DEAR ABBY: My husband, "Ted," and I have been happily married for five years. He gets along well with my family, but refuses to have contact with his own mother.
Ted's mother is an alcoholic and generally abusive because of it. (She even hit me once.) She has stolen money from his savings account, and once we had to bail her out of jail. She is also a pathological liar and has caused the whole family a lot of grief.
Ted's father left her, remarried, and is doing well.
Now and then, Ted's mother writes him and sends little gifts to show she's thinking about him. She says she has changed.
Ted doesn't want to give her the chance to hurt him again, but he is filled with so much insecurity because of his past that I think it might be time for them to reunite.
Do you think he should contact her, Abby? -- CONFUSED IN TEXAS
DEAR CONFUSED: I think the decision about whether to reunite with his mother should be strictly your husband's, and you and I should stay out of it.