DEAR READERS: In my many years of involvement with this column (and before), I have heard some creative name-calling and may have even indulged in a few choice words myself. But your scatological creativity in describing "The Other Woman, Anywhere, USA" (March 11) singed my eyebrows to the roots. Some readers thanked me for my reply. Others felt I was too easy on the letter writer. And others ... well, read on:

DEAR ABBY: My husband "works long hours" and frequently attends evening "meetings" or "stag functions." He is "too tired" to notice my negligee and perfume and "too busy" to meet me for lunch or respond to my loving e-mails. When I'm not at my full-time job, I'm the one washing his leftover dishes and dirty socks, cleaning toilets, fixing torn screens, preparing the drywall our kids damaged, unclogging drains and doing the other minor repairs.

He says there's no money for a night out, yet I find dinner receipts for two in his dirty clothes. (The income I bring in must make SOME difference.) I go to bed alone and starved for sex more nights than I can count. Is this the intact marriage "Other Woman" is trying to preserve? She gets the perks while I'm picking up the dirty towels.

Please, TAKE him! Give me my child support and alimony and YOU support this "wonderful" man. Clean up after him and then see how much "quality time" you enjoy, Sweetie! -- THE WIFE BACK HOME

DEAR ABBY: May I offer a different perspective? I have more respect for a man who sticks with his family and remains in the house providing support and raising his kids, but finds a sexual relationship outside the home. You want to know what I think is really toxic? A man who stays married and celibate, just letting his resentment fester and build. Try walking a mile in someone else's shoes before passing judgment, lady! -- MALE READER IN THE USA

DEAR ABBY: I am a child of an unfaithful marriage. As a pre-teen and teen I often cried and prayed to God for my parents to divorce. Children know when a marriage isn't right. I still mourn for the well-adjusted adult I might have become if I'd had two honest and separate but happy households in which to grow up.

How convenient of "Other Woman" to blame affairs on the wives while overlooking the husband's part in the demise of the marriage. It baffles me that she believes she knows the whole story about her lover's marriage. Please tell her that the only "best friend" her lover has is himself. -- ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE IN OHIO

DEAR ABBY: I was "The Other Man" for 30 years. I was a teenager and still in high school when I met "Sue." She was in her 20s, gorgeous, and I was earning money mowing lawns. I was a virgin. It started with me rubbing suntan lotion on her back. Her husband was in the military.

One day she told me she was lonely because her husband was gone so much and their 5-year-old was in kindergarten. She asked me to be her "special friend." After high school she paid for me to go to trade school. For 29 years I followed her wherever the military sent her husband. I even had a vasectomy so I wouldn't get her pregnant. I lived my life for her.

Her husband has now retired from the military. She has time for me now maybe once a month. What we had is fading more each week. She is my first and only love, and I'll never find anyone to love as I have loved her, or father children of my own. Is my life worth living? -- DEPRESSED OUT WEST

DEAR DEPRESSED: Yes, but it may take counseling to help you realize it. Please don't wait. Your life is worth living. The ability to father a child is not the most important quality many women want in a husband.

DEAR ABBY: I'm responding to "The Other Woman, Anywhere, USA" (March 11). Please tell your readers if they find themselves in her shoes, they should RUN in the opposite direction.

My husband, "John," and I both left our spouses to be together. It has been 10 years, and I regret leaving my ex-husband every day. I traded a wonderful marriage for an obnoxious, self-absorbed, arrogant man.

John still spends Christmas Day with his ex and his adult children. He says it's out of guilt. He paid for his daughter's wedding reception with money from our joint account. John went alone. I was "forbidden" to attend.

My "soul mate" usually forgets my birthday, and one year he also "forgot" Christmas. If only I could turn back time. I find myself praying for the end of time and realize I'm probably getting what I deserve. -- LIVING WITH REGRET

DEAR LIVING: You letter is a reminder that there is dignity in being alone and filling one's "down time" with good friends and helping the less fortunate. As I expected, "Other Woman's" letter generated a ton of mail. Read on:

DEAR ABBY: Your reply to "The Other Woman" was 100 percent right on. I was once in love with a married woman and won her heart. I thought, "All's fair in love and war," and had little regard for her husband. Then I met him.

When I looked into his eyes, I knew what I was doing was wrong and bad karma. Here was a human being with a soul, who loved and trusted his wife, who was true to his marriage vows and trusted her to be true, too. If the situation were reversed, I wouldn't want my wife to have an affair with another man. Spiritually, it was an important and painful lesson.

