DEAR ABBY: Here's a silly question that has become not so silly recently: About 16 years ago, my wife and I had a large wedding. Recently, apparently for the first time, my mother viewed our wedding album. She took an intense dislike to her appearance in a picture of my father and her dancing. This is the only picture of my parents in the album, Abby, but my mother has requested that we remove it and give it to her to destroy. She says she would hate to have her descendants see that likeness of her, and she reminded us that she never gave her permission to use this picture in the first place.
Both my wife and I think it is an excellent picture of my parents, and had we thought otherwise we would not have included it in our album. Since in our view the sole objection to this picture is an irrational one, which exists only in my mother's mind, and to destroy it would mean there would be no picture of my parents in our wedding album, we have refused her request.
Are we wrong? Or does my mother have a right to this picture? Ironically, I am a guidance counselor. -- FAMILY PROBLEM
DEAR FAMILY: It is your wedding album and it will undoubtedly outlast your annoyed mother. If she continues to fuss, remove the picture from the album, have it copied, give the original to her, and later place the copy in your album.