DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: Back in the day my grandmother had a few bad experiences with mammograms. She said she was bruised after the first and second one and the third one took so long she missed her bus home and had to wait an hour for the next one.

She is now 73 and after more than 10 years since her last one her doctor wants her to get one more mammogram just to be sure everything is good.

My grandmother says she has never had any problems and none of the women in our family have a history of breast cancer, so why should she get “mauled” for nothing?

I have too many friends whose mothers and grandmothers have had or are battling breast cancer. It may not be important to my grandmother that she get screened, but it is to me.

Mammograms save lives, and I want my grandmother around for a long time.

Don’t you think she should follow her doctor’s orders? --- WANT HER SAFE

DEAR WANT HER SAFE: As you may already know, there’s nothing comfortable about a mammogram, but I agree with you that they do indeed save lives.

I checked to see what the recommended upper age for routine mammograms is and it looks like it’s currently 74.

Perhaps you can persuade your grandmother that after this one, unless something comes up to cause a doctor to order future imaging, she should be done with the test.

As a side note, someone I know who is in her 80s was diagnosed not long ago with early stage breast cancer. Hopefully your grandmother will be reminded that an ounce of prevention is still worth a pound of cure.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: My daughter just turned 22 and she has yet to have so much as a casual boyfriend. She and her single friends go out either in a big group, or they get together at one another’s homes.

By my daughter’s age I had already had a couple of serious boyfriends and had started dating my future husband.

I worry that she is missing out on what I found was both a fun and educational part of life.

Should I be worried? --- MOTHER OF A LATE BLOOMER

DEAR MOTHER OF A LATE BLOOMER: No, I don’t believe you need to be worried about your daughter’s not yet having been in a romantic relationship. She and her friends are choosing to make their own way, at their own pace.

Many young people these days are focusing on a variety of aspects of their lives rather than looking for love, and that’s okay. It can be a good thing, as a matter of fact, for people to have a better sense of themselves and where they want to go in life before they consider sharing that life with someone else.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE'S MOM: I put together boxes of gifts for my grandkids and then sent them off in what I thought was plenty of time for them to get them by Christmas.

What I didn't realize at the time was I had reversed two of the numbers on the label I printed up for the box for my daughter's stepchildren, and it took nearly two weeks from when I sent it out until it was returned to me.

I know it was my mistake, but my son-in-law told my daughter I did it on purpose because I don't like him and his kids. He can be annoying, but I consider his children my real grandkids and love and treat them the same as I do the ones born into the family.

I resent the package Priority Mail Express, which wasn't cheap, and it got to their house on the Sunday before Christmas.

My son-in-law is still steamed with me and no matter what my daughter tells him, he said he thinks I'm petty.

Who's the petty one here? --- AN HONEST MISTAKE

DEAR AN HONEST MISTAKE: I'm trying to follow your son-in-law's logic, and I confess it eludes me.

In this case, I believe the problem is your son-in-law's since you owned up to your mistake and did what you could to correct it as soon as you knew what happened. I'm not sure what else there was for you to do, or even if there was something else that would've satisfied your son-in-law.