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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 2019)
A6 THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TuESDAY, MARcH 26, 2019 Question about old letters Dear Annie: I’m a hap- the process of writing my own pily married almost-70-year-old memoirs, I do sense the value woman who has been sorting and these letters might have for this purging the contents of boxes in man. He would read about his my attic in preparation for down- day-to-day experience at col- lege — a prestigious sizing. I was surprised to DEAR Ivy League school, I find one shoe box stuffed ANNIE might add — and based full of letters that an old on my peek into his let- high school boyfriend, ters, he would have the “Dave,” wrote to me opportunity to read his during his first year in own impressions about college. I reread enough his relationship with his of these letters to real- ize that what he wrote father, a man probably was much less about his ANNIE LANE long dead. In this era of Creators romantic feelings for me ephemeral communica- Syndicate Inc. tion via email and text, at the time than it was these handwritten letters about his own percep- tion of his college experience strike me as potentially priceless and even his relationship with his to this man. parents. I brought up my dilemma My question is whether I with my husband, a sensible man should return these letters to him whom I adore. He suggested that (I can find his address on the often the past is better left in the internet) or chuck them into the past, an adage I agree with heart- ily. What do you suggest I do? — recycle bin. I have no interest in renewing Time capsule in My Attic any contact with Dave. I am not Dear Time Capsule: Your even going to my 50-year high husband is right that sometimes school reunion this year, where the past is better left alone. How- I might run into him. In other ever, this is about Dave’s past, not words, if I were to return these yours. Why not let Dave decide letters, it would not be in hopes whether or not to leave it alone? of seeing him again or even elic- Send him the letters, along with iting a response. Because I am in a cover note explaining what they are and telling him that he can feel free to recycle them if he’d like but you didn’t feel right throwing them out. What a trea- sure-trove this could be for him and for any children or grand- children he might have. And you will be able to feel good knowing you’ve gone out of your way to do a kind thing for an old friend. Dear Annie: In the 1970s, I was a single mother, and one year, when I was between jobs, I was pleasantly surprised to get a Christmas dinner box from a charity. When I opened the can of corn, however, the stench was awful! It wasn’t as though we starved because of it, but it was disappointing. This experience taught me to donate only new food. It is wonderful that peo- ple help people by donating, but please remember: If it is too worn-out for your use or the expiration date is past, no matter how low the price, it is not a bar- gain for someone who is eking out a living. — Grateful Dear Grateful: Well said. Thanks for sharing your expe- rience of being on the receiving end of a well-intentioned but not well-executed donation. TOMORROW’S HOROSCOPE By Holiday Mathis, Creators Syndicate Inc. ARIES (March 21-April 19). Point yourself in the right direction and make a move — any move, however small. Even falling in that direction is better than no movement at all. Because the only thing that can stop you now is inaction. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Change is hard, so the saying goes, but is that really accurate? Change is the natural order, and by definition, the natural order takes no effort. It’s not change that’s hard. It’s the way we resist it. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Frustration happens only because things aren’t moving along as quickly as you had it in your head. In the words of one gorgeous Gemini, “When you relinquish the desire to have control over your future, you can have more happiness.” SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). People always need to know the reasons, or at least they think they do. If they don’t know the reasons, they’ll make them up just to satisfy the cognitive dissonance. Provide reasons or you leave yourself open to speculative fiction. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Who knows what the full expression of your personality would be if it were even possible to express it? But you feel it’s your responsibility to at least try. You’ll widen your range with new experiences. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Just a heads-up: People who seem to be involved in a dramatic situation on the regular are very likely to contin- ue the trend, as it’s a self-feeding cycle. Internal states influence external states and vice versa. CANCER (June 22-July 22). Maybe you’re not entirely popular for the things you express lately, but the only one who can please all the people all the time is someone who doesn’t stand for anything. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You may not know exactly what is sacred to other people, but if you assume there’s something that is and go carefully from there, you’re less likely to trip the triggers and awaken the consequences of disrespect. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Creative differences create waste. You’ve witnessed so much lost time and effort in too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen-type scenarios. Right now you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble by tackling your creative project alone. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Ideally, you would give what the world needs and put your time into things that will be meaningful to the masses. But who knows what the world needs? The world doesn’t even know. So do what’s meaningful to you. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Owning things is work. You really don’t want the responsibility that some possessions will require of you. You could handle it, but it would take focus away from what’s good for you. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You can build on a past success, though you won’t exactly be able to repeat it. It’s a new day, a new you. And a slightly different approach will be needed to keep this thing on track. 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 TOMORROW’S BIRTHDAY (March 27). Finan- cially, this year is a win. You’ll earn a trophy — a symbol of your work over the past three years. On a personal note, you’ll become known for your emotional warmth. It’s something you come by honestly because you’ll receive so much of it from others that you’ll have no choice but to re- cycle and regift the love. Leo and Capricorn adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 9, 20, 3, 33 and 16.