My advice to married people having an affair is to ask yourselves how you would feel if you were being cheated on. Do the right thing. Honesty and integrity matter. -- FORMER OTHER MAN, ANYWERE, USA

DEAR ABBY: I was the other woman for six years. It has taken me a year to realize how unhealthy the relationship was for me. Not only did it damage my self-esteem, but the guilt became unbearable. I wish I could go back and undo what I have done. Luckily, I now have someone who cares about me and accepts me -- flaws and all -- and loves me for who I am all the time, not just one or two hours a week. -- WISER NOW IN VIRGINIA

DEAR ABBY: I was the other woman. Over time I have come to understand that I believed what I wanted to believe because I was lonely, needy and vulnerable. I learned as time went on that my lover was incapable of developing a mature, responsible and meaningful relationship. I experienced the calamitous consequences emotionally, psychologically and financially -- as did our child.

Through counseling, friendships and networking with other women and getting to know myself in a rigorously honest way, I became too healthy to be the other woman. I'm now in the marriage I always dreamed of to a man with character and heart, who is devoted to me and "our" child. I learned that the right man would find me when I became the person he was looking for. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it. -- FINALLY FULFILLED

DEAR ABBY: Thank you for the letter from "The Other Woman" and your reply. I have been divorced 12 years and involved with a married man for more than a year. The affair has been lonely, degrading, unfulfilling and a real self-esteem buster.

Your answer reminded me of what I have always known. Because of it, I have decided to end my affair and get back into the real world. I hope "Other Woman" wakes up and does the same. And soon. -- GRATEFUL IN ALABAMA

READERS: More tomorrow!

To order "How to Write Letters for All Occasions," send a business-sized, self-addressed envelope, plus check or money order for $6 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby -- Letter Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Postage is included in the price.)

DEAR ABBY: When I was 15, I was raped by a family friend. I did what I thought was the right thing to do and told my parents. The man was arrested, and DNA tests proved everything. Charges were pressed.

I thought everything was going to be OK, but a few days before the court proceedings were to begin, my rapist killed himself. Now his family harasses my family. They claim he was innocent and I was bent on ruining his life.

Abby, people often ask me if I am "relieved" that he committed suicide. I feel terrible about it, and I don't know how to respond to these comments. -- BLAMING MYSELF OUT WEST

DEAR BLAMING YOURSELF: When someone commits suicide, it is not unusual for the survivors to feel -- among other things -- overwhelming guilt. You did the right thing by telling your parents about the assault. Your family did the right thing in pressing charges. Obviously your rapist was very disturbed, and you are in no way responsible for his death. The police should be notified about the harassment from his family.

When someone asks if you are "relieved" that the rapist is dead, you are not obliged to answer. You can let the question hang in the air, or turn it back on the person by asking, "How would you feel?" and let him or her ramble on.

I hope you received psychological counseling after you were raped, because it should have helped you to recognize that you are not responsible for anything that has happened. However, because you are blaming yourself, it's time to schedule a few sessions with a therapist.

DEAR ABBY: I am 23 and being married in the fall. I couldn't be more excited. I have started shopping for a wedding dress, and I would like to wear a pure white one on my special day. However, I am not a virgin, and I know the original significance of brides wearing white was to declare their virginity.

Is this still true today, or is it not so important anymore? I don't want to offend anyone. (I think most of the guests we will be inviting know my fiance and I live together, so they can assume that I am not a virgin.) I could always wear an ivory dress, but I would really prefer a white one. What do you think? -- WONDERING IN WASHINGTON

DEAR WONDERING: If your dream dress is white, then that's what you should wear.

According to Emily Post: "During the 20th century, white came to signify joy rather than virginity (though traditionalists may hold to the older symbolism) and is now considered appropriate for all brides, including those marrying again and those who are pregnant at the time of the wedding."

DEAR ABBY: I ride the bus to and from work every day, and I have had it "up to here" with people who conduct loud conversations on their cell phones. I have learned far more than I ever wanted to about medical problems, restraining orders, relationships that are falling apart, etc. I would love to make eye contact and give them "the look," but these folks are too absorbed in what they are saying to even glance in my direction.

What surprises me most is that the average age of a lot of them is in their 40s. I'm in my early 20s, but I know that not only is their behavior rude, but that sharing personal information with a group of strangers is potentially dangerous.

Can you suggest a way to deal with this problem without having to wear earplugs? -- MINNEAPOLIS COMMUTER

DEAR MINNEAPOLIS COMMUTER: Yes, get up and move your seat.