I got a message yesterday, from someone who asked for my on-air advice years ago. See, I’ve done multiple ADVICE segments on the radio over the years, where people would write in and ask for my help. Listeners were reaching out to me for suggestions long before What Would Julie Do or Shemail ever started airing though. I’m not sure why. Maybe these people just needed to hear from an outside party, or maybe they felt like we were friends. Whatever the reason was, I LOVED hearing from listeners and helping them through tough situations.

Sometimes I would develop relationships with people and hear from them almost daily. I remember one woman (we’ll call her Alice) who contacted me right after I had my first baby. Alice was pregnant but her prenatal tests kept coming back with alarming results. She was terrified and her anxiety was compounded by the fact that her husband was in the service and stationed overseas. I didn’t really know what to say, so I just told her to stay positive and reminded her that prenatal tests are famous for false positives.

A few months later, she had a perfectly healthy baby boy.

I didn’t always hear back from the people who wrote to me though. There was one woman whose 3-year-old son was CONVINCED she was going to die in a car-wreck. He had constant nightmares about her being trapped in a burning car and would cry anytime she needed to drive somewhere.

He’d stand by the door and scream, “You’re going to DIE, MOMMY! I’ve SEEN IT!”

I told her to talk to a child-psychologist but never heard from her again. I’d really like to, just to get the nagging idea that she actually was killed in a car-wreck out of my head.

The most shocking What Would Julie Do email I ever received came when I was doing my first morning show with Tony Zazza (yes, we had more than one).

This woman (we’ll call her Paula) had been seeing a married man for years, and he was now running for public office. They were no longer a couple, but during their time together Paula had learned of some illegal activities he was involved in. She wanted to go public with the affair and his other indiscretions, because she wanted to the world to know how crooked he was. Paula knew that she would be painted as the “scorned woman” though and that her own reputation would be dragged through the mud.

I wanted to tell her to keep it to herself. Paula said that she needed to be rid of this man entirely, but going public would attach her to him indefinitely. Tony had a totally different approach though.

“If he’s running for office, everyone needs to know that he’s a liar and a cheat. We should bust this S.O.B!”

It would have been a great one to follow up on, but I was fired a few days later and never talked to her again.

Cheating was the topic of about 90% of the ADVICE emails I received. It was also the topic of the first email I got from the woman (we’ll call her Susie) who wrote to me yesterday. She called herself “The Lied-to-Bride.”

Susie was engaged to a lovely man, but he slipped up and told her about a fling he had early in their relationship. He mentioned a co-worker that he’d hooked up with at a party and it didn’t take Susie long to realize they were already together when it happened. She got upset and he was surprised, because he didn’t think they were “serious” at that point. Susie felt totally betrayed and started questioning their upcoming nuptials. This was made worse by the fact that she has a son with Autism from a previous marriage. He LOVES her fiancé, and would be heartbroken if they split up.

It was a tough call because I completely understood how Susie felt cheated and was worried that this was a sign of future infidelities. I reminded her though, that people don’t always fall in love at the exact same time. He might not have been committed when he fooled around with that chick from work, but he DEFINITELY was when he asked her to marry him. “Trust your heart and have faith in the man you love,” I told her. “Then pray that he doesn’t prove you wrong.”

Susie has been married for two years now and is happier than she has ever been. She sent me a picture of their three smiling faces, and a separate one of her husband and son, both wearing Superman capes. The coworker he cheated with is married now with kids of her own and Susie sees her occasionally at his office. She is no longer threatened by her though, and is grateful that she didn’t let something from the past affect her perfect present. Susie thanked me for my help and said that I “legitimately touched people’s lives in a positive way.”
I might not ever find out what happened to the car-wreck-kid or that dirty politician, but THAT is a happy ending I can live with.