Dear Ann Landers: In the 1950s there was a program on TV called ”The Millionaire.” Every week I watched that show and was thrilled when the lucky winner appeared and told what he or she was going to do with the money.
I know this seems crazy, Ann, but every day I expected that $1 million check to be delivered to me.
When I married we had a terrible time making ends meet, but I kept saying to myself, ”Don`t worry, when you get that check for $1 million you can take care of everything.”
Ann, I am now a 57-year-old widow and even though that program hasn`t been on for years I still expect that check. But that is not the worst of it. When night comes I become very depressed because the check didn`t arrive.
My problem is that I have believed in a fantasy for so long that now that my life is almost over, I can`t bear the thought that my dreams never came true.
Please tell me how to handle the feeling of failure and the awful depression that takes hold of me. I need your help.
Thomasville, Tex.
Dear Texas: Dream castles in the air are wonderful places to visit, but when people try to live in them they run into trouble.
Over the years you have escaped from the harsh realities of life by retreating into a world of make-believe. Now I hope you will see a doctor and try therapy and/or medication to help you meet life on its own terms and find some happiness. Good luck to you, dear.
Dear Ann Landers: Our daughter just began college a few weeks ago. She is in a two-girl room in an all-girls` dormitory.
”Rita`s” boyfriend spends weekends at the college and sleeps on the floor in her room. Her roommate goes home almost every weekend, and when she is gone, Rita`s boyfriend sleeps in her roommate`s bed.
I`ve let my daughter know that I`m opposed to this arrangement, but she insists that since she is being so open and honest with me, I should accept her word that nothing is going on.
”All the girls do this,” Rita says, ”and their parents trust them.”
So now I am a terrible person because I tell her I don`t like the looks of it. Since her father and I pay for this girl`s housing and tuition, I feel we should have something to say about her lifestyle. Please tell me if I am right, or am I out of touch and living in a different century, as she claims? Mom
Dear Mom: You don`t say whether or not the school allows men to stay all night in the women`s dorms. I find such permissiveness mind-boggling, but that`s the way it is on many campuses.
You have the right to register strong disapproval of Rita`s boyfriend sleeping in her room (on the floor or whatever), but I hope you realize that when a young woman goes away to college she has unlimited freedom.
She can (and will) cross that line if she is so inclined, whether the fellow is in her dorm room or they are under the moon in the park or in the back seat of his car.
I say, Mother, your role insofar as shaping your daughter`s moral values is finished. From here on in she is strictly on her own.
What`s the story on pot, cocaine, LSD, PCP, downers, speed? Can you handle them if you`re careful? Ann Landers` booklet, ”The Lowdown on Dope,” has the answers. For each booklet ordered, send $2, plus a No. 10, self-addressed, stamped envelope (39 cents postage) to Ann Landers, P.O. Box 11562, Chicago, Ill. 60611-0562.
