Dear Abby: When I was around 10, my mother met “Bill.” At first, Bill was nice, but after they got married, things changed.
Bill became physically and sexually abusive to my mother, my siblings and me. The few years were pure hell.
I am now 26 and still coping with what he did to us. After they divorced, Bill remarried and has two more stepchildren. I am losing sleep thinking he may be doing those same things to them. What should I do? – Worried Sick
Dear Worried Sick: You and your siblings should go to the police and make a statement about what the man did to you. That’s what should have been done when your mother divorced him. It’s interesting that he married two women who already had children, isn’t it? Bill’s current wife should also be notified, because a leopard doesn’t usually change his spots – and neither does an abusive pedophile.
Dear Abby: My husband and I are young and newly married. We have thrown several parties during the last two years. Our guest list consists mostly of family and some close friends from college. This year we debated whether or not to have a Halloween party because the last few parties have resulted in huge messes for us to clean up the next day, as well as stragglers who don’t leave until the wee hours of the morning. My husband and I both work full time and I attend graduate school at night.
We finally decided to have it, but put an ending time on the invitations this year so we will have time to clean the house before we go to bed. What should I say to the people who are now approaching us and demanding to know why there’s an ending time? Are we being rude?
– Flustered
Dear Flustered: In no way was putting a beginning and ending time on your invitation rude. It was practical. The person questioning you is the one being rude, and because he doesn’t get it he should be told exactly what you told me.
Dear Abby: I am a 16-year- old girl who is extremely confused about my nationality. My maternal grandparents were born in Finland and moved to the United States as teenagers. I was always led to believe that this would make my mother a full-blooded Finn, even though she was born in the United States. Both my father’s parents and my father were born in England. His family moved here when Dad was in his teens.
I was born in the United States. Am I Finnish? Am I British? Or am I American?
– Wondering
Dear Wondering: Because you were born in the United States, your nationality is 100 percent American – of Finnish and British extraction.
Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby at Dear or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.
