For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for December 20, 2024

Yeah, you do.

Did any of your mothers have this kind of conversation with you like Elly and Mike here?

Well, things could always be worse. But they can also be better so think on the positive. Your aching mouth will stop aching, you will heal. And there’s another girl waiting for you, though I’m not sure if she’s the next one you’ll meet. I know how it ends up.

Apparently, dealing with disaster is a lot like solving a jigsaw puzzle or baking a cake. Not sure who Lynn Johnston is quoting for Elly here, but would Julia Child be a good guess? On the other hand, Mike’s response seems to be something Fred Flintstone would say.

I wonder if philosophers like Plato or Aristotle thought like that.

Sooo… your jaw hurts. And you broke up with your high school girlfriend. Not quite having your whole life fall apart.. Try struggling with how you’re going to pay the rent, the electric bill, and put food on the table, then get back to us..

I hope Ellie let Mike go through this experience without interfering like some mothers do.

Good analogy for the grieving and healing process.

Yup, things could be worse…Rhetta could be pregnant and Mike has to abandon his dreams. Or Rhetta ran off with a guy from a traveling carnival. Or trump gets back in.

Amen, Michael. That way when you start sorting, the decisions will be easier.

But the Oral Surgeon din’t give him the extracted Wisdom Teeth or the piece there-of, if they came out like mine.

I didn’t think so at the time, nor for a couple years after. The big D from the 1st Mrs was the best thing that ever happened to me.

This strip is a prime example of classic story telling. Unlike the drivel being put out by new authors of old time strips. I’m talking about you, Judge Parker, Mark Trail, Mary Worth, and Rex Morgan over on Comics Kingdom. If they can’t find talented writers, they should just let the strip die an honorable death.

I really like her statement there. Haven’t heard it said quite like that before and it kind of says it all.

“…and if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.”

She is such a good mom! Now I’m farklempt…

Michael will be spending with no Rhetta and no Farley?!?!?

There have been some cases with married couples where if one spouse dies, the other goes to pieces, feeling that their life has been taken away from them.

The relationship of Michael and Rhetta is dead-da! :P

Smart mom there.