DEAR ABBY: My mother passed away a little over a month ago. She and Dad lived in another state, and for the eight months from her diagnosis until she died, my father took care of her. I am taking her death very hard.
Dad now tells me has met a wonderful woman! I am beside myself and cannot accept it. I feel he is in a vulnerable state and it is too soon after my mother's passing.
This woman has no job and lives in a trailer. She has an invalid husband who lives in another state. I don't want my father taken for a ride.
My father has some stability -- a house, a car, some money in the bank, and friends and family he will probably lose. Please help with some advice. I know he reads your column. -- TOO SOON
DEAR TOO SOON: Please accept my sympathy on the loss of your beloved mother. I advise you to remain calm. You may be jumping the gun on your father because of your own grief. Although he said he has "met a wonderful woman," he did not say that he has designs on someone who has an invalid spouse living in another state. Your father may be vulnerable and lonely, but based on what you have written, there's no reason to assume that he's seriously interested in a romantic involvement.