DR. WALLACE: I have a friend who just has to top everyone else in each and every conversation. It's beyond annoying to hear her bloviate about one claim or another, and they roll off her tongue like she memorized them in advance! For example, if someone bought some new clothes, she'll claim that she just received some new samples from a famous designer's fall line from a distributor her family knows personally.

If someone were given a used car for their 18th birthday within our circle of friends, she'd claim that her father is in the process of buying her a brand-new 2023 model of some car or another.

And last week, we somehow got into a discussion about coming from large families and she claimed that her relatives in our state added up to between 220 and 240 total members of her family! Now, this one is going to be hard for us to disprove, so I thought I would ask you whether or not you feel there's any chance this could be true. We're growing tired of her one-upping everyone about everything! — Our Eyes Are Rolling, via email

OUR EYES ARE ROLLING: Indeed, some individuals feel the need to be the center of attention and/or superior to others in a peer group. Your friend seems to fit this mold given what you have shared. But her claim of having around 240 direct family members in her family could actually be true!

I say this because I recall a lady named Mrs. Yoder from Middlebury, Indiana, had a whopping family tree that included her 13 children, 95 grandchildren, 210 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild! Counting her, that adds up to 319 direct relatives from one single Indiana family!

I had an opportunity years ago to visit her local newspaper, the Goshen News, and they gave me the addresses where many of these family members lived. One in particular, Lydia Yoder, was a superb lady who provided me with a lot of interesting background information about this vast and interesting American family!

And to top all of this off, I subsequently received a letter from one of this lady's daughters-in-law, Martha Yoder, who told me that another cousin in Topeka, Indiana, had a family tree that included a whopping 544 direct descendants!

Perhaps you can take this information back to your friend to see if she can claim to top these fantastic, true families.

I TOLD MY DAD I'M NOT LEAVING MY GIRLFRIEND

DR. WALLACE: I need to tell my parents I can't handle going to college because I have a steady girlfriend and I'm not going to leave her to go 700 miles away.

Yes, I had applied to the school and been accepted to it, but since my current girlfriend attends our local community college, I decided to shift gears and attend that same community college with her for two years. From there I can reapply to any university I would like to attend, and by then we will both be nearly 21 years old anyhow.

My father says I'm being ridiculous, but to me this seems to be an easy answer to my current dilemma. What do you think about my decision? Do you agree with my father or with me? — My Mind Is Made Up, via email

MY MIND IS MADE UP: My opinion here is not the one that counts. It's yours that is the key one. The fact that your father is unhappy does not affect your personal decision about where to go to school. It's your life, after all.

The good news from my perspective is that you seem to be on track to make good progress in one area of your life, or perhaps in two simultaneously. If your relationship remains close and strong and you end up with a lifelong partner, you'll never regret the decision to stay with her during your early college days. And even if your relationship eventually falters, you'll still be gaining valuable baseline prerequisite units at the junior college that can be transferred to a four-year university at a future date.

Hopefully, your father will get over his initial disappointment and support you and your decision as you begin your journey in life as an adult and also as a diligent college student.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.