DEAR ABBY: May I share the following with "R.H.G. in Elk Grove, Wis."? She's the lady whose mother refused to wear a hearing aid because she thought it would make her look old.
At age 50 I had a pacemaker installed. One morning after the surgery, I told a co-worker that I was feeling old. She just smiled and said she wanted to introduce me to someone.
The next day she brought in her adorable 4-year-old nephew and said, "Cody, show her your pacemaker." The boy promptly lifted his T-shirt and there was the telltale bulge of a pacemaker in his little abdomen. Then she added, "When he reaches adolescence he will get one over his heart where yours is."
Abby, after seeing that child with a pacemaker, I suddenly didn't feel old any more.
"R.H.G." needs to introduce her mother to some young person who wears a hearing aid. -- MARY ANN SUTTER, DE SOTO, TEXAS