For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 29, 2020

My mother (bless her soul) was 46 (47 nine days later) when I turned 16.

Frankly, if Elly had more self-confidence, she would not be asking this question.

16 inside? Oh heck no, what an awful thought! I’m 25 and holding.

Fewer mistakes? For me, adulthood is just different mistakes.

And now I look the way my grandfather did when I was 16.

I would have loved to be 40 forever! Much more confidence than in 20s and 30s, in a better place financially, physically at my peak. Elly should relish this decade….how will she ever deal with 50 or 60?

I actually got carded on my 40th birthday. I thanked the clerk :)

40 for me meant less hair and needing glasses.

Part of Elly’s problem is that she grew up in the 1950s, which was most prosperous time in Canadian history. She feels like she is doing something wrong with the comparitively poorer times she is living in now.

Lynn’s Comments:

Hmmmm…this is not one of my best punch lines…

My mother once told me, “I hated turning 30. It meant that I was officially an adult. (Note: at 30, my mother had 5 children!) But when I turned 40, I felt so young; I was pregnant!” What’s funny is that I was pregnant at 40, as well, and I totally see what she meant.

I remember when I was in my early 40’s, I looked in my makeup mirror and saw my mother staring back at me. Startling to say the least. I can so relate to this cartoon. It’s not a bad thing necessarily, just a wake up call that we aren’t the young things we used to be.

I think it is a shock to our systems when we look in the mirror and see that our faces look like what we used to think “old” looks like.

I had a friend who got real depressed when she turned 35 because she said that she was half way to 40. I had to point out to her that she was half way to 70. She was not amused.

My mom was 38 when she had me!! Iwas a change of life baby!!!

My mom had me late age 30, I do resemble her, I do not follow her way of life. I hope I make it to my mom’s age of 92, yet not the symptoms she had.

In my mid forties I was helping clean up some old photo albums and came across a snap of my mother at 23 and pregnant with me. My first thought was how could they allow that child to have a baby.

You are now “positively ancient”.

“Help! I’m Turning Into My Parents”

My mother was 51 (35 when I was born) when I turned 16 so she always was older than friends parents but looked good and was good til her 80’s. Forty never bothered me, had a few twinges at 30, now 73 is a big surprise.

If you are a musician, the birthday to dread is 27. Just ask Jimi, Janis, Kurt, Amy & Jim.

Saw something like this. Our minds think we are 25, our sense of humor suggests we are about 12, and our bodies feel like they are 65.