She is worried about my girlfriend and the effect her problems have on me. All my dreams are built on a life with my girlfriend, we were planning on retiring in a year or so, and I've been very excited. But things have been going crazy these last few months and I'm worried our dreams might never come true.

She says my stepdaughter sounds wonderful and I shouldn't worry. Next year she transfers to a 4 year university, and while she'll make mistakes, hopefully they'll all be little ones.

But I made big mistakes when I was her age. So did her mom. So did all my other kids. We all screwed up and threw away our dreams. My stepdaughter cares about the world. She wants to make it better. Nobody I know was like that at 19. I think she can do it. If she doesn't mess her life up like the rest of us.