Dear Abby: My husband and I have been married for 16 years and have two teenagers. “Mom” died two years ago, and my husband is an only child. How can we tell my widowed father-in-law that we need a weekend to ourselves?

“Pop,” who’s 87, lives an hour away and drives to see us every weekend, staying until Monday afternoon. We don’t doubt that he’s lonely, although he does play bridge twice a week and has dinner with friends occasionally. We love him dearly and would never want to hurt his feelings, but we long for a weekend for “just us.”

How do we ask Pop not to visit? We believe he’s still in mourning over the loss of his wife of 60 years. We don’t want to add to his heartache. — Torn in Texas

For the complete article, please pick up a copy of The Daily Reflector. Current home delivery and electronic edition subscribers may log in to access this article at no charge. To become a subscriber, please click here or contact Customer Service at (252) 329-9505.