DEAR ABBY: This is for all those people who don't want to go to their class reunions because they weren't popular - or didn't belong to the "in" crowd in high school and they thought no one would want to talk to them anyway.
I didn't think anyone would talk to me either, but my husband and I decided to go to my 20th high school reunion. Abby, it was the best move we ever made. People were actually glad to see us! (We both graduated from the school but in different years.)I hugged more people in two days than I had hugged in 20 years! I have never felt such a sense of love and belonging as I did at that reunion. There were no pretenses of where we came from, since most of us came from working-class families; we came home to be together. I even made peace with an old enemy!
For those who organized that reunion in Pittsburgh, thank you from the bottom of my heart. For those who didn't make the effort to attend - you missed a wonderful weekend. - YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN
DEAR YOU CAN: Because you took the trouble to write, perhaps those who were lukewarm about going "home" for a class reunion will reconsider. Thanks for writing. Thanks, too, for mentioning those generous people who organize class reunions. The effort requires a ton of work, and not many are willing to tackle the job.
DEAR ABBY: A friend of ours lost his wife of many years about two years ago. He asked us to have dinner with him and a new ladyfriend he had been dating, so of course we said yes. We thought she was very loud, talkative and bossy, and we couldn't understand what he saw in this woman.
The morning after our evening together, he stopped by the house and asked us what we thought of her, so we told him the truth.
You guessed it. They are being married in June! Now we won't be able to look either one of them in the eye and probably won't be invited to their wedding.
My husband thinks we were wrong to have told him the truth when he asked us what we thought of her. Were we? - FOOT IN MOUTH
DEAR FOOT: Honesty is always the best policy, but in cases such as this, no man wants an honest opinion about a horse after he's bought it.
DEAR ABBY: The letter from "Needy," whose husband never gives her a compliment, does not apply to married women only.
I live with my sister and have been complimenting her for years, hoping to get one compliment from her in return. Never has she given me the satisfaction of even the smallest compliment. Nothing I do is good enough, and regardless of how good I look she just can't bring herself to say so.
As for "Needy," there's nothing she can do to wring a compliment out of her husband. All she can do is put up with him, feed him and hope he dies before she does. Then maybe (if she's still young enough) she can find a man who will give her a compliment. I hope so. - NO COMPLIMENTS IN NEW JERSEY
Abby's favorite family recipes are included in her new cookbooklet! Send your name and address plus check or money order for $3.50 ($4 in Canada) to: Abby's Cookbooklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054. (Postage is included.)