FEATURES
6A
Tomorrow’s horoscope
Should grandma send gifts?
Dear Annie: My married daugh-
ter has decided to estrange herself
from her stepfather and me. We have
not spoken since she rudely shrugged
me off at her son’s graduation party
last June. I recently began counsel-
ing to help me deal with the situation.
The counselor thinks my daughter
may have narcissistic personality dis-
order. The additional heartbreak is that
she told my sister I abused her terribly
when she was a child. My sister sug-
gested she seek therapy, but my daugh-
ter said she was “over it.” Annie, this
abuse never occurred, and I am sick
about the accusation.
I also have a son who lives in our
area. He and his girlfriend recently had
a baby, and my daughter told the girl-
friend things that I supposedly said
and did, and now this young lady does
not want to associate with us. I have
tried several times to talk to her, but
she won’t reciprocate. My son brings
the baby over every few weeks on his
own.
I am slowly coming to terms with
my grief. My daughter has ive chil-
dren, four of whom live at home. The
oldest, who is in college, is the only
one who contacts us on occasion. My
husband and I have always been sup-
portive of both our children, mak-
ing countless trips to visit. I don’t see
my daughter and I reconciling any-
Annie’s
Mailbox
Creators
Syndicate Inc.
Kathy Mitchell
and
Marcy Sugar
time soon, and I have given up on
my son’s girlfriend. Life is too short
for so much stress. So, should I con-
tinue to send birthday cards and gifts to
these grandchildren? I did not receive
any acknowledgment for the presents
I sent at Christmas. — Confused and
Sad
Dear Confused: The grandchil-
dren haven’t been taught to send thank-
you notes, and Mom obviously has no
interest in encouraging them to cor-
respond with you. However, sending
cards (and gifts, if you like) is one way
to maintain contact in an otherwise
estranged relationship, so you might
want to continue even with no expec-
tation of acknowledgment. This type
of situation is terribly sad for everyone.
Dear Annie: I read the letter from
“J.M.” and your response mentioning
the side effects of statin drugs. It did
not cover seriously debilitating symp-
toms such as memory loss.
I went through the increasing frus-
tration and puzzlement of not being
able to ind the word I wanted, forget-
ting everything from the name of my
neighbor to vital current details, and it
kept getting worse. I had muscle ache
and joint pain in the feet, knees, legs
and, most signiicantly, at the site of
old inlammation and injury. I began
to stumble on the lattest, smoothest
surfaces.
When notiied, my doctors insisted
that blood tests show these are not the
side effects that appear in the com-
mon warnings, and that you repeated
in your reply. My doctor said she had
not heard of my symptoms being con-
nected to statins and only once had a
patient reported “more irritability.” Yet
there are hundreds of such anecdotal
reports by patients on the Internet. It is
too easy for doctors to ignore situations
like mine. Statins were turning me into
a haggard, feeble, mentally incompe-
tent woman at 64. I notiied my doc-
tor that I would rather die than live this
way and got off of them. — Mara
Dear Mara: You may be right.
However, sometimes it’s not the sta-
tin alone, but rather the interaction
between it and other medications (or
even herbal supplements) that is caus-
ing the problem. Make sure your doc-
tor knows everything you are putting
into your system.
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2016
By Holiday Mathis, Creators Syndicate Inc.
ARIES (March 21-April 19). You’re not ran-
domly choosing moods here. You’re working
on a problem all of the time — even when
you’re not aware of it. So be kind to yourself
and allow for all kinds of feelings. They are
informing you.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You’ll come
to a crossroads. Honestly, these two choices
are not all that different from one another and
may in fact lead to the same place. So don’t
agonize; just choose.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Music is pow-
erful. Share the songs you love with peo-
ple. And when the people you love aren’t
demonstrating that in the way you’d prefer,
the songs you love will bring joy and healing.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). Human be-
ings are the only known animals who pub-
lish their words and broadcast their ideas. To
express yourself publicly is to exercise part
of your humanity. Besides, you have a lot to
say right now.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). The project you’re
tackling alone could die from neglect if you
don’t pick it up and run with it soon. Better
yet, share your ideas, wants and needs with
others: They’ll help you stay on track if you
ask them to.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). People who
feel good about who they are generally don’t
need a lot of validation from the outside
world. Comfortable in your skin, you suspect
that you’re doing great — but a compliment
still makes your day.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You’ll be in the
company of smart, aware people who will
enjoy the mystery of trying to get to know you
and maybe even impress you a little, too. For
these reasons and more, bring your A-game.
FRANK AND ERNEST
BLONDIE
THATABABY
SALLY FORTH
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
B.C.
LOLA
DILBERT
SIX CHIX
BIZARRO
MUTTS
NON SEQUITUR
BABY BLUES
WIZARD OF ID
ZITS
ROSE IS ROSE
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). It takes cour-
age to demonstrate affection. Whether or not
you can return a person’s amorous feelings
you’ll appreciate the risk this person took in
sharing that with you.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You’re
not going anywhere until you want to. You
can’t be pushed, persuaded or cajoled. You’ll
be especially resistant to anyone trying to in-
fluence you who hasn’t taken the time to get
to know you first.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Don’t
try to keep the peace at your own expense.
Martyrdom isn’t necessary either. Pause and
step back. What do you want from this? That
question will keep you from being a doormat
or enabler in the situation.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Instead of
demanding or even requesting that life greet
you in your preferred manner, you accept
what comes. To welcome the full spectrum of
life, the good and the bad, is to live in whole-
ness.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Where there
is sunshine there are shadows. If you run
away in fear, they’ll always follow you. Stay
and play with the shadow aspects of life and
you’ll be quickly reminded of their illusive
qualities.
SATURDAY’S BIRTHDAY (May 7). You’ve
had some brilliant successes, but you know
you’re capable of more. You’ll be asked to
make a heartfelt commitment in the next 10
weeks. June offers you so many resources
it would be easy to get lost. Let your origi-
nal plan be your rudder. Family will keep you
grounded, too. In November you’re favored
in kinds of games. Aries and Leo adore you.
Your lucky numbers are: 4, 29, 33, 30 and 11.