Horoscopes

Aries (March 21-April 19): Some people make it easier for you to be your best possible self. Others seem to bring out your worst. Those who share, resonate with or encourage your best qualities — they are the ones to keep close now. Taurus (April 20-May 20): You’re usually at least a little funny because people unite in humor; it spreads goodwill and some much-needed cheer in the world. Today you’ll turn it up to “a lot” funny. Gemini (May 21-June 21): You might not always have the right thing to say, but you always reach for it anyway, in hopes that the right words will drop into your sincere efforts to help. Today those efforts will pay off. Cancer (June 22-July 22): While you slept last night, your mind and body refreshed themselves. You were healed in some way. You were changed in some positive way you’ve been leaning, and you’ll get proof of this, too. Leo (July 23-Aug. 22): The people around you will act in unpredictable ways — and you’re usually so good at figuring out what will happen next! Well, their mysterious actions will be far less so once you uncover their mysterious reasons. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Your productive mindset is as sunny and positive as it is organized and aimed at a goal. If you don’t know the purpose behind the goal, the whole thing will fall apart. So get clear on your “why” first. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 23): You have to live it before you can teach it. Knowing this, you’ll bone up on the skill needed for a task you want someone in your charge to be able to execute. The tools for learning this will be at hand. Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 21): It’s as if you barely have time to do the things that are already on your schedule, yet if you add one more responsibility, things will magically fall in line. So don’t be afraid to say yes. Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Ask any mountain peak; it’s lonely at the top! It’s too bad, too, because there’s good company up there for those either hardy enough to endure the climb or as lighthearted as the clouds who visit regularly. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): There will be a difference between what’s cool and what’s practical. You’ll have to make a choice. Actually, you’ll be OK either way, even though you’ll have a much different experience depending on which way you go. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You know yourself, but you still don’t know (SET ITAL) everything (END ITAL) about how you’re wired. You might be surprised by which button turns on the lights, turns up the warmth, makes the entertainment start... and which button calls out for help. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20): When you make a commitment, you give yourself over to the work, as well as to the responsibility of collecting the agreedupon compensation. That’s part of it not to forget today.

To write to Holiday Mathis, visit www.creators.com/ author/holiday-mathis and click “Contact.” DEAR ABBY » My only sister has been “borrowing” money from me every month for years. She has a ton of credit card debt and cannot afford to meet her monthly financial obligations.

Last year my husband and I paid her property taxes for her so she wouldn’t lose her house. It was over $5,000. She promised to pay us back with her tax return money, but we never saw a dime.

I have given her information on debt consolidation programs and offered to pay for her to file bankruptcy, but she has done nothing to improve her financial situation.

She works and makes OK money. Her husband is disabled, but gets Social Security and a small pension. She also supports her adult child, who doesn’t work, and she smokes like a chimney.

I have told her many times that I can’t keep giving her money, but she still asks every month. This is causing a strain in my marriage. I don’t know what else to do. Any words of advice would be appreciated. — Tired of being asked for

money

DEAR TIRED » You are a caring sister, but what you have done out of love and charity has allowed your sister to continue living beyond her means. The next time she asks for money, remind her that you have already given her information about debt consolidation, and that you will no longer continue pouring your and your husband’s hard-earned money down a bottomless pit. Then stick to your guns.

DEAR ABBY » My husband and I, 21 years happily married, have a recurring problem. It rarely happens, but when it does, it causes an argument.

A recent example: Late the other evening, my husband, adult daughter and I were returning home from a hockey game in separate cars due to our work schedules before the game. There are several routes to get home from where we were. I followed my daughter, while my husband took a different route to get home faster.

I think it would have been a chivalrous and fatherly thing for him to follow us and make sure we made it home safely. I got angry that he didn’t do it, and it turned into a huge argument. My grown daughters and I are fiercely feminist and independent, but I still think it would have been the caring thing to do. My own father would, even after I was 40, and he still does it to this day.

It didn’t bother my daughter, but it bothered me. What are your thoughts, Abby? If you think it’s not an issue, I will let it go from now on.

— To follow or not to follow

DEAR TO FOLLOW » Your father comes from a generation in which men were taught it was their duty to protect the females in their family. Your spouse is the husband of a fiercely feminist wife and the father of a daughter cut from the same cloth. Independent women do not need to be followed home unless they request it because they assume they can handle whatever happens themselves — particularly if they are traveling in twos. You can’t have it both ways.

You say you have a happy marriage. Please give your husband a break.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

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