Amy says: Ex-con's arrival piques curiosity

Dear Amy: My son is in prison. In a few months his sentence for drug possession and a probation violation will be completed.

His charges are nonviolent offenses, and he has worked hard to get control over his addiction.

My son and his fiancée have a 3-year-old child together. The fiancée and child live in our second home in another state — the same state where our son is serving his sentence.

We are at our second home four months out of the year. I need help with what to say to neighbors who are curious why our son's fiancée lives in our home with their child (for three years) — and then my son shows up.

So far, the neighbors have not asked any direct questions of her or us. But I'm sure they will because they seem very curious about her situation. Our neighbors are conservative, older and talk about a "crime wave" that they blame on homelessness and addiction.

Do you have any suggestions for the questions that I feel are bound to arise, such as, "Where has your son been all this time?"

I love my son, and he has paid dearly for his substance abuse (truly a disease). He's served his sentence and deserves a chance.

Because of financial constraints, he likely will be living in our second home with his fiancée and child for some time, and I'd like to have an answer for those neighbors. I'm not good at thinking "on my feet," so I'd like to have an answer prepared.

Can you help?

Amy says: You should ask your son and his fiancée what they would prefer you to say, but I'm wondering if you would consider telling the truth: "My son has been incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses related to his addiction. He served his sentence, is in recovery for his addiction and now he is home. We're delighted to have him back."

Dear Amy: My friend "Tyler" and I decided to try a yoga class. As we were doing the first position, he passed gas. Very audibly!

It was super-awkward, but then he said, "Excuse me! Sounds like I started things with a bang." People chuckled and the class went on.

I thought Tyler's recovery from an ultra-embarrassing moment was great, so I mentioned it in an email to a mutual friend of ours, but I stupidly and accidentally sent it to the wrong person.

The person who received the email posted a screenshot of it on social media. Her posting was reposted many times by her impressive number of followers. The email had Tyler's first and last name and details about where he lives.

I was horrified and insisted that she delete her posting, and she did — but of course it is still "out there," floating around on the internet. Should I tell Tyler what happened or hope he never hears about it?

Amy says: This person's choice to post the content of your email (including names and personal details) was extremely unethical. And social media enables and amplifies unethical choices.

Because Tyler's personal details were broadcast across social media channels, you must tell him about this unfortunate episode.

Like many unfortunate episodes, this one started out benignly, built up some steam and then escaped on its own — like an audible bubble of gas at a yoga class.

Own your part in this, apologize profusely and ask to be forgiven. I hope you two are able to resolve this with a mutual "Namaste" and move on.

Send questions to Amy Dickinson at askamy@amydickinson.com.