About to turn 80, `Abby' says surviving is best feat

Dear Abby: What's your greatest accomplishment? That's an easy one for Abigail Van Buren, the syndicated advice columnist.

"Surviving," replied Van Buren, who works as long as 10 hours a day reviewing letters, at an age when most people have long since retired. She will turn 80 on Saturday."It's only work if you would rather be doing something else," she said.

Universal Press Syndicate said "Dear Abby" is the most widely syndicated columnist in the world, appearing in more than 1,200 newspapers, including the Deseret News. Her twin, Esther Pauline Friedman, is better known as advice columnist Ann Landers.

What's Abby's advice for aging gracefully? "Fear less; hope more. Eat less; chew more. Talk less; say more. Hate less, love more." And, she added Wednesday, "never underestimate the power of forgiveness."