Dear Abby: I think my friend has dementia; what should I do?

The last few years she has been showing increasing signs of confusion and forgetfulness.

On the most recent trip she picked up other people’s coats and insisted they were hers.

If your good friend has a spouse, children or siblings, they should be notified about what you have observed.

If she has no one, then someone at Social Services or Adult Protective Services should be contacted before your friend gets herself into serious trouble by forgetting to pay her bills, or getting lost while driving her car.

Dear Not:

Because you are having trouble accepting that your former friend is a “lost cause,” view it as his having taken a different path than you have chosen.

If he respects your feelings, he will stick to subjects the two of you have in common and quit “expounding.”

If he is only “sampling” to see if there are enough articles in the magazine that he thinks it’s worth buying, I wouldn’t call it theft.

Using your yardstick, judging from the number of people I have seen at checkout counters with their noses buried in the tabloids, that would make us a nation of thieves.