I've found an advice column that I really enjoy. "Ask Amy" appears in the Chicago Tribune. Amy Dickinson writes a daily column in a fresh way. She clearly has a sense of humor, which she uses liberally, but she is usually spot on with her suggestions.
Saturday, November 22, she responded to a question about wedding ettiquette. I'm not sure if I agree with her or not. A woman who has married a man with grown children wrote for help. His daughter and his wife do not get along. He is paying for half the wedding, but his daughter has made it clear that his wife is NOT invited. Daddy told his daughter that she is wrong, and that she should be civil and include his wife. The daughter refuses.
Amy started out by asking "Why on earth would you want to attend the wedding of someone you clearly can't stand and don't speak to?" Her heart went out to the dad, who is caught in the middle of this crisis. She gently chided the writer, and the bride for behaving badly, and then suggested the writer find something really fun to do the day of the wedding and give her husband the break he deserves.
I'm not sure she was right. I think the bride is definitely wrong. I realize that it is the bride's big day, but the bride is merely using this situation to play a nasty game of one upsmanship. It strikes me that she is incredibly spoiled, to have her father pay for half the wedding, and then announce that his wife is not allowed to attend.
The worst of it is, any retaliation on the part of the wife may ultimately end up with her becoming the EX-wife. So, perhaps she needs to take Amy's advice, go and have a great day somewhere else, and meet her husband at the end of the day to compare notes. I suspect the wife is going to have the better day.
What do YOU think???
Comments (4)
I get "Ask Amy" on MSN. Great column. The "new" (maybe) Dear Abby?
Posted by Wichi Dude | November 25, 2003 5:05 PM
Posted on November 25, 2003 17:05
There was always room for Dear Abby and Ann Landers in the Tribune. Unfortunately, Ann Landers' daughter misses the mark for me. Her mother's wonderful approach didn't rub off on her. Prudence comes off too edgy and insincere, as though she's writing to score off her readers. I was relieved when the Trib decided to drop her column and pick up Amy's.
Posted by Buffy | November 25, 2003 7:47 PM
Posted on November 25, 2003 19:47
Ann Landers and Dear Abby are sisters. I always liked Abby's answers, they were common sense-icle (is that a word?). Ann on the other hand, I found to go with a more religious bend, not quite as bad as the Billy Grahm column, but up there.
Judging by the "flavor" of the responses in Dear Abby, I think her replacement is already getting "eased in". Sometimes it sounds like Abby, and other times it feels slightly off. Not bad, just different.
What do you think?
Posted by Wichi Dude | November 26, 2003 4:16 PM
Posted on November 26, 2003 16:16
At the bottom of the Dear Abby column they run the following sentence: "Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, a.k.a. Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips."
I think they have passed the column over to Jeanne entirely. I know what you mean about some of the answers not sounding like Pauline as they made the switch. I think we might be getting ready to join the old fogey generation......
Posted by Buffy | December 1, 2003 10:47 PM
Posted on December 1, 2003 22:47