.
As we prepare for what may be one of the most important (and hopefully weirdest!) years in modern Philadelphia history, let’s take some time to look back on the peculiar stories from across the region that punctuated 2025.
Five uh-oh
Kevon Darden was sworn in as a part-time police officer for Collingdale Borough on Jan. 12 and hit the ground running, landing his first arrest just four days later.
The only problem? It was his own.
Pennsylvania State Police charged Darden with terroristic threats and related offenses for an alleged road rage incident in 2023 in which he’s accused of pointing a gun at a driver on the Blue Route in Ridley Township. At the time of the alleged incident Darden was employed as an officer at Cheyney University.
A Pennsylvania State Police vehicle. The agency provided two clean background checks for a Collingdale police officer this year, only to arrest him four days after he started the job.
Here’s the thing — it was state police who provided not one but two clean background checks on Darden to Collingdale officials before he was hired. An agency spokesperson told The Inquirer troopers had to wait on forensic evidence tests and approval from the District Attorney’s Office before filing charges.
Darden subsequently resigned and is scheduled for trial next year in Delaware County Court.
For the Birds
The Eagles’ second Super Bowl win provided a wellspring of wacky — and sometimes dicey — moments on and off the field early this year.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker started the championship run off strong by going viral for misspelling the most popular chant in the city as “E-L-G-S-E-S” during a news conference. Her mistake made the rounds on late night talk shows and was plastered onto T-shirts, beer coozies, and even a license plate. If you think the National Spelling Bee is brutal, you’ve never met Eagles fans.
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts at the line of scrimmage during the fourth quarter of the NFC divisional playoff at Lincoln Financial Field on Jan. 19. The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Los Angeles Rams 28 to 22.
Then there was the snowy NFC divisional playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams at Lincoln Financial Field; continued drama around the Tush Push (which resulted in Dude Wipes becoming an official sponsor of the team); and Cooper DeJean’s pick-six, a gift to himself and us on his 22nd birthday that helped the Birds trounce the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX.
As soon as the Eagles won with Jalen Hurts as MVP, Philadelphians let loose, flooding the streets like a drunken green tsunami. Fans scaled poles and tore them down; danced on bus shelters, medic units, and trash trucks; partied with Big Foot, Ben Franklin, and Philly Elmo; and set a bonfire in the middle of Market Street.
Eagles fans party on trash trucks in the streets of Center City after the Birds win in Super Bowl LIX against the Chiefs on Feb. 9.
Finally, there was the parade, a Valentine’s Day love letter to the Eagles from Philadelphia. Among the more memorable moments was when Birds general manager Howie Roseman was hit in the head with a can of beer thrown from the crowd. He took his battle scar in pride, proclaiming from the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum: “I bleed for this city.”
As we say around here, love Hurts.
Throngs of Birds fans lined the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for the Eagles Super Bowl Parade on Feb. 14.
A $40 million goodbye
As far as inanimate objects go, few have experienced more drama in recent Philly history than the SS United States, the 73-year-old, 990-foot luxury liner that was docked for nearly three decades on the Delaware River waterfront.
Supporters spent more than $40 million on rent, insurance, and other measures to keep the ship in Philly with the hopes of returning it to service or at least turning it into a venue. But a rent dispute with the owners of the pier finally led a judge to order the SS United States Conservancy, which owned the vessel, to seek an alternate solution.
Workers on the Walt Whitman Bridge watch from above as the SS United States is pulled by tug boats on the Delaware River.
And so in February, with the help of five tugboats, the ship was hauled out of Philly to prepare it to become the world’s largest artificial reef off the coast of Okaloosa County, Fla.
If the United States has to end somewhere, Florida feels like an apt place.
The ‘Delco Pooper’
While the Eagles’ Tush Push was deemed legal by NFL owners this year, a Delaware County motorist found that another kind of tush push most definitely is not after she was arrested for rage pooping on the hood of a car during a roadway dispute in April.
Captured on video by a teen who witnessed the rear-ending, the incident quickly went viral and put a stain on Delco that won’t be wiped away anytime soon.
Christina Solometo, who was dubbed the “Delco Pooper” on social media, told Prospect Park Police she got into a dispute with another driver, whom she believed began following her. Solometo claimed when she got out of her car the other driver insulted her and so she decided to dump her frustrations on their hood.
A private security guard holds the door open for alleged “Delco Pooper” Christina Solometo following her preliminary hearing Monday at Prospect Park District Court.
“Solometo said, ‘I wanted to punch her in the face, but I pooped on her car instead and went home,’” according to the affidavit.
I’ve written a lot of stories about Delco in my time, but this may be the most absurd.
Hopefully, she won’t be clogging up the court system anymore.
The Delco pope
Delco is large, it contains multitudes, and never was that more clear than when two weeks after the Delco Pooper case broke, a Delco pope was elected.
OK, so Pope Leo XIV is technically a native of Chicago, but he attended undergrad at Villanova University — which, yes, technically straddles Delco and Montgomery County — but Delco’s had a tough year so I’m gonna give it this one.
This video screen grab shows Pope Leo XIV wearing a Villanova University hat gifted to him during a meeting with an Italian heritage group.
Born Robert Prevost, Pope Leo is the first U.S. pope in history and also a citizen of Peru. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Villanova in 1977 and an honorary doctor of humanities from the university in 2014.
Center City Sips, the Wednesday Center City happy hour program, long ago earned a reputation as a rite of passage for 20-somethings who are still figuring out how to limit their intake and want to do so in business casual attire.
Things seemed to calm down after the pandemic, but then Philadelphians took Sips to another level and a whole new place this year — the streets.
Videos showed hundreds of people partying in the streets of Midtown Village on Wednesday nights this summer. Granted, the parties look far more calm than when sports fans take over Philly after a big win, but the nearby bar owners who participate in the Sips program said their places sat empty as people brought their own alcohol to drink.
