Men Can Find ‘Miss Right’

Dear Ann Landers: I was impressed by your column in which you listed specific guidelines for finding “Mr. Right.” I’m sure a great many women clipped it for future reference, and it will serve them well. Now, how about some guidelines for your male readers to help us find “Miss Right”? A lot of us are looking, and we need help, too. Thanks in advance. Single and Searching in Chicago

Dear Single and Searching: If you are serious, follow these guidelines, and you’ll come up with a winner.

1. Don’t look for Miss Right in a bar. Try a supermarket, church, your work place or friends who “know somebody.” If you have young children, she could be a kindergarten teacher or a divorced woman who goes to PTA meetings.

2. If she tells you she is married or separated, or her husband doesn’t understand her, she has TROUBLE stamped on her forehead.

3. If she expects you to buy her expensive gifts or wants to borrow money to pay for her mother’s operation, be careful. She may be looking for a sucker or a sugar daddy.

4. If she doesn’t get along with her neighbors, her siblings or the people she works with, watch out. The problem could be her.

5. Does her apartment look clean and orderly? If she’s a bit of a slob now, it will only get worse.

6. If she has children, decide if you want to marry them, too, because they are part of the package. And be aware that her children are a direct link to her former husband.

7. If you feel you need a woman to complete your life, choose her; don’t let her choose you. Be selective. No one has the power to make you happier than the right woman or more miserable than the wrong one.

8. If she is hung up on her father and he isn’t very fond of you, that could be trouble.

9. Find someone who laughs at the same things you laugh at. A shared sense of humor will make the good times better and the bad times less difficult.

10. Pay attention to how she treats others. If she has no long-term friendships, it is possible that she is incapable of maintaining one.

11. Does she expect her daddy to bail her out every time something goes wrong? If so, it means she needs to grow up.

12. Don’t get married because she looks good on your arm. Looks often fade. It’s important to like the whole package.

13. No matter how wonderful her other qualities may be, do not marry a woman who has threatened, hit or humiliated you. In fact, don’t go out with her a second time. Such a woman is hazardous to your emotional and physical health and should be avoided like the plague.

14. Is she trustworthy and truthful? If you have caught her in a few little lies, you will surely catch her in some big ones later.

15. If your idea of a good time is renting a video, drinking beer and eating pretzels on the sofa, make sure she will settle for that. Courtship, after the glamour wears off, is a fairly good preview of what your married life will be like.

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