FEATURES
8A
How to keep night-owl friend?
Dear Annie: I am a widow in
my 70s. My husband and I had no
children and not much of a social
life. When he died a few years
ago, I was desolate. I took on a
part-time job and met a divorced
woman close to my age and we
have become good friends. It has
been wonderful, as I have never
had a close friend before.
I really like “Jeanette,” and
she has introduced me to a lot of
other women who have become
my friends. I love to go to lunch,
to musicals and on day trips with
my female friends.
The problem is, Jeanette likes
to go out at night to dinner, con-
certs, etc. I do not have good
nighttime vision and am not com-
fortable driving past sundown.
I have explained this to her, but
she thinks that I am being unnec-
essarily fearful. Any suggestions
on how I can handle this? —
Fearful of Losing a Friend
Dear Fearful: Being cautious
about driving at night when your
vision is poor is smart, common
sense. But it probably sounds to
Jeanette as if you are “too old”
and she doesn’t like it one bit.
There are ways around this —
perhaps someone can pick you
up or you can take a cab or use
Annie’s
Mailbox
Creators
Syndicate Inc.
Kathy
Mitchell and
Marcy Sugar
a service like Uber or Lyft. But
you also can be irm without los-
ing a friendship. When Jeanette
wants you to drive at night, it’s
perfectly OK to say, “Sorry, my
vision isn’t good enough. I’ll
miss you, but I hope we can get
together another time.” Then
invite her to a Sunday matinee
she might enjoy.
Dear Annie: My husband is
an alcoholic. He drank at least a
case of beer a day, plus shots of
scotch or whatever was on hand
in the evenings. I tried counsel-
ing and a family intervention,
to no avail. I attended Al-Anon
meetings and so did he (briely),
but neither of us found them
helpful. So I gave up.
Eight years ago, I found him
on the bathroom loor covered in
blood. It was fortunate that I was
home, because he would have
died otherwise. At the hospital,
he received several transfusions
and had esophageal surgery. He
was told he had cirrhosis of the
liver and would die if he con-
tinued to drink. Amazingly, he
stopped cold turkey. It was a
blessing.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t soon
enough. He developed liver can-
cer, which we knew was a pos-
sibility. He’s undergoing chemo
now. The trips to the hospital,
the overnight stays and the fol-
low-ups can be overwhelming
physically and emotionally, not
only for him, but for our children
and me. We’re hoping he will be
eligible for a transplant before he
dies from the cancer.
To anyone who drinks and
believes, “Well, I have to die
eventually,” or “I can handle my
drinking,” or “That will never
happen to me,” please listen. It
can happen to you or someone
you love. It is an expensive emo-
tional roller coaster and a painful
journey. — Loving Wife
Dear Wife: Our hearts go
out to you and your family. We
greatly appreciate that you have
taken the time to warn others and
try to help them. Please know
that you are in our thoughts.
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2016
Tomorrow’s horoscope
By Holiday Mathis, Creators Syndicate Inc.
ARIES (March 21-April 19). Should you
seek support, or is that the costly, lazy, com-
plicated way of solving the problem? If you
can afford to try it out with little stress to your
resources, you’ll know straightaway. If not,
you’ll be fine (brilliant, even) on your own.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Everyone
is too busy forming complaints to listen to
the complaints of others. The trick is to get
very busy with something better than being
disgruntled. Do this and you’ll stand out as
remarkable.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). What starts
out as a dilemma could turn into a contest,
game or reason to survey dozens of people.
Your curious mind will turn this puzzle into
social amusement.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). Normally
you would sprinkle some fun in with your
disciplined approach to work. Today you’ll
be more successful sprinkling your disci-
plined approach to work into your fun.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). The inner and
outer realities aren’t meshing — how stress-
ful! A dramatic expression will be cathartic,
although best endeavored alone. You don’t
need witnesses in order to feel better.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Things that
come too easily to a person will have very
little value to that person, regardless of how
high the public appraisal may be. This is just
one more reason you need to stop giving
your services away for free.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Sometimes
it’s more trouble than it’s worth to take on
strong-willed people, so you acquiesce to a
role you never meant to play. Bottom line: If
you don’t like what they call you, stop an-
swering to it.
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). Power won’t
be granted, and you won’t have to steal it. It’s
more of a summoning process. Direct your
energy. Channel chaotic nervousness into
one focused stream; (SET ITAL) that’s (END
ITAL) powerful!
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Com-
bine your bright ideas with the luminous in-
sights of another, and then run and get your
sunglasses — because together, you’ll be
dangerously brilliant.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Your
main concern has to do with handling busi-
ness, not making friends. However, it is
precisely because you behave in such a
professional way that you attract social op-
portunities.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You con-
sider yourself to be a kind of host of today’s
situation, and you’ll mingle breezily, making
sure everyone around you is having fun.
Thanks to you, anyone who is capable of a
good time will be having one.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Your time
has been valuable all along, though extra
work and a stiff deadline makes every sec-
ond seem to count even more. Discourage
interruptions. Ask for the abbreviated ver-
sion of every story.
THURSDAY’S BIRTHDAY (May 19). Your
attention will jump-start something new in
August. This will be a year when friendships
get stronger, business ties grow more lucra-
tive and romance inspires you. A remarkable
accomplishment in July will raise your status
and allow you to care for you and yours at
a new level. September brings leisure and
luxury. Pisces and Scorpio adore you. Your
lucky numbers are: 8, 11, 14, 21 and 9.