Jason Evenchik, who owns Time, Vintage, Garage, and other bars, told The Inquirer that “No one is inside, and it’s mayhem outside.”
“Instead, he claimed, people are selling alcohol out of their cars and bringing coolers to make their own cocktails. At one point on June 11,Evenchik said, a Tesla blocked a crosswalk while a man made piña coladas with a pair of blenders hooked up to the car,” my colleague Beatrice Forman wrote.
In no way am I condoning this behavior, but those two sentences above may be my among favorite this year. Who thinks to bring a blender — with a car hookup — to make piña coladas at an unauthorized Center City street party on a Wednesday night?
Philly.
Getting trashed
Philadelphians experienced a major city workers strike this summer when Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and AFSCME District Council 33 couldn’t agree on a new contract for the union’s nearly 9,000 members.
Residents with trash arrive at garbage dump site at Caldera Road and Red Lion Road in northeast Philadelphia during the AFSCME District Council 33 workers strike in July.
As a result, things got weird. Dead bodies piled up at the Medical Examiner’s Office; a striking union member was arrested for allegedly slashing the tires of a PGW vehicle; and for eight days in the July heat, garbage heaped up all across Philadelphia. The city set up temporary trash drop-off sites, which often overflowed into what were nicknamed “Parker piles,” but that also set off a firestorm about whether using the sites constituted crossing a picket line.
Wawa Welcome America July Fourth concert headliners LL Cool J and Jazmine Sullivan even pulled out of the show in support of striking workers, resulting in a fantastic “Labor Loves Cool J” meme.
It was all like something out of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. In fact, the gang predicted a trash strike in the 2012 episode “The Gang Recycles Their Trash.”
The real strike lasted eight days before a contract was reached. In true Philly form, AFSCME District Council 33 president Greg Boulware told The Inquirer “nobody’s happy.”
A large pile of trash collects at a city drop-off site during the AFSCME workers strike this summer.
97-year-old gives birth to 16 kids
A local nonagenarian couple became national shellebrities this year for welcoming seven babies in April and nine more in August, proving that age ain’t nothing but a number, as long as you’re a tortoise.
Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoise Mommy, and male Abrazzo, left, are shown on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at the Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, Pa. The hatchlings’ parents, female Mommy and male Abrazzo, are the Zoo’s two oldest animals, each estimated to be around 100 years old.
Mommy and Abrazzo, Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoises who reside at the Philadelphia Zoo, made history with their two clutches, becoming the first pair of the critically endangered species in the zoo’s 150-year history to hatch eggs and the first to do so in any accredited zoo since 2019.
Mommy is also the oldest known first-time Galapagos tortoise mom in the world, so it’s safe to say she doesn’t have any time or patience for shenanigans. She’s got 16 heroes in a half shell to raise.
Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoise egg hatchling.
Phillies Karen
Taking candy from a baby is one thing — babies don’t need candy anyway — but taking a baseball from a kid at a Phillies game is a deed so foul and off base it’s almost unimaginable.
And yet, that’s exactly what happened at a Phillies-Marlins game in September, when a home run from Harrison Bader landed in the stands and a dad ran from his seat to grab it and give it to his son. A woman who was sitting near where the ball landed marched over to the dad, berated him, and demanded the ball be given her. Taken aback, the father reached into his son’s baseball glove and turned the ball over.
The entire scene was caught on camera and the woman, with her Kate Gosselin-esque hairdo, was immediately dubbed “Phillies Karen” by flabbergasted fans.
While the act technically happened at the Marlins stadium in Miami, Fla., it captured the minds and memes of Philadelphians so much that it deserves inclusion on this list. Phillies Karen has made her way onto T-shirts and coffee mugs, inspired skits at a Savannah Bananas game and the MLB Awards, and she even became a popular Halloween costume.
To this day, “Phillies Karen” remains unidentified, so it’s a safe bet she lives in Florida, where she’ll have better luck with alligators than with people here.
Institutional intrigue
Drama at area institutions this year had Philadelphians sipping tea like we were moms on Christmas morning, and sometimes, left us shaking our fists in the air like we were dads putting up tangled lights.
David Adelman with the Philadelphia 76ers makes a statement at a press conference in the Mayor’s Reception Room in January regarding the Sixers changing directions on the controversial Center City arena. At left is mayor Parker, at right City Council President Kenyatta Johnson and Josh Harris, Sixers owner.
It started early in January, when the billionaire owners of the Sixers surprised the entire city by announcing the team would stay at the South Philly sports complex instead of building their own arena on Market East. The decision came after two years of seemingly using the city, its politicians, and its people as pawns in their game.
Workers gathered outside World Cafe Live before a Town Hall meeting with management in July.
In June, workers staged a walkout at World Cafe Live due to what they claimed was “an unacceptable level of hostility and mismanagement” from its new owners, including its then-CEO, Joseph Callahan. Callahan — who said the owners inherited $6 million in debt and that he wanted to use virtual reality to bolster its revenue — responded by firing some of the workers and threatening legal action. Today, the future of World Cafe Live remains unclear. Callahan stepped down as CEO in September (but remains chairman of the board), the venue’s liquor license expired, and its landlord, the University of Pennsylvania, wants to evict its tenant, with a trial scheduled for January.
Signage at the east entrance to the Philadelphia Art Museum reflects the rebrand of the institution, which was formerly known as the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Finally, late this year at the Philadelphia Art Museum, things got more surreal than a Salvador Dalí painting, starting with an institutional rebrand that surprised some board members, didn’t land well with the public, and resulted in a lot of PhART jokes. In November, museum CEO Sasha Suda was fired following an investigation by an outside law firm that focused, in part, on increases to her salary, a source told The Inquirer. Suda’s lawyer called it a “a sham investigation” and Suda quickly sued her former employer, claiming that “her efforts to modernize the museum clashed with a small, corrupt, and unethical faction of the board intent on preserving the status quo.”
