Dear Crabby, How did it all begin?

Dear Crabby,

I stumbled onto your column recently and then went back to read some of your writings over the last four years and was very impressed. How did you get started with the advice column and how do you get all this wisdom you impart on others?

Sincerely, Kris Kiss Up

Dear Kris Kiss Up,

I’m not sure why, but for some reason I seem to like you better than all the other people who have written to me so far! To answer your last question first, I have so many answers because I am so old! You realize how old you are when your grand kids are talking about “classics” and you remember when they first came out! I remember Jackie Gleason and “The Honeymooners” when they first appeared! I remember watching Elvis shake his legs for the first time on the “Ed Sullivan Show!” And of course I remember the day Kennedy was shot like it was yesterday. Now my grand kids “discover” all this stuff on some web channel called YouTube and ask if I’ve seen it yet! Now as to how I got started on this advice column stuff, well that’s a little more involved. I started giving advice around the same time I started to talk my mother always told me. Most of the time no one seemed to care. As I got older, people started caring a lot, and asked me to keep my opinions to myself! So, for most of my adult life I tried to keep my advice to others to a minimum and mostly just let my direct family know how I felt. However about four years ago a friend of mine asked if I could start answering some questions that people had in a written form, sort of like “Dear Abby.” I said, “Sure!” and begin putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, as they would say today. It started out pretty basic, answering questions pertaining to senior citizens only. The next thing I knew I was answering questions about what to get your wife for her birthday and how to pick out a mate for your children. The crazy part was when some of my articles started appearing in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal online! I wanted to tell those people who asked me to be quiet to read it and weep! But, it’s all been a fun ride. I don’t know how much longer people will read my stuff, or how much longer I’ll be alive for that matter, but I’ve enjoyed the ride and will continue as long as I can. They are putting a book out that I wrote, so look for it in stores and on Amazon soon! Thanks for asking!

Sincerely, Dear Crabby

Stuck in a rut? Need some biased advice from a crabby old baby-boomer? Go to www.DearCrabby.org and ask your question.