[maxxxxx]

I commend you for helping your wife with social functions. I am often extremely shy and socially inept and I think it would help me a lot if somebody took me by the hand and helped me through those situations. Most people have no sympathy for this problem "Just go out there and have fun" is really bad advice.

[beat]

A friend of mine said something wonderfully complementary recently. She said I'm the kind of extrovert that makes introverts more comfortable, rather than less comfortable. That in itself is a very sensitive statement, distinguishing out the extroverts who treat introverts like doormats. :(

Not to say introversion and anxiety are the same thing. My daughter is actually pretty extroverted, as long as she feels comfortable and in control, but when her anxiety kicks in, she becomes painfully shy.