DEAR ABBY: During the last 20 years of my husband's career, he was involved with a woman at work. They went to lunch, shopping and company parties. She was heavyset and wore garish makeup. I am tall, slender and don't need makeup. People who know me refer to me as a "no-nonsense" woman. I have my own business and have traveled the world promoting my artwork.
Once my husband took some of my custom-made jewelry to work to show his "gal pal." When he came home, he told me her comment was, "It looks like cheap costume jewelry."
After my husband retired and became ill, this woman came to our home and told me to my face that although she could, she would never take a man from his family. I said, "Go ahead -- take him!"
He's been ill now several years, and she has finally quit sending him two to three cards a day. He misses her terribly. His girlfriend should not have dropped him, but she did. So after 42 years of marriage, he's just got me. -- STEADY AS A ROCK IN SAN FRANCISCO
DEAR STEADY: I'd say your husband is the luckiest man on the face of the Earth. A lot of other wives would have said they deserved each other and walked out.