DEAR ABBY: You gave "Wondering What I'm Missing" -- the woman who married young and never had the chance to live life as a single -- good advice, as far as it went.
I was married fresh out of high school and had six children by the time I was 30. I was active in the community, but that didn't stop me from feeling that everything was happening to us as a couple and not to me alone. I discussed my feelings with my husband, and he suggested that I go to college and then enter the workforce. I began evening classes almost immediately.
After college, I joined my husband in business and we also purchased some real estate as an investment. I am now 60 years old, and unfortunately a widow, but I have a real estate portfolio, enough income to retire and travel, and time to spend with our 14 grandchildren.
We go around only once, so "Wondering" should do something to make herself feel important, and stop regretting that she's not single. She can be her own person if she wants to, in spite of being part of a couple, and a mother. -- ELAINE SCHORSCH, FEDERAL WAY, WASH.
DEAR ELAINE: That's sage advice. I hope that "Wondering" will take a page out of your book.