Dear Eric: A few years ago, I noticed a change in a close friend of more than four decades. She is beloved, kind, supportive and generous and has been a great friend over the decades. Yet, she has become more strident in her opinions, almost to the point of bullying.
She wasn’t always like this. Her husband and I are the main recipients of this behavior — I’ve seen her make fun of her husband in front of other people, but he just shrugs it off. I don’t see her doing this to her other friends and family members.