Mother’s makingmy wedding all about her
Dear Abby: Once I announcedmy engagement, my already thin, fit mother went on a diet and lost 20 pounds. My weight has always been an issue with her, and I can’t believe she would draw attention to it in this way. She called me a bridezilla because I told her I think she’s trying to showboat my wedding because she’s the one with the insecurity issues.
I would have been happy to elope, but she insisted on this big wedding to show off to her friends and “recoup the gifts she gave to their kids.”
How do we get through the next six months and keep our already fragile relationship intact? Daughter OfMomzilla
Dear Daughter: Weddings are supposed to be about the happy couple, not a means for a third party to “recoup” gifts she gave to her friends’ children.
If you feel you would be happier eloping rather than be miserable “going on with the show,” that’s what you and your fiance should do. However, if you do decide to go through with the wedding, you and yourmother should agree there will be no further discussion about weight— hers or yours. Period.
Dear Abby: I came into workMonday morning to the news that one of my coworkers had passed away the day before from a massive heart attack.
I was shocked and saddened. I was also appalled that my employer posted her death on Facebook less than 24 hours later.
I don’t feel that this is an appropriate forum to announce a death, and I also don’t think it was my employer’s responsibility to notify the world. In my opinion, the family should notify the public if they choose.
Are there any rules of etiquette regarding social media and announcing a co- worker’s death? Sad News in California
Dear Sad News: Of course it is the prerogative of family members to post that kind of news. Ideally, your employer should have waited an extra day or two to allow the family to get the word out. However, unless a family member complained to you about what your employer did, you shouldn’t be so quick to judge.
While you have experienced a shocking loss, your boss has, too, particularly if the employee was a longtime one. That he/ she shared it on social media isn’t surprising these days, considering how much information is being posted online, nor was it a breach of etiquette.
Dear Abby: I have beenwithmy boyfriend nearly 19 years, and we both agree that we don’t want marriage. I just found out that for the last nine months he has been seeing someone else on his lunch break.
He says he loves me and doesn’t want to lose me, but he loves her, too, and she is his friend. He said he would stop the affair, but because she’s his friend, he won’t stop texting and seeing her “as a friend.”
Should I trust what he is saying? We don’t have kids together, but we raised his two and my one together as our own. Silent Pain
Dear Pain: Should you trust that your boyfriend won’t resume the affair with his “friend”— or that he has stopped it? I don’t think so.
Although the two of you aren’t formally married, you have had an understanding that lasted almost 19 years, and he has breached it. You now must decide whether you want to be part of a “threesome,” and for that, you have my sympathy. Abby shares more than 100 of her favorite recipes in two booklets: “Abby’s Favorite Recipes” and “More Favorite Recipes by Dear Abby.” Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $ 14 ( U. S. funds), to: Dear Abby, Cookbooklet Set, P. O. Box 447, MountMorris, IL 61054- 0447. Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at dearabby. com or P. O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.
IWOULD HAVE BEEN HAPPY TO ELOPE, BUT SHE INSISTED ON THIS BIG WEDDING TO SHOWOFF TO HER FRIENDS AND “RECOUP THE GIFTS SHE GAVE TO THEIR KIDS.”