Nobody knows where all of this will go, but it’s likely to have more drama than a Caravaggio.
Philadelphia sports fans of a certain age remember the city’s golden era, when all four professional teams advanced to their league’s championship series or title game in the same calendar year.
“The city was crazy that summer,” said Larry Bowa, the former Phillies shortstop who was a member of the 1980 World Series champion team. “Every team went to the finals, and we were the only one that won.”
Yes, the Sixers, Flyers, and Eagles all came up short of the brass ring in 1980 (and January 1981 for the Birds’ Super Bowl loss), but Philadelphia morphed into a sports nirvana during those 12 months.
Bowa said he thinks the 2026 Philadelphia sports scene will be even more electric, when the City of Brotherly Love hosts a bevy of major sporting events throughout the year. It starts with the March Madness men’s basketball opening rounds at Xfinity Mobile Arena, and stretches through the end of August, when the Philadelphia Cycling Classic is staged.
In between those two marquee events, the 108th PGA Championship will be played at Aronimink Golf Club, followed by six FIFA World Cup matches held at Lincoln Financial Field, the last of which is scheduled for July 4, the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress.
If that’s not enough, Citizens Bank Park in mid-July will be the host site for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the fifth time the Midsummer Classic has been played in Philadelphia, but the first at the Phillies’ current home stadium.
Imagine if the four Philly pro teams have a 1980 redux — that would be the cherry on top of Billy Penn’s hat.
“I think it’s going to be awesome,” Bowa said of the upcoming sports extravaganza. “People come from all over, and, whether it’s fair or not, Philly gets a bad rap sometimes. People that don’t live here, they don’t understand the passion that the fans have. It’s a great city. The fans are great. [You] can enjoy some of the history downtown. It’s going to be fun to sit back and watch.”
Houston forward Ja’Vier Francis blocks a shot by Florida center Micah Handlogten during the NCAA championship game on April 7, 2025, in San Antonio, Texas.
March Madness: NCAA men’s basketball tournament
None of the area men’s basketball teams that constitute the Big 5 (now 6 including Drexel University) is currently in the Top 25 rankings as of this writing, but that could change by the turn of the calendar.
Even if no Philly-area team punches its Big Dance ticket, St. Joseph’s will factor in the 2026 NCAA tourney when the school hosts the first- and second-round games at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Florida Gators are the defending champions, and when March Madness begins, Philadelphia steps into the college basketball limelight for the opening curtain.
Friday, March 20, and Sunday, March 22; Xfinity Mobile Arena; tickets at xfinitymobilearena.com.
Scottie Scheffler lines up a putt on the fifth green on the first day of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black on Sept. 26.
PGA Championship
The 108th edition of one of professional golf’s four majors will be staged on the pristine Aronimink Golf Club links. The last time the PGA Championship was staged here was more than 60 years ago, when Hall of Fame legend Gary Player beat Bob Goalby by a stroke.
More recently, Keegan Bradley won the 2018 BMW Championship at Aronimink. Defending champ Scottie Scheffler will be among the star-studded group of golfers descending upon suburban Philly to play for the Wanamaker Trophy. If you miss out on tickets to the PGA Championship, you have another chance to see high-level golf in the region when the U.S. Men’s Amateur Championship comes to Merion Golf Club in mid-August.
May 11-17; Aronimink Golf Club, Newtown Square; tickets at pgachampionship.com.
The FIFA World Cup Trophy is displayed during the FIFA World Cup 2026 playoff draw in Zurich, Switzerland, on Nov. 20.
FIFA World Cup
Soccer’s premiere event was last staged in the U.S. over three decades ago, when the USMNT advanced to the Round of 16, before losing to perennial powerhouse Brazil. Now the men’s national team has another chance to try to do what no U.S. squad has done before — win soccer’s most prestigious award.
Six of the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches will be played at the Linc, including the final of those matches scheduled to take place on Independence Day.
June 14-July 4; Lincoln Financial Field; tickets at fifa.com.
Tampa Bay Rays’ Junior Caminero reacts during the MLB baseball All-Star Home Run Derby on July 14 in Atlanta.
MLB All-Star Game
Bowa was an All-Star in 1976, when the Midsummer Classic was played at Veterans Stadium. But in that doughnut-shaped ballpark, “you had to hit ’em to get out of there.” Bowa said he thinks the bandbox Citizens Bank Park will be a great venue for baseball’s All-Star gathering, particularly the Home Run Derby.
“This one, they might be taking the upper deck down with these guys as big and strong as they are, and the way the ball jumps in Philly.”
It will be even more entertaining if defending All-Star Game MVP Kyle Schwarber is suited up in a Phillies jersey next year. But if Schwarber departs in free agency, there is still a group of Phillies — Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Cristopher Sanchez — who could star for the National League.
July 12-14; Citizens Bank Park; tickets at mlb.com.
Racers in the 2007 Commerce Bank Liberty Classic climbing the Manayunk Wall.
Philadelphia Cycling Classic
One of cycling’s jewel events, the Philadelphia Classic has had numerous name iterations over the years, going back to its start in 1985 when it was called CoreStates U.S. Pro Cycling Championship. That year, Eric Heiden — yes, the former U.S. Olympic gold medal-winning speed skater — was champion.
Tour de France legend Greg LeMond has also been a past participant. The route snakes west of Center City and includes the famed Manayunk Wall, a cycling test of will on Levering Street.
Aug. 30; Planned 14.4-mile circuit goes from Logan Square up Kelly Drive to Manayunk and back; tickets at philadelphiacyclingclassic.com.
The morning glory flower can take months to blossom, but seeing their stunning trumpet-shape blooms finally pop from their spindly tendrils is so worth the wait.
“We call the morning glory ‘happiness,’ because it’s cheerful. It’s blue with a glowing pink center, and it makes you feel like life is good,” said Burpee president and CEO Jamie Mattikow.
To celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday, the Warminster company is partnering with the Museum of the American Revolution to offer a Declaration Bouquet collection, which features seeds for five new flowers inspired by words plucked from the Declaration of Independence and the national anthem.
The collection debuted Dec. 1, and, besides the “happiness” morning glory, includes a “star-spangled” marigold, whose white layered petals signify Old Glory’s stars; the drought-tolerant, butter yellow “independence” gaillardia; the fiery orange “liberty” cosmos; and the calming purple “freedom” verbena that can be started indoors or out, as long as it has full sun.
Burpee’s Declaration Bouquet celebrates the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“We wanted to bring the words to life in a flower that embodied them,” Mattikow said of the full collection, which is available in the museum’s gift shop and via Burpee for $34.95 (you can also get each Declaration Bouquet seed packet individually via burpee.com). The collection contains five seed packets, eight labels, a Declaration of Independence keepsake card, and growing instructions.
“The Declaration Bouquet was part of a larger effort of making America’s 250th special for gardeners,” said Mattikow, who became an avid gardener himself after he joined the company in 2019.
The idea to partner with the Museum of the American Revolution came from Maureen Heffernan, horticulturist and wife of Burpee owner George Bell, after a visit to the Old City institution.
“They were percolating this idea of collaborations for 2026, so she reached out,” said Allegra Burnette, the museum’s chief strategy and growth officer.
They talked through ideas, and the company came up with the flower collection.
“It’s a way for them to showcase new flowers — and the Declaration of Independence spawned a lot of new things, as well,” Burnette said. “It’s also a nice way to come out of our ‘Declaration’s Journey’ exhibit when you are in a thoughtful but celebratory frame of mind. We hope it’s a way to plant a seed and keep something going forward.”
“Freedom” verbenas were bred for Burpee’s Declaration Bouquet in celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The collaboration was a no-brainer for Burpee. “We recognize the importance of Philadelphia to the birth of the country, and we wanted to partner with somebody who could help us think of a great way to do this,” Mattikow said.
Along with celebrating the nation’s milestone birthday, Burpee has a big one of its own, marking 150 years in business in 2026. One way it’s ringing in the anniversary is with a Historic Breakthroughs collection of heirloom seeds.
“The founding of W. Atlee Burpee has always been about innovation, even today,” Mattikow said. “[Our story] has been largely told in products that were firsts to gardeners and farmers at the time. There are histories behind them that some people aren’t aware of, so we thought it’d be a wonderful opportunity to bundle it together in a collection of historic gardening firsts.”
Burpee’s Historical Breakthroughs seed collection celebrates the company’s 150th anniversary.
The Historic Breakthroughs collection includes nine seed packets and is priced at $29.95, available through Burpee’s website and catalog. This includes iceberg lettuce (first bred in 1894), the first yellow sweet corn (1902), and snowbird sugar snap peas (1978). The collection’s packaging features a nostalgic recreation of a Burpee catalog cover from 1888.
In addition to the Declaration Bouquet, Burpee also launched three other heirloom seed collections for 2026 that tell stories from the iconic gardens of the Monticello Museum, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and the American Horticultural Society. Each collection contains eight packets of seeds and is available at the respective institutions, as well as via Burpee for $49.95.
“Over the years there’s been a lot of choiceful introduction of products that would succeed in the climates of the U.S.,” said Mattikow. “They’re wonderful if you want a little slice of history from a gardener’s standpoint.”
DEAR ABBY: My ex-husband and I were best friends. We shared everything — dreams, laughs and struggles. I was convinced we’d grow old together. When he proposed, I said yes without hesitation. We had plans to start a family, but he asked me to wait until we purchased a home. I waited five years, trusting that the dream we had built together was still alive.
In time, we bought our house, but when I asked about having children, something had shifted. He told me he no longer wanted kids. I was heartbroken. The life we had talked about for years suddenly dissolved. Soon after, he invited his mother, sister, brother-in-law and their daughter to move in with us. I tried to be understanding, but I began feeling like a guest in my own home — like he loved me, but prioritized them. Eventually, he told me he was moving out. He bought a condo and moved with his entire family, and I was left alone — emotionally and physically.
I have tried to convince myself that this was never really about the kids, but I can’t shake the guilt. Part of me keeps thinking if I had said no to children, would he have stayed? Even now, years later, I still care for him and cannot seem to let go. I don’t know how to move forward when someone who was once my everything still occupies so much of my heart, even if he’s no longer in my life. How do I let go of someone who let go of me so easily?
— DREAM DESTROYED IN VIRGINIA
DEAR ‘DREAM’: You feel guilty for having wanted children, after your husband led you on for years pretending that he did? You were grossly misled and then deserted. If that reality hasn’t been enough to help you “let go,” then what you need is professional help from someone who is licensed to give it. You are clinging to the fantasy of this person, not the reality.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: My retired husband of 15 years, “Seth,” is pushing me to the edge of divorce. He’s extremely negative, verbally abusive and estranged from many friends, which has harmed my relationships with friends and family. He drinks almost all day (I drink as well), calls me horrible names I won’t repeat and refuses to respect my sleep needs (I’m still working). He thinks he’s being “funny” when he acts this way. Seth doesn’t hear well, so he talks softly, and this also leads to unnecessary arguments.
I love Seth, but I feel like he is destroying my spirit and who I am. I used to be an independent, capable person. Now I feel like I am always walking on eggshells. I dread coming home from work some days. I just want to run away. Your thoughts?
— END OF MY ROPE IN IDAHO
DEAR ‘END’: Go online to Al-Anon (al-anon.org/info), find a location near you and attend some of the meetings. Then, if you are really at the end of your rope, draw the line with your disrespectful, alcoholic verbal abuser. Tell him LOUDLY, when he’s a little more sober than usual, that you have had it and that if he doesn’t stop drinking, his marriage is over. Then save yourself and follow through.
