Dear Abby: I'm the same size I've always been, and my in-laws need to shut up about it

"I am a 66-year-old woman, married with two daughters. I am 5-foot-2 and weigh 108 pounds. This is not something new. But whenever there is a gathering with my in-laws, at least one of them says I need to put meat on my bones in those exact words. I think it's rude and offensive. I am certainly not telling any of them to take meat off their bones. I cannot help my size, metabolism or genetics, and I am tired of the comments."

"DEAR SLIGHT: If you really don't care about offending the offenders, take off your kid gloves. Tell your in-laws you have tolerated their comments for too long and to quit doing it because you don't like it. If, heaven forbid, they say you are too sensitive, ask them how they would like being told they are too heavy and that their perfume smells like garbage. (I'm sure you can think of something once you stop laughing.)"

"DEAR ABBY: I just left a verbally and physically abusive relationship. I suffer from mental illness, and Scott made it worse. We lived together for almost four years. I could beat myself up over deciding to live with him. He's an alcoholic, narcissistic, bipolar, sociopathic liar who swears he's a man of God. Scott kicked me out countless times during the time we lived together, knowing I had nowhere to go. Five months ago was the last time."

A 66-year-old woman reports lifelong thinness and repeated in-law remarks telling her to "put meat on [her] bones," calling the comments rude, offensive, and exhausting. The advised response is to stop tolerating the behavior, confront relatives directly, and use pointed retorts to illustrate the double standard. A separate correspondent describes leaving a verbally and physically abusive partner named Scott, whose alcoholism, manipulative and violent behavior, and criminal history worsened the writer's mental illness. The correspondent reports emotional devastation after learning Scott took another person into his home and after a long, tumultuous relationship.

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