Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for September 02, 2017

They probably had nothing in common 30 years ago.

Even before the strip started!

Well, that went… well

It’s hard to tell with all that hair, but Mary might be as “horny” as Paris. If so, that would be a good starting point.

Happened 3 times in the last 2 weeks (accidentally meetings though).

The opening lines of “Burnt Norton” from T. S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets”

Time present and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future

And time future contained in time past.

If all time is eternally present

All time is unredeemable.

What might have been is an abstraction

Remaining a perpetual possibility

Only in a world of speculation.

What might have been and what has been

Point to one end, which is always present

Let the dead past bury its dead….

A couple of months ago, I Googled the name of an old girlfriend I hadn’t seen in 30+ years. Found her obituary. Dead of cancer at age sixty. Always keep the past in the past is very good advice.

I never go to reunions for that very reason!

I enjoy touching base with friends from the past. That’s how you get to have old friends. It’s sad when you find out they’ve passed, but it’s better than the alternative .

Thomas Wolfe noted that in his way too.

Goat should’ve gotten the hint when Mary exclaimed it was great he hadn’t seen her in ten years. [On a personal note … Mary, if you’re out there, just know I still think about you.]

They both like coffee, that is a start.

Goat always ends up in an empty room.

Let’s analyze this, the purple cup in front of Goat represents Royalty, indicating Goat is of Noble birth. Mary on the other hand has a green cup meaning that she is more earthy, more in tune with the commonners.What fellowship can there be between the royal and the common? Goat could say," hey Mary why don’t you come over and clean my toilets", and go from there.

sigh. Been there. Done that.

How do they know they have nothing in common if they don’t ask each other what’s going on in their lives, where they’ve been, what they’ve done…?

“And I said, ‘What about Breakfast at Tiffany’s?’/She said, ‘I think I remember the film,/And as I recall, I think we both kinda liked it.’/And I said, ‘Well, that’s the one thing we’ve got!’”

“Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!” – Jay Gatsby

Reminds me of my 20 year high school reunion, I realized I was in a room with a bunch of people I hadn’t thought about in 20 years and really didn’t care what they’d been doing with their lives.

Notice all the identical elements from one panel to the next? There’s something in every one that’s identical to something in one or more of the others. “It’s more fun to play / The Colorforms way.”

Not “Goatina?” (I know, Goat has a name.)

They got each other’s goat, and they didn’t like what they didn’t see.

This is one of many reasons why I never date. It’s just awkwardness all the time.

xxx

You can never step in the same river twice.

The same man never steps in the same river twice.

Sage philosophy, Goat, most of the time. But I suspect we all secretly hope for that one time when old friends will click once more. Sad, isn’t it?

Who needs the present?