The house: a 1,620-square-foot single-family residence in Germantown with four bedrooms and 1½ bathrooms built in 1900.
The price: listed for $170,000; purchased for $165,000
The agent: Shante Jenkins, Long & Foster Real Estate
The living room in Kia Wilson’s home in Germantown.
The ask: For years, homeownership was something that Kia Wilsonconsidered in the abstract — something she might get to one day. In 2020, she gave herself a timeline. Within five years, she told herself, she would buy a home. She would save. She would fix her credit. She would do it the “right” way.
Then everything changed.
In 2021, a relationship turned unsafe. Wilson’s then-partner threatened her family, including her children. “I was like, ‘I need to leave now,’” Wilson said. ‘Without the money saved up, without my credit being good. I just needed to move.’”
Wilson’s requirements were practical and shaped by urgency. She needed space for herself, her two children, and eventually her mother. She wanted her teenage daughter to have her own bathroom, and she needed a fenced-in backyard for her dogs. Above all, she needed a mortgage she could afford. She wanted it to be $700 a month — the same she paid in rent.
As for location, “I didn’t care,” she said. “Just not Kensington.” And not near her ex’s parents.
The dining area in Wilson’s home.
The search: Wilson began looking seriously in late 2022, working with a friend and coworker who had just gotten her real estate license. Together, they saw about 15 houses over a few months. Some were impractical. Some were strangely laid out. One was in a flood zone, so Wilson didn’t even bother going inside. Another, she is convinced, was haunted. During the showing, a radio suddenly began playing in the basement. “That radio was loud enough for us to hear it on the third floor,” Wilson said.
That house wasn’t the only one that lingered. Wilson and Jenkins returned to another three separate times just to switch off the lights they’d accidentally left on in the basement and on the porch. That hadn’t happened anywhere else. “I was like, ‘Why does this house keep calling me back?’” Wilson said.
Wilson wanted two bathrooms so that her teenage daughter could have her own.
The appeal: The house Wilson ultimately bought wasn’t perfect, but it checked her most important boxes. It had four nice-sized bedrooms, a small backyard with a full basement, and a semiattached layout that gave the house a little breathing room.
But the feature that sold Wilson was surprisingly specific. “At the very top of the steps is the bathroom,” she said. “If I come in the house from work and I have to pee really bad, I can run straight up the steps to the bathroom.”
The kitchen was a major upgrade from her previous place, where the kitchen had essentially been an unheated shed. This one was huge and had cabinets. That alone felt luxurious.
The deal: The house was listed at around $170,000. Wilson offered $160,000, expecting a counteroffer. The sellers came back at $165,000, which she accepted.
Wilson likes how big and open her kitchen is.
Since the sellers wouldn’t meet her lowest price, Wilson requested that they remove a large oil tank from the basement. They agreed. They also patched flooring gaps in the kitchen and near the front door and removed a mysterious electrical switch that carried power but didn’t control anything.
Flush with the concessions she’d already secured, Wilson made one more request. “I was like, wow, what else can I ask them to do?” she said, laughing. She asked for a sump pump in the basement, but the sellers said no.
The money: Wilson didn’t have savings for a down payment. “People think you have to have this ridiculous amount of money[to buy a house],” she said. “I had nothing.”
What she did have was persistence — and grants. She took first-time homebuyer classes and applied for multiple assistance programs, including funding through the Mount Airy CDC and her employer. In total, she received four grants and roughly $16,000. Her mortgage company told her they’d never seen someone with so many grants. Her mother also contributed $1,000, which served as Wilson’s down payment. All in, she spent $17,000 on her home.
The exterior of Wilson’s home in Germantown.
The move: Wilson closed on March 12, 2023, and moved in one month later. Moving was a “pain in the butt,” she said. “I was trying to do it myself because I didn’t have any money.” The friends who promised to help bailed, and the coworkers who stepped up broke her dresser and her refrigerator. “It was terrible,” Wilson said. “I didn’t have a refrigerator for two weeks.”
Any reservations? Some days, Wilson wishes she never bought the house. It’s old and needs extensive work. “Things are falling apart,” she said.
If she could do it again, she would prioritize a house where the cosmetic work was already done and pay closer attention to small details — like mismatched bathroom tiles. Still, the house has “great bones,” she said.
Life after close: Since moving in, Wilson has taken classes at the West Philly Tool Library, where she learned to patch drywall and tile. The bathroom is now all one color. She’s changed the locks, plans to replace the front door, and has begun slowly making the house her own. This year, she grew a watermelon in the yard.
“It’s really surreal,” Wilson said. “I’ve owned a house for two years. Only 28 more to go.”
The Wall Street Journal crowns Philly the best place to visit in 2026: A
Congratulations to Philadelphia, which has officially been named the world’s best place to visit in 2026 — a sentence that still feels fake even after you say it out loud.
The Wall Street Journal says it’s because of America’s 250th birthday, the World Cup, March Madness, the MLB All-Star Game, and a stretch of months where Philly will be hosting basically every major event short of the Olympics.
But let’s be clear: Big events don’t make a city great. They just expose whether it already is.
Philly works as a destination because it can handle the chaos. This is a city that treats historic milestones and sports meltdowns with the same emotional intensity. Where strangers will give you directions, opinions, and a life story within 30 seconds. Where the best part of your trip will almost certainly be something you didn’t plan: a bar you ducked into, a neighborhood you wandered through, a crowd you got absorbed into without realizing it.
So why not an A+? Because Philly being crowned “best place to visit” comes with consequences we know all too well. Inflated hotel prices, SEPTA stress tests, streets that were never designed for this many people, and locals being asked, again, to carry the weight of a global party while still getting to work on time.
