DEAR ABBY: A few weeks ago, my husband and I decided to clean out our garage. Stored on a top shelf was the box containing my wedding dress. As I pulled it down, I wondered what it looked like after 21 years. After our wedding night I had sent it to the cleaners to be dry-cleaned and boxed. It was returned to me with a gold seal across the opening.
I decided to break the seal and check the condition of the dress, hoping no moths had gotten to it. When I opened the box, there was no wedding dress inside. My husband asked if I had let someone borrow it. "No," I replied, "the box has been sealed all this time."
Then it dawned on me that my dress had never been returned from the cleaners. I never thought to check inside the box when I got it back. Please pass this on as a warning to future and current brides to check their wedding boxes! -- DUPED IN CALIFORNIA
DEAR DUPED: What happened was truly unfortunate, and I am pleased to spread the word. It's far too late to find out if your dress was lost or stolen, but checking the box makes sense -- if only to make sure the dress inside is the one that was sent to the cleaners. Better to be safe than sorry.