I have a daughter who has gone through a succession of stressful events, one miserable thing coming along on the heels of the other. One of the most stressful events was the death of her Schnauzer dog Cisco some weeks ago.
Cisco died unexpectedly, and my daughter was holding him in her arms as he took his last breath. She grieved hard for him.

Just a couple of weeks ago a neighbor who paints volunteered to paint a portrait of Cisco for her. My daughter was so grateful and said to the painter several times "I don't know how to repay you."
So a few days after receiving the portrait, daughter had to undergo a surgical procedure. She had been in pain for a long time, and after the surgery she was at home, weak and recuperating and still in pain, when she received a letter in her mailbox.

The letter was from the artsy fartsy painter woman and the letter began "You can repay me by losing weight." Then followed a two page diatribe about weight and a 600 calorie a day diet plan. The painter also said that walking her dogs wasn't going to help her lose weight.
Daughter doesn't walk to lose weight--she walks because it's good for her and her dogs; getting out in the fresh air and sunshine is a pick me up.

Now understand, daughter is not a big fat globby fat woman. She is toned and pretty and though like the rest of us she can stand to lose a few pounds, she is far from being cover your eyes horrible to look at, know what I mean?
So there daughter was already feeling down, feeling bad from surgery and other series of events, and this letter comes and puts her in a tailspin.
I think that painter is an a**hole, with no class, no manners, crass and vile, and my daughter's weight is none of her da*n business.

If you want to help someone, you go sit down with them and have a cup of tea and approach the subject in a caring helpful manner. A letter is a cold impersonal approach because the writer gets to say whetever she likes, while the recipient cannot respond. It's like a slap in the face.

Just because this classless woman can paint doesn't mean she has common sense. That's what I've been telling my daughter. Can you believe someone would do that?
what do you think?

susil