And because, frankly, Philly doesn’t need outside validation. This city didn’t suddenly get interesting because the Wall Street Journal noticed. We’ve been loud about this for years, from barstools, stoops, and comment sections, and now the rest of the world is finally catching up (and booking flights).
Still, credit where it’s due. This is a huge moment, and a deserved one. Philly is about to have the kind of year cities dream about, even if we’ll spend most of it grumbling, redirecting tourists, and muttering “we told you so.”
We’ll host the world. We’ll complain the entire time. And somehow, we’ll still prove them right.
Primo’s founder Rich Neigre and Audrey Neigre, his daughter, hold a whole Italian hoagie in 2011.
Primo Hoagies covering big-dog adoption fees: A+
This is what “using your powers for good” looks like.
As PhillyVoice reported, Primo Hoagies quietly covering adoption fees for large dogs at a South Jersey shelter is the kind of move that cuts straight through the holiday noise. No brand stunt. No overexplaining. Just: These dogs keep getting passed over, that’s not right, let’s fix one part of it.
Big dogs are the last ones out the door. Everyone wants the tiny, apartment-friendly, Instagram-ready pup. Meanwhile, the 70-pound sweethearts sit there, year after year, wondering what they did wrong (answer: nothing). Removing the fee doesn’t solve everything, but it removes one very real excuse, and sometimes that’s all it takes.
Also, this is extremely on-brand Philly energy. Feed people. Love dogs. Don’t make a big deal about it. Just do the thing.
City skyline with people present for the unveiling of the new logo for Xfinity Mobile Arena the former Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday, September 2, 2025.
Philly making Zillow’s hottest housing markets list: B (with side-eye)
Zillow’s takeaway is that Philly is “affordable,” centrally located, and culturally desirable. Which is true. It’s also the most polite way possible to say: People are moving here because they’ve been priced out of everywhere else. Welcome! Please enjoy our rowhouses, strong opinions, and streets that were absolutely not designed for this many buyers.
The median home value sitting around $230,000 looks great on a national list. On the ground, it translates to open houses packed like an Eagles tailgate and starter homes disappearing in 48 hours with cash offers that make lifelong renters quietly spiral. Philly didn’t suddenly become hot. It became relatively attainable, which in 2025 is the real flex.
But let’s acknowledge that there is tension baked into this moment. Being desirable is good. Being affordable is better. Staying both at the same time? That’s the hard part.
Jason Kelce with the Hank Suace cofounders (from left): Matt Pittaluga, Brian “Hank” Ruxton, and Josh Jaspan. Hank Sauce was founded in 2011 and is based in Sea Isle City. Kelce announced a partnership with the local brand and his family’s Winnie Capital.
Jason Kelce investing in Hank Sauce: A+ (this was inevitable)
There are celebrity investments, and then there are ones so perfectly aligned they feel less like a business move and more like destiny. Jason Kelce backing Hank Sauce, a Sea Isle City staple sold in surf shops, Shore houses, and Philly-area grocery stores, is very much the latter.
Sea Isle is so Jason Kelce. He’s there constantly. He bartends there. He fundraises there. He rips his shirt off there. He eats there. At this point, investing in a Sea Isle brand feels less like branching out and more like protecting his natural habitat.
And Hank Sauce? Also a perfect match. It’s not about pain tolerance or macho heat levels. It’s a hot sauce for people who want flavor without suffering, which somehow mirrors Kelce’s whole deal: loud, intense energy paired with surprising warmth and accessibility.
This doesn’t feel like a celebrity slapping his name on a product he just met. Kelce was already a customer. Already a fan. Already drinking beers with the founders in the back room years ago. Philly and the Shore can smell authenticity a mile away, and this one passes immediately.
Will this help Hank Sauce grow further nationally? Almost certainly. But more importantly, it feels earned. It’s a local guy with local roots putting money behind something that already belonged to the place — and to him.
SEPTA buses travel along Market Street on Dec. 8, 2025, in Philadelphia.
Philly’s ever-lengthening commute: C-
Nothing bonds Philadelphians quite like the shared understanding that getting to work will take longer than it should, feel more chaotic than advertised, and somehow still be your fault for not “leaving earlier.”
A new report confirms what everyone stuck on the Schuylkill, the El, or a delayed Regional Rail train already knows: Philly’s average commute is longer than most big cities — and it got worse last year. Thirty-three minutes doesn’t sound brutal until you remember that’s a one-way trip, on a good day, assuming nothing’s on fire (which, this year, was not a safe assumption).
Yes, return-to-office mandates are part of it. Yes, traffic is bad everywhere. But Philly commuters have been playing on hard mode: SEPTA funding drama, service cuts that almost happened, service cuts that did happen, train inspections, near-strikes, and the ever-present question of whether your bus is late or just gone.
The most Philly part is that it’s still technically better than 2019. Which feels less like a victory and more like saying, “Hey, at least it’s not the worst version of this misery.”
New York’s commute is longer. Congrats to them. But Philly’s special talent is making 33 minutes feel like an emotional journey. You leave your house hopeful. You arrive at work already needing a break.
An Eagles fan holds up a sign supporting the Tush Push as the Eagles faced the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field last month.
The Tush Push is officially losing its magic: C
Let us be honest with each other, because denial is unbecoming. The Tush Push is no longer a cheat code. It’s a memory. A beautiful, violent, once-automatic memory.
Three tries. Three failures. False starts, no gain, another flag, and then Nick Sirianni punting like a man quietly admitting something he didn’t want to say out loud. When the Eagles chose not to run it on fourth-and-1, that was the tell. Not the stats. Not the penalties. The vibes. Coaches don’t abandon unstoppable plays. They abandon plays that might get them booed.
For a while, the Tush Push was everything Philly loves: blunt, physical, a little rude, and wildly effective. It turned short-yardage into theater. It broke opponents’ spirits. It sent NFL discourse into absolute hysterics. It won games. It won a Super Bowl. It made grown men scream about “nonfootball plays” like the Eagles had discovered witchcraft.
