Horoscopes

Aries (March 21-April 19): You do not want people to be overly reliant on you. This would lead to them feeling disempowered, and you feeling like a babysitter. When everyone knows what to do on their own, the whole team progresses. Taurus (April 20-May 20): It happens today, as it has from time to time, an instance of profundity, quick as a hand clap, jarring you into an experience of all life as a sudden, painful flash of beauty, and then it’s over, back to normal. Gemini (May 21-June 21): One essential part of knowing yourself well is knowing what triggers your responses to the world. It’s often a minor cue that sets major events in motion for you. Now, you’ll recognize just what is that cue. Cancer (June 22-July 22): Vague abstractions and big explanations will get no traction. You just want to know what to do next. You’ll ask for, receive and deliver communication that’s direct and succinct. Leo (July 23-Aug. 22): You’ll spend hours in practice, focusing on a particular aspect of the larger picture. You’ll do it fast, do it slow, do it differently and when you do it wrong, you’ll stop and correct in small moves until you get it just right. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In this circular life, perhaps nothing is ever really complete. Yet, today it will lift your entire being to feel that a matter of importance has been resolved to

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 23): It is engaging and motivating to do purposeful work. Sometimes, you have to find that or even create it. You will reconnect with the reasons you are doing a thing, and this will reenergize you. Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 21): In an ideal relationship, it’s easy to see the confluence of interests. Needs match up and what is given and received makes sense to both parties. In a less-thanideal relationship, you can still focus on what’s working. Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You’ll be thinking about the many ways you build a lifestyle, and then your lifestyle builds you. You are very much in control of this construction project today.

The bad habit you want to lose is not going to be gently tossed aside; rather, it will need to be ejected with great force. Do this and you’ll experience radical results as early as the weekend. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): It is dangerous to spend too much time imagining the outcome because this could set up a dynamic in which fantasizing is so pleasurable a payoff that no further action feels necessary. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20): There is no need to rigidly stick to a joyless plan. Your life is constructed of flexible stuff. Agreements can be changed, appointments moved around, relationships reconsidered or reconstructed.

DEAR ABBY » Three months ago, my husband ran into a second cousin he hadn’t seen in 40 years. They were close for a short time during high school and saw each other a couple times after that. I was not aware until recently that he had looked her up on social media and has been communicating with her every day since then. I didn’t think much of it when he did tell me — until one night when he stayed on the computer with her until 3 a.m.

He has lied to me about the number of times he has been online with her and, if she calls or texts, he tells me it is someone else. She sent him pictures — which I saw — yet he denied receiving them. One time he forgot to sign off on a message he sent and, of course, I read it. To my shock, he was confiding a lot of things he has done while married to me that I was unaware of. It hurt me deeply, and I told him so.

Recently I was in the hospital. When I called him a couple of times at night, he claimed he didn’t pick up because he was “tired.” I found out later he was on the computer with her.

I have asked him more than once why this relationship is so private, and he says they are just friends. But when I asked to see some of the things he has written to her, he refused to show me. I said fine, then I will ask HER. Well, he blew up!

When I told him it hurts me that he spends so much time with her in the evening, he didn’t give an answer. Am I overreacting? If so, can you please tell me how to settle down and deal with what is happening? — Cousin trouble in the Midwest

DEAR COUSIN TROUBLE » You are not overreacting. It’s time to do what you said you were going to do — call the woman and ask her what has been going on. After she fills you in, ask yourself if you still want to be married to a man who has cheated on you emotionally and probably physically.

If you feel there is any hope of saving your marriage, offer your husband the option of seeing a marriage and family therapist together. However, knowing he has no compunction about lying to you or any respect for your feelings, you might prefer to simply consult a lawyer about what your next steps should be.

DEAR ABBY » I am an 18-yearold woman. My parents are divorced. My father says I should be out having fun and I owe no explanations to anyone. My mother, on the other hand, is very strict. I respect her wishes and don’t do what most people my age would do. I try to be very careful with what I say in any conversation with her, but it always ends up with her very angry toward me. I want to live my life or at least try to. What do I do?

— Clueless teen in Texas

DEAR TEEN » An 18-year-old should be carefree and engaged in self-discovery. But people of every age are having to hunker down and curtail their social activities these days because their lives could depend on it. And as to owing no explanations to anyone, until you are self-supporting and on your own, you WILL have to be accountable.

Your mother may be feeling insecure because her daughter is now a young adult rather than her little girl who needs protecting. She may also be reacting to the “advice” your dad is doling out. You are going to have to figure out what triggers your mother’s anger during those conversations and find a happy medium.

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.