Annie Lane

Dear Annie: My neighbor “Charlie” is a chatterbox. He only works part-time and is home for the day by 11 a.m. For most of the afternoon, he hangs out in his front yard, talking to passersby. Anytime I run into him, it turns into a 20-minute-plus rambling conversation about all sorts of topics and people I don’t know. I avoid taking out the trash some nights because I don’t want to get stuck outside talking to him. Sometimes, I peek outside, see he’s not there and think the coast is clear — but then he rushes outside once I do. His family has a motion-activated “smart” security camera on the front of their house that I set off going down my driveway.

I’m not alone in feeling this way about Charlie. Recently, I said hello to my mailman, and he whispered, “I need to get out of here before Charlie gets started.”

Charlie really is a nice guy, and I’ve grown fond of him and his family over the past few years that I’ve lived here. And I know his chattiness is not a real problem, only a minor annoyance.

But I wish I could keep our conversations to a minimum some days. And I don’t think he’s lonely; they’ve got three generations in one household, so it’s not as though there’s a shortage of people for him to talk to. I’ve tried dropping the usual hints — looking at my phone to check the time — but he just doesn’t get it, and he never pauses long enough for me to say that I need to go. Would it be rude of me to interrupt him? — Ear Off

Dear Ear Off: Dropping hints works fine with people who pick them up. Others need a more direct approach. But direct doesn’t need to mean confrontational.

The next time Charlie gets to chatting, give him a warm smile and say: “I really have to get going. I’ll catch you later!” Other variations that will work: “I’m in the middle of chores…” or “I was just about to make dinner…” If he bristles at the brush-off, that’s on him. But if he’s such a social butterfly, I have a feeling he won’t mind. He’ll simply alight on his next audience.

Dear Annie: We have four young adult children (ages 19 to 27). One is living with me doing online college; one is two hours away at college; and the other two live about 90 minutes away. Usually, we get together at least one or twice a week.

To add some fun, humor and new activities to our family time, I purchased plates, wine glasses, Easter bunnies, gnomes, eggs, paints and brushes from a nearby pottery store and made “Family Fun Virus Boxes.”

I added pasta, sauce, bread, Entenmann’s cakes and some wine to the “fun boxes” and delivered them on Friday, putting them on their front steps, and then waved and blew kisses from my car when they got their boxes.

Saturday night, my children and their significant others had four separate but together dinner parties. We all made our own dinners, painted our craft items and sent each other pictures in a group chat.

Later, I picked up the boxes (left on their front porches) and called the pottery store to let them know I was leaving our projects at their door. By the end of the week, the awesome final projects were complete.

Though not a “normal” family get-together, we had so much fun. Even though we are apart, it’s important to know we can still make silly new memories together. And each time we look at our pottery, we remember how, although times were hard, we were able to share love and happiness together… just not together. — Crafty Mom Who Loves Her Adult Kids

Dear Crafty Mom: What a brilliant idea! Thank you for sharing and for inspiring all of us to make shared memories with loved ones, even while not together physically.

Editor’s note: Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.