And now? Teams figured it out. Officials started staring at it like it personally offended them. Hurts clearly got tired of being a human battering ram. What was once inevitable is now… work. And unreliable work at that.
This grade isn’t a condemnation. It’s grief. The Tush Push didn’t die because it failed once. It died because it stopped being feared. It went from “automatic” to “ugh, here we go,” and that’s not good enough in January.
The Eagles will be fine. They have Saquon Barkley, creativity, and other ways to move the ball. But the era of lining up and daring the defense to stop you, knowing they couldn’t, is over.
Raise a glass. Pour one out. Say something nice. Then move on.
You may have received some gifts recently that you do not love. It happens! I invited two Inquirer staffers to help figure out what to do when it does.
Have your own thoughts or other questions? Fill in the box at the end!
.inno-chat__body {
border-radius: 12px;
}
Evan Weiss
Deputy Features Editor
The question is… My mother-in-law gifted me an ugly Eagles table runner. Do I have to keep it?
Zoe Greenberg
Life & Culture Reporter
My immediate response is …. absolutely not.
Astrid Rodrigues
Senior Video Editor and Producer
I'd say be polite and say "thank you." And then do what you'd like with it.
Zoe Greenberg
I did ask my little sister, who is perhaps more polite than me, and she said put it out once and then never again.
Zoe Greenberg
Which, to me, seems like a burden.
Astrid Rodrigues
I don't think I'd put it out necessarily. I'd probably keep it stored away in a closet though.
Astrid Rodrigues
You never know when you might need an Eagles table runner?
Astrid Rodrigues
Maybe your kid one day will want an Eagles-themed birthday party.
Zoe Greenberg
To be honest, I would put it on the street immediately.
Evan Weiss
You're not afraid the mother-in-law would come over some Sunday and ask where it is?
Zoe Greenberg
I don't like bad gifts. I like to just give them away. But it probably would bite me in the butt.
Zoe Greenberg
Thankfully my mother-in-law has much better aesthetics than me and would never do this (shout out to Kera).
Evan Weiss
Astrid, would you also like to put in a disclosure about your mother-in-law?
Astrid Rodrigues
My MIL has good taste and she actually loves to give gifts for any occasion.
Zoe Greenberg
We can't be getting in trouble with our mother-in-laws here.
Astrid Rodrigues
My MIL is thankfully not the type of person to ask where something is though.
Astrid Rodrigues
That’s a bridge too far!
Zoe Greenberg
That would be insane.
Evan Weiss
Okay, if the question asker takes Zoe's advice and puts it on the street… what should they say if asked about it at a later date?
Astrid Rodrigues
Lie.
Zoe Greenberg
"It must be around here somewhere!"
Zoe Greenberg
And then make the gestures of searching.
Astrid Rodrigues
I'm half-kidding. Honestly, it depends on your relationship with your mother-in-law.
Astrid Rodrigues
I've told mine that I didn't really need the gift or have one already.
Zoe Greenberg
Oh. I would not do that.
Zoe Greenberg
But I feel like in this city someone might love to find an ugly Eagles table runner on the street, so it's like a beautiful gift you're passing along.
Evan Weiss
Your advice went from "I hate it, give it away" to "I'm being generous to my fair city."
Astrid Rodrigues
Both can be true.
Zoe Greenberg
You can get rid of the trash and feel virtuous simultaneously.
Zoe Greenberg
I mean, I'm not saying sell it at a markup on Facebook or something!
Evan Weiss
Fair!
Evan Weiss
Any last advice for the question asker?
Astrid Rodrigues
Whether you keep it or not, just say "thank you" and hope it doesn't come up again.
Zoe Greenberg
I wonder if there's a way to redirect the gift giver for future gifts, without having to say anything.
Astrid Rodrigues
Maybe say, "Oh I'm a Cowboys fan now!"
This conversation has been edited for length. Illustration by Steve Madden.
What other Very Philly Questions should we address?
Whenever Christian F. Martin IV hears a Martin guitar, whether it’s the timeworn piece Willie Nelson’s nearly strummed a hole through, or a customer nervously picking a D-300 that looks like fine art and costs $300,000, he beams with pride. Like a father.
Martin is the executive chairman of C.F. Martin & Co., the sixth generation of Martins to create arguably the world’s most-renowned acoustic guitars out of Nazareth, Northampton County. Founded in New York City in 1833 by German luthier Christian Frederick Martin, the company moved to Nazareth in 1839 and has crafted 3 million guitars, all of them intertwined with the family tree.
So when Martin took his daughter to a Post Malone concert in 2020 and watched the artist play a Martin, he smiled from afar. Later, when Malone dragged — yes, dragged — what appeared to be the same guitar across the stage, Martin’s heart dropped.
“I’m freaking out,” Martin said. “I’m looking at my wife, and she’s looking at me like ‘I don’t know.’”
Martin was still processing the trauma of a 145-year-old Martin guitar being smashed in the 2015 Quentin Tarantino film The Hateful Eight. So when Malone smashed the guitar onstage and poured a beer on it, Martin’s heart broke into small pieces, too.
“I need to leave,” he told his wife.
Luckily, before Martin could flee the concert in Hershey to process the trauma, he was told the smashed guitar was a prop, not a Martin.
That’s how seriously Martin, and its devotees, takes guitars. On a recent fall weekday in the Nazareth headquarters, tourists were lining up before the building opened for tours, taking selfies. Inside, guitars that belonged to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Hank Williams, two of thousands of artists who played Martins, sat in glass cases.
(Later that day, Martin flew to London to give a special presentation about the Martin D-18 Cobain played during Nirvana’s famed Unplugged set in 1993.)
“I’ve always just gravitated toward playing Martins,” said Delaware County musician Devon Gilfillian. “When I first started playing, that was just always the goal. The tone is just so perfect and warm. Plus, it’s from Pennsylvania.”
