Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for August 28, 2021

Hope you got a plot picked, or do you prefer ending up in an urn?

On the plus side, everyone around you is happier because you’re no longer talking about people who’ve died.

When my father died in 1997 I started to have regrets for the many things I’ d never spoke with him. I know so little of his life when he was a young poor poor boy in Sicily and what happened to him and my mom (she died in 1965, I was 8) before my birth.

When Pig dies, they’ll take something from him: bacon, ribs …

If you have kids, you have to worry about them too.

I never had living great-grandparents growing up… just my maternal grandparents (paternal grandmother died before my parents met one another and paternal grandfather died before my older brother was born). Now I just have my stepmother’s mother; stepmother’s father died a few years after Dad remarried and after maternal grandparents died.

The image I have is of a woman giving birth over an open grave. Not a pleasant image. But at my age, I guess I can claim to have fallen slowly or far… so far.

When people the same age as you start dying, that’s a little unnerving.

Rat forgot: After your parents and other forbearers, we begin to lose our friends and acquaintances.

… So Rat, you’re next to go.

A few years ago, an old friend complained that friends of his were dying who’d never died before. Then three years ago he followed after them…

Pig is speaking of what we hope is the natural progression. It is not always that way for everyone. But so far, I haven’t lost any children or grandchildren. I hope it stays that way until I’m gone.

Or it can take your kids. My third oldest died about six weeks short of his 38th birthday.

These days I assume that , if I’ve heard of someone, they’re dead.

Stephan’s ancestors must have traditionaly had kids at a young age. My great grandparents died years before I was born. My maternal grandfather died five years before I was born. Both of my dad’s parents died when I was a kid. Only my maternal grandmother lived until my adulthood.

A married couple are having a fight.Finally the wife screams at the husband to get out of the house.

She throws his suitcases at him and he packs his things. On his way out, the woman says, “I hope you die the slowest, most miserable, most agonizing death imaginable.”

So he turns and says, " What, so now you want me to stay?"

What’s sexually transmitted and has a 100% death rate?

Life

Unless it’s someone younger.

Yep

Pig, the Philosopher, is hit with the reality of mortality.

Lost my mother and father and both of my brothers!!

Can’t complain that I’m still alive!

My wife has all of her sisters and one brother still alive

I envy her !

Life is what it is !!

I seems Pig has no piglets or siblings with descendants. It is even more sad when you loose one of the following generation before you had to go yourself.

Especially when you is a pig. You see all your relatives getting turned into pork, ham, or bacon etc. until it is finally your turn.

Easy for you to say, Rat. You’ve only got four or five years to live.

Easy for Rat to say, he’s only got four or five years. Pig has maybe fifteen years.

I’m in the “You’re next” tier. My mom and a couple of her cousins are the remnants of that generation in my family. My dad and all of my aunts and uncles are gone. Heck, some of my cousins are well into their 70s and a couple of them have died. This mortality thing kinda sucks.

Creepy …

Steph you are what you made for yourself so if your not happy only you can rearrange your life to be satisfied and happy again.

& I was having such a nice Saturday scroll through GoComics :(

Death and taxes.

Paternal grandmother died when she was only 27, and my paternal grandfather’s family was always shrouded in mystery – it’s like he had no family at all. My mother’s side of the family was tight-knit, extremely extended, and we have pictures of great-great grandparents and family records going back to the 1700s.

Always wondered why mascot pigs in ads look so happy. It usually doesn’t end well for them. https://www.pigglywiggly.com/

I wasn’t sad at all when my great grandmother died. Of course, that may have had something to do with the fact that I was less than two months old.

Pig was a fan of Roseanne Rosannadanna.

My dad died at 101. His sister (my aunt) died at 105. They both immigrated here from Transylvania back in 1922. Hmmmm.

Feeling depressed already, Stephan? It’s not even Christmas.

The normal progression should be to bury the grands, then the parents, then friends. I am at the bury friends level :(

My great grandparents and two of my grandparents died before I was born, and I only really knew one of my remaining grandparents.

I still think frequently of my father, who died in 2002, and my mother who died in 2016.

Perhaps the most unnerving death of a family member was of a cousin, ten months younger than I, who died at age 21 back in the 1970s.

Now I want to go before the people I care about most, whether they’re older than I am or younger. But I guess that’s selfish.

