Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for May 11, 2024

Arlo is good. His side of their conversation consisted of two words. Can’t imagine a different kitchen would have a different outcome.

So do we assume that Arlo and Janis are retired? They don’t seem to have aged all that much over the years. They’ve been around long enough to retire, and their son has aged. Or have they just been independently wealthy all of these years?

New kitchen same as the ol kitchen

If he takes the table, chair and mug with him, he won’t know the difference.

Let your imagination go, Arlo. If you have Janis, you can have these conversations.

Why aren’t they like snow birds? Maybe keep their home and use the condo for family visits. My friends travel with their cats and they adjust ok

As long as it’s not a problem with pillow talk everything will be fine.

I fail to see what these two have to stress about. If they don’t like the coast they can always move somewhere else.

Geez Arlo, move on. Family’s more important.

But, Arlo, your imagination is usually pretty good.

Blondie and Dagwood too stayed pretty youthful over the decades. Also Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

It’s not so much the kitchen as who’s in the kitchen with you. You’ll be fine.

Arlo…that is a true statement……..

We have an RV, our kitchen comes with us, the scenery changes.

Been there and felt the same way but my life definitely changed for the better after the move…….

It’s kind of like when I change my sheets. I don’t get a very good nights sleep the first night.

This is the 5th house we’ve owned in 44 years and hopefully the last. But if given the chance to move to a better location, we’d take it without qualms.

You get used to it, Arlo.

As a grandfather, I try to remember that my children and grandchildren have lives of their own to live too. I love my time with them, but they don’t need me 24/7 all year long. Periodic visits make our visits all the sweeter.

Why are you letting your son and daughter-in-law make decisions for you? This is something you really need to do for yourself. Not them.

If they still worked and are still depended on the income, moving would be the last of their worries.

I’m glad that this is one strip where there is nothing about work – jobs for Arlo and Janis….just keep it on the home front, don’t need to see her teaching or him at the insurance agency. The fear is of irrevocable loss…ten years later “honey do you remember the time we spent sitting around that little kitchen table in our second home? So nice”….each time you move you are gambling that you’ll have new good memories that equal or exceed your old good memories….life is a series of blind bets.

She wants to move, he doesn’t. After they move, he will love it and she will hate it. This is what I have learned after 37 years of marriage.

Mark Knopfler’s “A Place Where We Used To Live” Pops into my head throughout this arc… GC won’t let me post link!

www . youtube . com / watch?v=669uS0cPvg4

Yes, they have their lives, but sharing lives used to be what families did. Now I see so many posts about friends, fellow students, etc. being family. No, not really.

One of the worst things about aging is that husband will tell a story about something which happened to him – and I have to say “no, that’s my story – it happened to me”!

We were the couple that was not suppose to be – different ethnicity, different religions, his family was very traditional about men/women roles – my family (of 3 daughters) was “girls can do anything”. (This is best shown by his surprise that I could shovel snow, use power tools, knew more about cars than him…). His mom actually once said to him (within my hearing unknown to her) “She is not our sort of people”.

Some how it has worked extremely well and as said in the first paragraph – our lives run together so much in our minds that sometimes we don’t remember which story is whose!

Oh – and when his mom needed someone to visit her and help her with her finances I did so and she was surprised that I would help her.

I don’t get sentimental about our house. I feel ready to move every morning. Then I look at all of our stuff. Think about all the work it would entitle….stuck in Kansas.