Dear Annie: My father has always been a deeply anxious man. If there is nothing to worry about, he invents something. Growing up, this often meant high-stress evenings when my siblings or I were out with friends or running late. I still remember one night when my dad woke my mother in a panic, convinced my brother had been in an accident. She calmly asked what time he was due home. “Midnight,” he said. It was only 10:30 p.m.

My mother, now gone, had a gift for staying calm. But at 93 years old, my father is still ruled by his worst-case-scenario thinking. And now, that constant worry is directed at me.

He lives four hours away, and I have learned to avoid telling him when I’m driving up for a visit. If I do, he calls every 10 minutes asking where I am. If I arrive “too early,” he accuses

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