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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 27, 2016)
FEATURES 6A Adult kids are not invited THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 27, 2016 Tomorrow’s horoscope By Holiday Mathis, Creators Syndicate Inc. Dear Annie: There is a cou- ple that socializes with us and our friends. They constantly drop hints that their adult children (living at home) should be invited to our events. They say things like, “Becky would really enjoy coming to your house. She loves the way you cook.” Sometimes they just show up at the door with their adult children and say, “I hope you don’t mind.” How do you respond to such requests? And how do we prevent future occurrences? These people can be rather insistent. They seem to feel that we would be missing so much if their adult children didn’t attend. — Hostess in Louisiana Dear Hostess: These peo- ple want their children included in everything and have little consider- ation for their hosts. When they ask to bring Becky, it’s perfectly OK to say, “I’m so sorry, but I can’t accom- modate her this time.” If they say they won’t attend without her, the response should be, “We’ll miss you.” Showing up unexpectedly at the door is a more dificult issue. Since they do this frequently, you would be justiied in turning them away, saying, “So sorry, but we didn’t plan on an additional person. We’d be happy to host you and Becky Annie’s Mailbox Creators Syndicate Inc. Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar another time.” (We know someone who once sweetly and cheerfully directed an adult child to a playroom with 5-year-olds.) But you also can be gracious and accept that Becky will tag along whenever you invite this couple. Your choice is simply to invite them or not. If the constant tag- alongs are a major nuisance, you can stop including this couple and they will undoubtedly igure out why. Dear Annie: Like “Fed Up Sis- ter,” my brother was also a brag- gart. From his teenage years on, he always tried to one-up everyone. He was the youngest of six and didn’t realize that the rest of us compared notes about his stories. We felt the bragging must be important to him, so we never let on. He was always the life of the party and fun to be around. He went through three mar- riages, had ive children and still his claims of grandeur continued. We always believed that his bragging stemmed from not feeling as suc- cessful as his siblings. When his last marriage dissolved, he didn’t bounce back like he always had before. We received a call from the police one day that he had shot himself. He was dead at age 48. His life had been a series of stories about how great things were and how won- derfully he was doing. In reality, we learned that he was an insecure and lost person. I wish we had been able to see through his stories to the insecuri- ties underneath. But we loved him and didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Maybe if we had called him on those stories, things might have different. We will never know. I want to tell “Fed Up” and everyone else in this position to just love your siblings while you can. You never know how long they will be here. — Still Griev- ing Sister Dear Sister: You have given kind advice. Please stop blam- ing yourself for not doing enough for your brother. You knew he was insecure, but confronting him about the bragging may have pushed him away from you altogether. You were loving and tolerant, which is what siblings should be. Our deepest condolences. ARIES (March 21-April 19). Life is a bit like a reality cooking show. At some point, the timer rings and every chef has to throw up hands and back away from his or her cre- ation. Keep smiling. Your attitude is part of the presentation. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). The predica- ment is that you have more than you need, but it’s not necessarily what you want. The answer is to put the word out. A trade or fortu- itous sale will rock your world. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). In order to ar- rive at the next port together, someone has to be steering the boat at all times. It doesn’t have to be the same person. You can and should switch off, consciously and carefully. CANCER (June 22-July 22). Your secret may be small and dull, but no one will know that as long as you keep it to yourself. So be elusive and pretend you have something juicy. They don’t care what the mystery is; they just care that there is one. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). If your life were a physical space, you would want to fill it with something totally gorgeous or nothing at all. Strongly consider the latter now. Voids can be peaceful. Wide-open monochrome skies stretch like promises. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). The struggles you’ve experienced in life are what allow you to have such compassion for those who are going through a hard time right now. Your will- ingness to listen without judgement is a rare gift. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Same story, dif- ferent audience. You’ll be fascinating to one person, funny to another and adorably vul- nerable to the next. How you’re received is out of your control. Give what you give and 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 see what happens. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Those who hear “yes” too often don’t know what to do with the word “no.” Some take it hard while others won’t even accept it and will proceed as though it was never uttered. Stay firm in your answer, whatever it may be. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Protect- ing your joy is just as important as safeguard- ing your health and well-being. If it’s getting in the way of your fun, deal with it swiftly. Swat it like the pest it is, metaphorically speaking, of course. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Formality has its place. Social patterns are reassuring. You’ll build excellent rapport with someone as you display commonly accepted behaviors and a relatable sense of internal structure. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). There’s a sense that the danger has passed, the awk- wardness is over and everyone can breathe easy before getting back to what they were doing before the disruption. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Three will be the magic number that brings luck to you to- day. It will be the ideal number of meals to eat and items for your to-do list, and it will be the perfect head count for your dinner reserva- tions as well. SATURDAY’S BIRTHDAY (May 28). You’ll go in to this year with the sense that every- thing is linked in purpose, whether or not that purpose is known. Your hope and optimism will attract angelic characters to you — truly affectionate and helpful souls who are com- mitted to seeing you shine. August brings a big sale. The win goes to you in October. Pi- sces and Leo adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 3, 16, 38, 45 and 10.