Dear Abby

Okay, a Facebook friend posted that her husband asked her if "Brooke" was her "friend on here....grrrrr!" Friend said "in today's Dear Abby" column. So, I do a web search, clicked on first result I came upon. The first letter was from Lubbox Texas. My long-time penpal used to live in Lubbox, otherwise city unknown to me. The problem? Homeless!

A family fell upon hard times; husband lost job, they have been living in their car with three children. Husband now working, not earning enough to rent an apartment. Ms. Homeless in Lubbox does not want to go to shelter and "break up the family"; asks Dear Abby for some serious advice. Abby says "check out shelter accommodations for family's with children" and "that is not breaking up the family".

Has been cold in Texas, so yes, better to take those children inside if shelter space is available. Five in a car? Maybe it is a SUV, which would provide a bit more room for comfortable sleeping. Kids can survive homelessness. Despite inadequate shelter beds here in Long Beach, the MSC does provide nicely for mothers with children. Health care, play areas provided.

So who is Brooke? The next letter to Dear Abby was from a man who wanted some alone time to go fishing or play golf, but wife makes him feel guilty. Next up was a gal whose boyfriend recently got on Facebook. He misspells words, oh my, how can she get him to proof-read? Dear Abby says (blah, blah, blah) spellcheck. Du-oh, can not spell-check status updates at FB. Can type in Word, spellcheck, then transfer to FB. A lot of effort for a small blog post.

I clicked on the form to tell her that, but it wanted too much info. If I wrote a snail mail, I would not need to give an advice columnist my telephone number, or email address. Okay, I do not mind giving the e'dress, but then she does not need offline address and forget about sharing my private number with anyone. No thank you.

Back to Brooke; no the letter was not signed "Brooke". I wonder if the people who post ambiguous status updates realize that all their friends get to see them ~ most people do not bother with selective posting ~ and maybe they should be more specific when updating the status. As it is, more of a personal message to hubby or local friends. Whatever.