Thanks for your reply. I have told him how I feel about the criticizing and have let him go because of it. But then he says that he doesn't want to stop the criticizing. If I can have another good friend or more, I would let him go entirely. But that's like an impossible dream for me right now. With him it's either that I keep him and put up with the criticizing or let him go and be all alone. There's no coming half way on this because he's a stubborn old man. Maybe I'm just repeating myself over again, but I hope I've made a clear point on what's going on.

This morning I called him for advice about what to do and he was very helpful and I enjoyed talking to him. But then he brought something else up near the end and it wasn't something I wanted to talk about. I told him that I didn't want to talk about it. He wouldn't back off. But then I had the final word and he hung up on me.

He doesn't criticize a whole lot, just occasionally. Sometimes I'm a bit lenient on him because I'm trying to understand that he's not well and perhaps he feels somewhat bitter about it. I know it's not a good thing for me to do; and I stand my ground when he gets carried away. Like I've said before, I would want to get rid of him if I could, but I have a fear of "burning my bridge" since he's all that I got. I don't like it this way, but that's the way it is for now.