DEAR ABBY: My husband and I have been married for 40 years, and we've had our ups and downs. My problem is, he frequently talks about the girls he knew before me. He describes them all in glowing terms -- gorgeous, perfect body, beautiful hair, well-endowed and on and on. It makes me feel self-conscious and inadequate.
Add to this he is short-tempered with me. He constantly finds fault with the way I do things and speaks to me harshly. When I told him how it made me feel, his answer was that I was "sick in the head." He won't listen or acknowledge that he has a part in the problem. Where do I go from here? -- FEELING LESS THAN
DEAR FEELING LESS: I'm glad you asked. Where you go from here is to the office of a licensed psychotherapist to help you figure out why you have tolerated being treated this way for 40 years and give you the tools to regain your battered self-esteem.
Your short-tempered husband is no prize. Whether his long-ago girlfriends could have competed for Miss Universe is beside the point. He somehow wound up with "flawed" little ol' you. You are no more "sick in the head" than I am! Wrap your mind around that fact and recognize you are married to a verbal abuser with an overactive fantasy life, and the better off you will be.