For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for February 10, 2010

Sorry Connie: you can’t learn from experience when your creator is moving towards straight re-runs. Would it help if you knew it will all work out in the end, and your only regrets will be the absence of grandkids and the opportunity to be the mother-of-the-bride?

Experience is a teacher But here’s what makes me burn It’s always teaching me the things I do not care to learn.

Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.

You can only learn if you want to.

On the flip side of the coin, if you never take any risks in life, you have to live in a different sort of hell. You’ll never know how things might have turned out; you’ll never have a chance to reap those rewards. We think it was kind of obvious in this sort of situation but hey, it isn’t always ;)

You can’t win the lotto if you never play, figuratively speaking.

Well and literally speaking too I guess.

What she’s feeling is not guilt…because if things had have happened as she wanted them to, then she wouldn’t think she threw herself at him….I agree with Guntoting…if you don’t step out there and see what’s what then you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering:…what if?

She’s only 35, she has a lot to learn (and even more stupid stuff yet to do!)

The fool returns to his folly. The intelligent man learns from his mistakes. But the wise man learns from the mistakes of others.

totally agree, Paul Jones. She did know a brush off when she hears one.

Better things are in her future.

But wait……………………she forgot to give Phil his pipe!!!!

Well it one thing when the brain knows what’s right, but the heart, well that a very different matter. We tend to let our emotions rule our brain more then we should. There always the hope this time it will be different, just the romantic in us!

There are other fish in the sea Connie. Phil’s not even very good looking. Now go home to your son and start looking for someone else.

AdamsFamily1MW said, about 9 hours ago

“Sorry Connie: you can’t learn from experience when your creator is moving towards straight re-runs. Would it help if you knew it will all work out in the end, and your only regrets will be the absence of grandkids and the opportunity to be the mother-of-the-bride?”

She can still have grandkids and she can still be mother of the groom!

GuntotingLiberal

I’d rather keep my money.

Connie needs to take risks.

i really don’t understand what’s going on with any of this:

why doesn’t a mother immediately rush home to take care of her son as soon as she learns he has a broken leg? why this drawn-out, boring drama? why is lynn subjecting us to revisionist history and storylines? they aren’t an improvement over the original imo, which was only mildly entertaining the first go around. (sorry fans). it would be like BW deciding to redo his old C&H strips. Either pick up where you left off or do something new.

The long awaited moment of clarity, realizing what a cheap tramp she is. Too bad it didn’t sink in deeper, because she just keeps it up.

People say, “Awww, she has a right to go on ‘vacation’. She left her son in good hands. She has a right to have fun. She’s a good, single mother, and you have no right to pick on her!”.

She didn’t “go on vacation”. She took off on a moments notice, driving aross Canada because a guy who has no interest in her, who she stalks from the shrubs outside, and throws herself at shamelessly (with hotel rooms prepaid by her), left his pipe behind. She dumped her kid at Elly’s with bags already packed, and took off on a whim, to even more creepily, throw herself at him again, even after Elly already told her twice that he’s not interested in her. That’s not a “vacation”, and Elly didn’t have a choice about watching the kid. She just did it, because, what else does she have to do?. She never even gave him his pipe back, which was supposed to be the excuse to see him. She has a right to have some fun, but have some self respect. If not for herself, for the example she set for her son. That isn’t wrong of any of us to think. And then there’s the broken leg! It’s just a comic strip, but there are people sticking up for Connie’s questionable behavior, and plenty of proof of the no good that ever comes of the behavior of people like her in reality on the news every night.

How do we know she didn’t give him his pipe? It could have happened “offscreen”. She had ample opportunity when she was at the club or in his car going back to her hotel.

billdi:You’re avatar says it all…Guess she’s going to have pipe dreams tonight.

imrobert said, about 4 hours ago “She can still have grandkids and she can still be mother of the groom!”

I know, and pointed this out at the time of Elizabeth’s wedding when Connie was complaining about how such things weren’t going to happen for her because she had only stepdaughters and Lawrence rather than a daughter of her own, so had to live vicariously through Elly. At least, unlike some of the times Connie complained to Elly, Lawrence didn’t overhear her.

I betcha she totally regretted that she should not go seeing Phil at the bar/gigs in first place.

JanCinVV said, about 1 hour ago ‘How do we know she didn’t give him his pipe? It could have happened “offscreen”. She had ample opportunity when she was at the club or in his car going back to her hotel.’

The problem with trying to guess what happened “offscreen” is that, without any clear steer from the creator, what people imagine will vary wildly and give different interpretations of Connie’s current behaviour. Applying the same principle to today’s strip, who’s to say Connie and Phil didn’t sleep together when they got back to the hotel and then he went home instead of spending the night, leaving her awake with her regrets?

I’m afraid I’m not a fan of the “it happened off-screen” or “it happened between the panels” argument. You wouldn’t say it for a novel, graphic novel or movie where plot points suddenly disappeared and were never discussed again, but somehow it’s supposed to be OK for comic strips? Sure, maybe for strips which are essentially gag-a-day without any on-going storylines (Family Circus, Garfield), but FBorFW is lauded for being groundbreaking, with the characters ageing in real time and with continuing stories reflecting real-life situations.

Connie, sometimes if you are very lucky your mind and heart come into agreement. Sleep now and think about it when you have rested.

Good Night!

Not all our actions are voluntary. Interesting comments submitted with varying degrees of understanding, and empathy. This comic strip value is doubled by the comments, and shows how close Johnston is in her interpretation of life’s struggles.

Maybe Johnston decided on reruns while she caught her breath and let the dust settle in her own life. She must read these notes from readers, don’t you think? I hope she comes back and writes about people her age who see their lives change course abruptly.

People are so hungry for this. You can tell because there are more comments submitted for this strip than any other.

No need to feel too crummy about what you did – folks have already chewed you up and spit you out for it. Not so sure that what she did would be considered throwing herself at him today – women are now allowed more freedom in that area than they were when the strip was originally written.

In reference to your last sentence, @littledutchboy, have you ever looked at Pibgorn? It gets literally hundreds of comments every day. And of the rest of the comics that I look at at gocomics (ten at most), Calvin & Hobbes, which I rarely follow any more, usually gets more than FB or FW.

But to be fair, Pibgorn is just plain weird - that’s half its attraction - and so are its comments. Whereas C&H and FBorFW both give the reader to philosophize about life - while laughing. And now and then other comics, such as BroomHilda, which rarely get many comments, make a really important point and get a lot of comments that day,

imrobert, nope, Lawrence’s gay

Thanks guys!