DEAR ABBY: After 30-some years of reading your column, here goes:
The woman I love and I are both in our early 40s. I have been married once; she has not. She is living with her father, who is unable to care for himself and will not ask for assistance, and she will not leave him to marry me.
We tried living together, but her regular visits to her father (120 miles from here) prevented her from getting a full-time job. Abby, I love her and want to help, but her dad will not hear of it. He is in poor health, and she worries about him when she is away. I sympathize, but this gent has driven several wives away, and now he's a lonely old man.
I have waited for five years, but I cannot wait forever and would like to get on with my life. What can I do? -- STILL WAITING IN MONROVIA, CALIF.
DEAR WAITING: The woman you have loved for five years appears to have already made her choice -- it's Daddy, not you. Face the facts and get on with your life without her.