DEAR ABBY: I’ve always been close to my children, but now that they are adults, it seems I’m losing my connection with one of them. He married a girl of a different race, and while that doesn’t bother me, I have a strong hunch she’s the reason he has distanced himself from not only me, but also the rest of the family.

When I recently shared with him that I felt his wife is a bit of a busybody and had overstepped some boundaries, he told me he no longer wants a relationship with me. I don’t think I said anything so bad that he’d totally remove himself from my or our lives, but I’m no longer going to try to force him to be a part of this family.

Write to Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.