| Dear Carolyn: My wife, “Lisa,” and I have been happily married for 30 years, raised three great children and look forward to a very comfortable retirement. I couldn’t have asked for a better wife and partner. Over the years, besides her day job, Lisa has made many forays into creative writing and has been pretty successful. She’s published articles and several short stories. Her blog is popular, so she decided to attempt the novel she’s always talked about. She told me I could read it anytime, and now that it’s in the hands of her agent, I did. The novel is about a “wild child” of the late 1980s, and I immediately knew Lisa had based it loosely upon herself. It is very entertaining but quite raunchy, so I mentioned that she must have embellished quite a lot — but she said no, she left a lot out. I am stunned. Lisa told me when we were dating that she had a “misspent youth,” and I knew she had a lot more partners than I did, but I never imagined anything like this. I have two problems now: First, her past is bothering me, and I know that’s stupid after all these years. Second, she’s completely unconcerned that our friends, relatives and, worst of all, our kids might figure out this isn’t exactly a work of fiction. How am I to deal with this without coming right out and forbidding her to publish this nonsense? — Stunned | 
