Single mode.(Couple counsel: everyday advice you can trust)

Q. My wife is a flight attendant and is gone from home a lot. When she is home, she goes into what I call "single mode." She makes her own decisions, spends a lot of time by herself--she even bought a car without telling me! When I raise my concerns about it, she just brushes it off--and nothing changes.

A. The problem you address is a common occurrence when one or both spouses are "on the road" a lot. It doesn't matter if one is a flight attendant, a traveling salesman, or in the military. These kinds of situations make it easy for a couple to become "married singles" and drift apart.

The main problem is that you and your wife haven't been intentional about …