SEATTLE (AP) — This year started with so much promise. I spent two weeks in January competing in biathlon races in Seefeld, Austria, during the Winter World Masters Games 2020, winning three silver medals and celebrating with 3,000 winter-sport athletes from around the world. Six weeks ...
DEAR ABBY: I know I have been blessed with wonderful relationships in my life. I have been married to the same lovely man for 25 years. I am also fortunate to have had the same best friend for 40 years. The problem? They drink. Because of past behavior, I decided to get sober two years ago. I know I won’t be able to drink socially again. I changed; they didn’t. We are all very high-functioning alcoholics. We never miss work and lead, for the most part, productive lives. I love them both so much. My husband is supportive and adoring. My best friend and I have gone through ...
Dear Readers: There are some documents, certificates and other valuable items that might be better held in your bank’s safe deposit box rather than in a shoebox under the bed or in the closet at home. What are they? Here’s what you need to know: * The title to your car — you really don’t need it until you sell the vehicle or trade it in, and then it can be expensive and time-consuming to replace. Also, marriage licenses, birth and death certificates and diplomas go well in a safe deposit box. * Stock and bond certificates — most of these are done online nowadays, but you ...
For some reason I didn't change the channel on the TV Wednesday night. With a single click I could have spared myself a revisit to that horrible day on Sept. 11, 2001. But I didn't. The History Channel offered an anniversary tribute show to that day when life as we knew it spiraled into chaos. Instead I sat frozen, watching the screen as if it were the first time I saw airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center's twin towers and then the Pentagon. I gasped as if I had never seen the people hurling themselves out of the towers or the police and firefighters running toward the ...
DR. ROACH WRITES: Every year around this time I write a column on the different flu vaccines that are available. Before doing so this year, I want to implore readers to get their flu vaccine. If you have never gotten one, now is the time. If you had a bad reaction 20 years ago, give the vaccine another chance this year. If you have never had the flu and don’t see the reason for the vaccine, this is the year to start. The reason I say this is that as I write, COVID-19 cases continue to increase in many parts of North America. Hospitals will be stressed. More people getting the flu ...
DEAR ABBY: What is acceptable after a breakup occurs? Several years ago, I reached out to an ex-girlfriend. We had dated for six months, but she broke up with me to take a job in another state. A year later, I heard through mutual friends that she had recently moved back. I didn’t call or text, but I did send an email asking how she was doing and if she’d like to talk. She completely freaked out! She threatened to get a restraining order and told many of our mutual friends that I had been stalking her for a year. From that experience I learned never to contact an ex-girlfriend if ...
