Dear Ann Landers,
The first is to let you know that I spend $1.20 per day for the Asahi Evening News because my day would not be complete if I did not read your column. My second reason for writing is that I am concerned about what will happen to your column when you leave this planet for a more celestial life. I don't want to sound morbid, Ann, but no one is immortal. Are you, by any chance, training an apprentice to take over after you depart? Or would you consider an arrangement whereby the newspapers could reprint 30 years of reruns? They would still be fresh to a new generation. Whatever the solution, Ann, I urge you to think seriously of a way your column could continue ad infinitum. It provides a much-needed anchor to a world ever more adrift. -Don't Leave Us on the Boat Alone

Dear Don’t Leave Us,
Thank you for your concern. I have, indeed, pondered the question you have raised and am pleased to share my thoughts with you. I love my work in spite of the fact that it is enormously demanding, and I feel that I am making a meaningful contribution. After 40 years, it is still exhilarating and exciting. My energy level has not declined, and only one or two shingles have fallen off the roof. Am I training an understudy? No, I am not. I wouldn't know how to teach anyone to do what I do. Nobody taught me, though I was lucky to have had a terrific editor, Larry Fanning, for the first 10 years of my career. My column is more than a vehicle to dispense information. It's at the heart of an intensely personal relationship with my readers. I'm sure that there are many talented people around who could do a very good job and that one day you will be reading another column in the space I now occupy, but I am not ready to pack it in. I own the name Ann Landers, and I will never sell it for any amount of money. When I go, the column goes with me. There are bound to be many good advice columns after I have left the scene, but there will never be one that carries my byline. And you have my word on it. Dear Readers: I love you all and would do anything in my power to help you; however, there are some things I simply cannot do. I hope you understand. I am unable to: Find a husband for your daughter or wife for your son. Lend you money to start a new business. Get you an appointment with Mayor Daley. Give you my home telephone number so you can call after work. Read your manuscript and tell you if it is marketable. Have dinner with all of you. Translate your letters into Spanish so you can correspond with rel-atives in South America. Get you on Phil Donahue, Oprah Winfrey or Joan Rivers. Offer you a position in my office. Send a check to help you though college. Attend everyone's wedding, bar mitzvah or parents' 50th wedding anniversary. Sincerely yours, -Ann Landers