In honor of Father's Day, a guest blogger...

Annie's Mailbox

c/o the Virginian-Pilot

Dear Annie:

My daughter (I'll call her "Karen") writes what the kids today call a "blog." She's married to a young man (I'll call him "Wilfred") who tells everyone he has a job in a nearby community (I'll call it "Emerald City"), but Karen still has to work late and at odd hours. I don't think she knows I read the blog. (Or at least I don't know that she thinks I read the blog. Or maybe I know she doesn't think I read the blog. I can't remember).

So today I was shocked to come across this statement concerning my grandson, whom I'll call Günter, and who is both Karen's son and Wilfred's son: "We [Karen and Wilfred] had noticed that he [Günter] had been staring longingly at us anytime we ate something so we figured it was time. Turns out the kid has been starving. We started with rice cereal and he literally inhaled it."

Annie, I had been imploring my daughter to feed the poor child solid food for at least two weeks before she allegedly discovered it herself. It is particularly upsetting to me because I have made a point of telling all our friends about my advice and how she (Karen) ignored it and would be sorry. And all their friends too. And the people at work. Now she is denying -- in what the kids today call a "blog" -- that it was my idea and claiming that she (Karen) and Wilfred figured it out theirself !!

Am I overreacting, or is this the sign of some mental disorder that causes Karen to deny me proper credit for saving Karen's son Günter from literally starving? I am worried that she didn't even tell him (Wilfred) about my advice about Günter. And shouldn't Wilfred, who says he is Günter's father, have said something to me, or our pastor, about him (Günter) inhaling things literally?

I am also afraid she (Karen) will go into a tizzy when she finds out I have been reading her blog without asking. And is it ever right to write "anytime" instead of "any time," even if it is what the kids today call a "blog"? Will you please go to the next cubicle and ask Mrs. Manners if you don't know yourself?

I am sick about this. Please don't tell me to go to counseling with Karen. We tried it once and that is how we ended up with Wilfred.

Sincerely,

Twittered in Tidewater