DEAR ABBY: This is in response to "Chatty Catherine" in Nashville.
If talking to oneself is a sign of senility or insanity, then I have been one or the other since age 7. (I am now 44.) My earliest recollection is being reminded by my mother not to answer myself.
Over the years, I've made peace with my tendency to talk to myself out loud. I used to do it because I was uncomfortable with silence. As my spiritual growth has progressed over the years, I've discovered it is a way of maintaining a closer relationship with God, as I perceive him. Thinking of it as prayer, I am perfectly at peace with my chatty nature.
My mother always said, when caught talking to herself, "I'm talking to someone I know has some sense!"
Abby, please tell Catherine that there's nothing wrong with us -- we simply like who we're with! -- NO LONGER SELF-CONSCIOUS IN PENNSYLVANIA