Dear Steve and Shirley  My girlfriend and I have been together for three years and recently we have been plummeting down. I've done something's I'm not proud of in our relationship but she has forgiven me and stuck through it all with me. But she recently saw messages between me and a friend of mine. In the texts messages there were sexual references. Now nothing never went down between the two of us but it was enough for her to say we are over . It feels like I'm fighting a losing battle because of the words she chooses to use they just give me a pitted feeling in my gut that we will never be the same again. We had a talk last night face-to-face talk that ended with a kiss and a hug. Please help me fix this, please. She's the only one I want and need. I don't want our family broken. It's not good for the kids. Signed, a working soul

Today's Neighborhood Awards nomination category is best barber shop. Go HERE to submit your nominee now.

Dear Steve & Shirley, I'm a 41-year-old professional African-American man in Atlanta that has been divorced for ten years and I have a ten-year-old son that I love dearly.  We were married for four years and had our son in the fifth year, which is the same year that we got divorced.  My ex-wife and I are cool and we do a good job of co-parenting.  But this is not what this letter is about. Ever since my divorce I have dated a lot of women, some serious, most not.  I have dated female business executives, doctors, news anchors etc; great women that any man would be lucky to have, but I continuously feel unfulfilled in these relationships. It is also concerning to me that I don't get those butterfly feelings of love anymore.  I read your book and several others about relationships to try to discover what I'm missing, but I can't seem to find the answer.  Most of my male friends are divorced and the ones that are married say that if they did get divorced then they would not get married again.  I'm beginning to think that marriage is not worth it. Here is my question.  Why should I get married?  Money?  I've been earning six figures for over a decade.  Companionship?  I have five quality women that I can call right now!  Stability?  I have a house and two cars and several savings accounts.  Domestic help?  I cook better than most women and I keep my house clean.  A mom for my son?  My son's mom is a good mom and I'm very involved in his life as well.  Long-term partnership?  In today's world, most marriages end in divorce, so that is not guaranteed.     I'm trying to see if marriage is worth it.  What is the up-side of marrying again?  It seems more and more like a financial, emotional and constrictive liability to me versus an asset. Signed � Is it worth it?    

Today's Neighborhood Awards nomination category is best soul food. Go HERE to submit your nominee now.

Dear Steve,  This weekend I met my girlfriend's best friend and husband; my girlfriend and I have only been dating for three months so this was my first time meeting this friend. When we walked into the restaurant the friend shook my hand but her husband who was clearly intoxicated embraced my girlfriend in an inappropriate manner and then proceeded to kiss on her, not on the lips but neck and cheek. I thought this was very inappropriate on his part and on my girlfriend's part for allowing this to take place. Well, this continued after we got seated. I went to the car to get our jackets and when I came back in they had been seated and "he" tells me to sit next to his wife which again didn't sit well with me, I didn't want to create a scene or appear to be insecure but I felt this was all inappropriate behavior. I felt he disrespected his wife and her best friend by allowing this to continue to go on and that's the end of it but it went on the entire evening. I spoke to my girlfriend about this when we got in and I could tell she didn't like my saying anything about it. Her response to me was she didn't see anything inappropriate and then I said to her did you ever consider your friend's feelings? Because she clearly appeared bothered by it. She said to me "well, since I see that it's a problem for you I will not allow this to happen again."  Not one time did she acknowledge that it was inappropriate.  Am I wrong Steve? I truly wanted to kick his behind and drop her because you're old enough to know that this was wrong. Now she said if I had done the same thing that she would be very upset and not tolerate it. Please advise. Thank you, Dallas, TX

Today's Neighborhood Awards nomination category is best church choir. Go HERE to submit your nominee now.