A reader asks Abby for advice about some friends who haven't checked up on them and their husband as he battles cancer.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips.

He’s not speaking to me today to punish me. I do not reinforce this childish behavior by begging his attention.

Maybe this is a normal part of getting older or maybe I am making too much of it, but it is beginning to bother me.