What’s a real kick in the head is for your children to die. But, it did give me a faith I had been unsure of before that. My son died of covid. He was an RN and got it before shots were available. But, from the first day, I knew he was OK. I don’t know where, I don’t know how, and I don’t think there is anyone or any religion on earth that has that information. But, I know it, and that makes accepting his death a lot better. I don’t know if I will see him again when I die, but I know he is OK. And, I know that death is something we are all going to have to do eventually. I just wish he hadn’t done it so soon. I wasn’t finished with him.

Sounds like the line of life.

When you’re favorite hit songs from your teenage years are used to sell laxatives, adult diapers, retirement homes…

I’ve still got a few forebearers left but a number of my peers have already died. Yikes.

Tempus Fugit, Momento Mori

I figure I’ve had a pretty good life and I’m not going to accomplish much more so I’m not going to complain when it’s my time. I just hope it’s quick. I’m just glad I’m able to die with memories rather than dreams.

Death is nature’s way of telling you to slow down.

I am the oldest in my family….it’s working my last nerve….

This comment group is one of the best things on the Internet. First, the comic strips are a great way to start your day and, second, there is little cursing, ranting and vituperous vituperation yet we can talk dark topics like this and realize we’re not alone.

“When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old.”

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

“Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.”

“Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.”

“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.”

“Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.”

—Mark Twain

“Forebearers” should be “forebears”.

Don’t worry about that which you can’t control. Live your life the best way possible and when death comes to meet you, shake hands with Death and tell him, “Let’s get started on my next great adventure…..”

The pain never leaves, but thankfully, neither do the memories.

As that great philosopher, Bob Dylan, once said: “The cemeteries are full of people the world thought they couldn’t live without”. At least it was on the back cover of one of his records. Whether it was his quote or someone else, I don’t know.

About 20% of my high school graduation class (’65) have died.

At some point, on this planet of billions, you will be the next one to leave it.

And then there comes that fateful Thanksgiving when you realize you are the oldest one there, you’re the patriarch/matriarch and your “umbrella” is gone.

I knew two great-grandparents – Dad’s maternal grandmother and Mom’s paternal grandfather. I had three sets of grandparents (one through marriage) who all lived to be fairly old. A couple years ago Dad (94) became the longest living person in his family. I think he’s trying for at least 100, if not beyond. Earlier this month we had to move Mom (92) into an assisted living facility with hospice care. In April she had been diagnosed with late-stage Alzheimer’s, and after a couple falls her condition worsened, to the point Dad could no longer care for her at home. While it’s not easy seeing the people you love fading away, it’s reassuring to know they have all lived good, rich lives.

Forebears, Stephan. Forebears.

Damn, this is what freaking happens when you let philosophers take the funnies, now what am I supposed to do with the rest of the weekend. #Sarcastically #OhWell

My college roommate died a couple of years ago. We weren’t close, but still a little jarring.

When your time is up, your time is up. When your pilot’s time is up, your time is up.

Forebears, not forebearers.

Actually, when you come to the point where there is no one else it can take from you, you’re probably ready to go yourself.

I just want to enjoy living rather than worry about dying.

and suddenly I want bacon.

My husband died over 16 years ago, he had just turned 51.

“Iv’e had a life that’s full, everyone’s been good to me.So fire up that fiddle, boy, and bring me one last drink.When the sun comes up, I will leave without a fightthe world is mine…tonight”…__traditional Irish death song

This hits home. I lost my last parent last year!

Mozart died in his early thirties. Moscow Mitch is pushing eighty. Yet many people think there’s a god.

Add to panel 1 : And mixed in among all that, you lose your Bowies and Pettys and Wattses and you have more sad.

Oh snap!

Yes, Pig. Father Time is relentless, and the Grim Reaper is his close companion. We will all meet him, some sooner than others….

Hey Mr. Pastis, check out Working Daze!! would love to see reciprocation

“Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think, enjoy yourself while your still in the pink, the years go by as quickly as a wink, enjoy yourself, enjoy yourselves it’s later that you think! " Live long and prosper!!

My attitude toward death is like my attitude toward jury service: I’d be willing to do it some time, just not today.

Hey, Stephan—your ancestors are your “forbears,” not “forbearers.” That would be people who refrain from doing something even if they could do it. Hate to go all usage-nazi on Mr. Pastis, whom I greatly respect; I know he and Rat detest people like me, but duty is duty, and like nature, when duty calls, you gotta go.

Who is cutting onions next to me?

dang, can’t relax, even for a moment….

Jesus died that we can have eternal life with him. The alternative of life without him is real and horrible. He is who he claimed to be and did what he said that he would do. The proof of his validity is in his resurrection. You can make peace with him and know where you will be in eternity.