Mike Nelson inspects a guitar frame at C.F. Martin & Co.
Martin said guitar sales booms are usually tied to specific cultural moments or trends in popular music. Folk music in the 1960s, for example, or the popularity of MTV’s iconic Unplugged series that featured Nirvana, Eric Clapton, Alice in Chains, and countless others.
Today, Martin is still feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many workers were forced to stay home and went looking for something to do. The company is producing approximately 500 guitars per day in Nazareth and a plant in Navojoa, Mexico.
“We’re on a bit of a roll,” Martin said.
“I think it’s important to show people this is where a Martin guitar is made and this is what it takes to make a Martin guitar,” he said. “For many guitar players, coming to the Martin factory is like going to mecca.”
Inside, the factory floor is divided into sections, an assembly line of sorts, with some specialists focusing on fretboards, others on the necks. Some were spraying lacquers, with ventilation masks on, while other lucky employees — musicians themselves — do sound checks, strumming chords for tone. Few guitars are rejected.
The factory is both high and low tech, with robotic arms meticulously sanding bodies while workers use ancient woodworking tools to shape some parts.
That level of specialization, Martin said, makes Martin’s craftsmen the best in the business.
“You’ll see what it takes,” he said. “You’ll see why we’re the best.”
Most Martin guitars are made with various timbers, including a slew of different spruces, along with rarer mahogany and rosewood.
All businesses change, subject to the whims of markets and greater global issues. While the overall design of a guitar hasn’t changed all that much over the centuries, newer and different materials may be in the pipeline, due to issues with climate change and deforestation. The tropical hardwoods grow slowly and are under threat.
Temperate hardwoods like maple and walnut are more abundant, and the company is exploring them, Martin said. The use of alternate materials might be possible, but they would all fall under the same standard: the guitar would need to sound like a Martin.
“We would not use a material that doesn’t work,” he said.
Martin has committed to reforestation projects in Costa Rica and the Republic of the Congo. Martin’s sustainable Biosphere III, with a polar bear design by company artist Robert Goetzl, benefits Polar Bears International and retails for $2,399.
Gregory Jasman strings a guitar. The list of musicians who play Martins could fill a music hall of fame.
Goetzl has been responsible for most of Martin’s “playable art,” and he cherishes the idea that his art will make art.
“It is art, and it could be hung on a wall, but that would kind of be a shame,” he said on the factory floor, holding a guitar featuring owls and the northern lights. “It’s not cheap. It’s a very real instrument with a beautiful design.”
On this weekday, a buyer had come to Martin to possibly purchase a guitar worth more than a quarter-million dollars.
The list of musicians who play Martin is endless, enough to fill a music hall of fame — Nelson and his famous “Trigger,” Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Ed Sheeran, Joni Mitchell, and so many others.
Thomas Ripsam, president and CEO, at the C.F. Martin assembly line.
“We are very intentional about who we want to work with,” said Thomas Ripsam, who assumed the role of CEO in 2021. ”We don’t really pay artists for playing our guitars, so we are looking for artists who have a sincere connection.”
One of them is Billy Strings, a popular, Nashville-based guitarist who combines bluegrass, rock, and even metal.
“When you think of the word guitar, I think of a Martin D-28,” Strings said in a promotional video for guitars that the company designed for him. “It’s so American. It’s like baseball or something.”
An A-frame guitar adorns the museum entrance Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, at C. F. Martin & Co. Inc. in Nazareth, Pa.
DEAR ABBY: Two years ago, my husband was told that our adult child’s partner had tested positive for COVID two days before we were scheduled to visit them. My husband — a forever Good Time Charlie — decided not to inform me. Neither of us at that point had contracted COVID. We had taken every precaution we could to avoid it.
I have MS, which can react in unpredictable ways to viral exposures. My husband knows this very well, which is why I’m perplexed and furious that he thought it better to “stay on the good side” of our son by not allowing me to decide for myself whether I wanted to walk into a potentially deadly situation.
I only realized the danger I was facing when our son, while driving us to his apartment, suddenly apologized to my husband, stating he “couldn’t do it,” and said his partner was in the throes of COVID! I was shocked speechless, but I held my tongue until we were alone.
My husband said he didn’t think it was a “big deal” because we wouldn’t have stayed long, and he knew I’d back out of the visit and “ruin it for everyone.” He doesn’t understand the issue, and I’m considering a divorce because he withheld information which could have led to a serious health outcome for me.
Is his behavior as major an issue as I think it is, or am I overreacting? We’ve been married 40 years, in a generally fair relationship, but we married very young. His blatant disregard for my health, let alone his own, not caring how either of us would react if we had become exposed to COVID, may be unforgivable. Do you agree?
— GOOD TIME CHARLIE’S WIFE
DEAR WIFE: Was your husband’s selfish lapse in judgment a one-time thing or has he always been this way? “Ruin the visit for everyone”? Your son’s partner was in no condition to entertain. You are fortunate the visit didn’t turn into a tragedy. I think you should discuss this not only with your physician but also an attorney and take your cues from them.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: I have been with my boyfriend, “Matt,” for three years. Everything was great in the beginning, and I was happy I had found someone with the same interests as me.
I have a son, and we are very close because it has been pretty much just me and him for a long time. Matt hates it! He constantly says extremely mean things about my job as a mother. My son hides out in his room all the time, and it has become awkward here. Matt and I have a house together. I am miserable and want out. I have seen what a mean and angry person Matt can be, and I’m done. How do I start that conversation and move on with my life with my son?
— FED UP IN ARIZONA
DEAR FED UP: Your boyfriend isn’t likely to overcome his jealousy of your son. If you and Matt own the house jointly, you may need a lawyer to ensure you get your money out. Contact one and ask what the process involves. Once you have that information, let your lawyer tell you how to proceed with separating yourself from Matt.
