Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for May 28, 2016

That means you’re happy where you’re at.

Similar situation, though not with a “lost love.”It was almost gratifying to realize that the old feelings were gone completely, especially since the other person had done me wrong in a stupid and uncalled for fashion.

So to find out, she just had to stir up trouble?What was the plan if it were still there?What if Arlo were to do that? She just gave him tacit permission.

I’ve been friends with some of my exes…my ex-husband was my best friend for many years.But if you value your present relationship, you don’t allow those conversations or even your thoughts to slide off towards physical attraction or rekindling romance…If you enjoy the silly fantasy, be sure you can control it…and keep those thoughts to yourself!Otherwise, you’ll ruin what you have, just to rediscover why the past became past.

PS… I’m just catching up on these comments…so… Dani Rice….are you really saying it was patently obvious that no one could have been attracted to that man …simply because he weighed 300 pounds?My.

Yeah, seems like it was there, you just didn’t really want it..Maybe it’s time to appreciate what you’ve had all along.

your happy where you are Janis. You don’t need Mr. “What Might Have Been.”

Every now and then I think of loves long pastBut when I wake next to my wife I know THIS LOVE will last!.Today’s our anniversary, 27 yearsThe first time I saw her, it still seems so near.The years go by quickly, what can I sayI love her more and more every single day!

Then she shouldn’t have said “Love you” there at the end. Gives Vince the idea there could be something more.

The past has passed. Let it.

What I said yesterday: this comic is a great example of how differently men and women think. To Janis, this means nothing. To Vince, it’s fuel on a fire that’s already raging.

I have never agreed with the “Janis haters” here, and I still do not hate her, but what she has just done is selfish, dangerous, and potentially damaging to a man who has nothing but fierce love and adoration for her.

Why did she say, “love you”? Talk about sending mixed messages!

The shadow of past events (tree) are starting to overcome her.

My question is “Why” in the first place"

I have a much dimmer view of Janis now.

So now Janis can go back to playing “hard to get”with Arlo until the end of time.

Better to know than to go all Bridges of Madison County and let the possibilities put a ghost between her and Arlo. As for “love you”, I’m close to both my ex’s and say that routinely when we hang up. I don’t see how you can marry/commit to someone without loving them and even when you break up for whatever reason it’s really quite common to still love someone, in a different way. A long, long marriage (no thank you, give me 4 short ones) is bound to have moments where one wonders what if. Better to know.

Well said.

“Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ’It might have been.” ― John Greenleaf Whittier, Maud Muller

Will she tell Arlo about the call?

You know what happens when you open a can of worms that has been closed that long…….it stinks. A happy marriage stays that way by leaving that past behind you.

The problem with “what might have been” is that Arlo outshines all other possibilities.When Janis actually looked at what was buried, she came to seeArlo’s the best which could be.

Oh Janis it’s still there just not in the same place. It wouldn’t take much to rekindle this relationship and turn it into a ful blown affair, If you don’t act on it you will always have that little voice in the back of your head saying “what if and what would it had been like” for the rest of your life. If you do the deed it may or not be what you expected. can you live with that the rest of your life?

It’s nice to have memories of what might of been in the past but not so nice to “search them out”. Probably best to leave them there as good memories that can bring you a smile…..

Has the title banner been like that all week — with Arlo smiling reaching out for a hug and Janis looking pensive.

What if in the last panel, she said, “It’s still there.”?

Really disappointed this week.

Beware of unintended consequences.

Bsqnbay… thank you!Eddie 3X … you seem to be advocating “going for it.”But to my mind, marriage means being mature enough to stop worrying about what might have been, and commit to what you have.If you can’t… please don’t marry..

Dani … thanks for your explanation, and it was nothing personal ….but I was commenting, not on the actual circumstances, which, now that I know them, are certainly understandable… but only on the message conveyed by your prior post.I don’t weigh anything like 300 pounds, but, still, I’m not thin…and I do have a couple of good friends who each weigh well over 300, one single, one happily married…both have been on and off diets for years to no avail.

They’ve both outwardly come to terms with how they look…one jokes about it; one can’t.I know it’s still an internal struggle.A “flippant” remark like “Does he look like a threat to my marriage?” might make either of them cry.

I just wish more people would realise that we can’t assume that everybody in an online forum is slender… not all of them will be able to laugh with you at fat people.

We generally realise that about ethnic and religious slurs, though I flagged one yesterday… but even nice people seem to find it OK to mock obesity. Homosexuality too, for that matter… when I don’t think they’d say those things if we were all here in person.

If you don’t care, that’s up to you.But I just wanted to ask those who do for a moment of thought before clicking “submit.”.

My husband was communicating with his high school “first love” for about six months. All the while saying they were just old friends catching up. I came home from work one day to find a 2 page letter with his wedding ring in it and he had driven back to Chicago to be with her. We had been married 22 years. I felt like I had hugged a grenade and it had blown up. After 4 months he and she found out that they weren’t anything like they were when they were 18. He asked if he could come back and that he had made a huge mistake. I let him come home. That was in 2001. I forgave him but I will never forget how blasted apart, humiliated, betrayed and discarded I felt. Cheating is cheating, whether by phone, computer, facebook, or whatever the hell people use to communicate now. Since that time he has quit working, been depressed, has attempted suicide and been hospitalized for the damage he has done to himself 7 times. I don’t have a husband I have a patient. I miss being “stupid in love” and can’t wait to get home to see him, and being sick to my stomach thinking of being with anyone else but him. So be careful with your partners heart. You can shatter it to smithereens by thinking or acting out on what once was. No superglue in the world can repair it. That episode changed who I was inside. All these years later I can still feel the hurt just relating it to you. Peace.

We didn’t here the other side of the conversation – maybe Vince said Love You also – lots of different types of Love, I have very dear Male Friends that I say I love you too, it’s a different type of love than a partner, spouse, etc, as does my spouse – he has 2 very dear female friends he grew up with and loves as friends – it’s rather like a “sibling love”just my thoughts on why “Janis” said that in todays strip

Funny how society looks at this type of situation. If a woman makes this call to see what is there, it is romantic. If a man makes this call, he’s trolling for trouble. Wonder how Arlo would take this if he knew.

@Ameythst52: I’m so sorry.

Hey, JJ, what was the point of this week’s nonsense with Janis? Is she bored with Arlo? Are we going to see a series of separation/divorce in the future? What’s up?

Oh no…she said the “L” word. She is still playing with fire.

are those Janis’ tears on the table in the last panel?“Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ’It might have been.”

If she had, we wouldn’t have had this wonderful comic strip!!

I’ve had old girlfriends from 30+ years ago find me on Facebook looking to reconnect. We had good times and memories, but that’s what I wanted them to remain. Almost always the past is best left in the past.