Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for August 26, 2011

Kim, he loves you; now go back to sleep.

Poor Mike — caught between Mark and Kim. Is he being truthful? What does everybody think?

Out of sleep, now in the doghouse.

“<Now that you’re awake, Kim, could you talk to Mark? Thanks and g’night.> Mark, here’s Kim. Take care.”

I find a bed of roses to be thorn filled and allergy inducing.

Not being a bed of roses would be a good thing.

What was the name of the Norse god who could hear wool grow on a sheep’s back? Is Kim related?

Take that shovel away please.

“A SECOND marriage? The triumph of hope over experience!” — Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) Also, from the same source: “Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords: but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain; and expectations improperly indulged must end in disappointment.”

Mike is an inconsiderate goofball who’s been talking (as he should) to his friend on a cordless phone while Kim has been trying to sleep a few feet away. If there are any thorns in their bed… he just put them there.

One foot in the mouth after another – it’s classic you, Mike Doonesbury. Wanna make it up to Kim? Step one: hang the hell up on that asshole college buddy of yours.

I married Miss Right. I just didn’t know her first name was Always.

Why do married think complaining about their marriages will make single people feel better?

Drama is contagious, especially at 4am.

Sigh… Mike can — and should — go to another room and continue his conversation with Mark for as long as Mark needs to talk. That’s what true friends do! (And not because Mark might become “incredibly wealthy” some day… sheesh!)

But when Mike says to Kim, “Shhh! I’m trying to make him feel better,” what is Kim thinking? Isn’t she thinking, “But he’s not trying to make ME feel better! He’s choosing buddy Mark over wife Kim. I’ve got X, Y and Z to do tomorrow, and if I don’t get my sleep I’m gonna blow it. Maybe Mike’s not such a great husband after all. What am I going to do?”.What should Mike do if he figures out that this is what Kim may be thinking?

The only reason the marriage lasted as long as it did was because JJ announced she was pregnant at a time Mike was considering having an affair and possibly leaving JJ for his old college crush Nicole.

Kim’s not necessarily thinking that… but she might be a little grouchy about it — especially with the missed sleep and all.

__Mike should return to bed very quietly and whisper — quietly — “Kim…? May the brain dead guy who really loves his wife come back to bed?”If she doesn’t answer… gently get back in bed and talk about “leftovers” in the morning.

If she does answer… listen. She’s a friend, too.

Is Trudeau the true moralist here? Is he trying to teach us lessons via telling stories? As Jesus did?

The story would be almost the same if Mark was a divorced straight man pushing 60. He would be trying to figure out why he can’t have a successful relationship. His sense of loneliness is just magnified at this moment because same-sex couples can now marry in New York and Washington DC, where he lives.

leftwingpatriot:“The story would be almost the same if Mark was a divorced straight man pushing 60. He would be trying to figure out why he can’t have a successful relationship. His sense of loneliness is just magnified at this moment because same-sex couples can now marry in New York and Washington DC, where he lives.”

__I think you’re right. It’s very comparable to a woman who doesn’t want — or want yet — a baby, but all her friends are having one. She will feel left out… and likely she will be left out, without malice, by her “new mom” friends.

When none of his friends could get married, Mark wasn’t alone. Now that all of his friends can get married… he’s frightened, and feeling lonely and left out.

Most of the time when there are “thorns” in a marriage, it’s both people who haven’t been “weeding” carefully enough. With careful — and loving — tending, it can be all rose petals again.

Kim did not seem interested in what was going with Mark until Mike brought his relationship with her into the conversation.

To tie off one thread nobody has mentioned so far: it was when Mark was young, and not thinking about sexual orientation at all, that JJ informed him that he was gay. He didn’t argue, didn’t question it. She explained to him how he was supposed to behave, so that’s what he did.

I found it very funny. Somebody else knows better than you do who you are?? Please don’t get me started!!

See. Kim wasn’t sleeping.

Funny, since GW is gone and things are so rosy in the country all your characters have very little of substance to say. Take off the blinders.