For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 03, 2018

Like I said yesterday, they bought that house.

The original comic strip said ’53 in Panel 1.

In the final panel, Elly and Georgia are covering their mouths so the old lady doesn’t know they find her senility to be highly amusing.

If this comic strip was oringally printed in the 1980s, then the house has not been standing for very long.

For some reason, the final panel is just sad to me. My grandpa on my mother’s side died of Alzheimers, and watching him slowly forget us was heartbreaking. I was only eleven when he died, and I was one of the last people he remembered – not by name, mind you, but as “the little one.” He gradually forgot how to walk, how to talk, and how to eat.

Not to be a downer, but this strip strikes home.

“Is Rusty still in the Navy? I like riding in cars!”

People are either going to find this funny or offensive. I don’t think there will be many folks in the middle.

Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I find this endearing. My 94 year old aunt has dementia and only recognizes me as “a relative”. When given the information that I am her brother’s daughter, her face lights up! “OH! JOEY’S daughter!” and proceeds to beam at me or hug me. Five minutes later, she can only remember that I am a relative. It’s heartbreaking, yes. But also endearing in seeing her joy at this revelation. At least I know how much she loves me.

I think, bittersweet…

sometimes a little laughter is necessary. Yes, dementia is terrible. My mom started getting a little confused when cancer went to her brain. I still grinned at this. Learning to laugh at our troubles can be a moment of refreshment. Harder to do if it hits too close to the heart.

My father-in-law, whom I loved more than my own, would forget to open the plug when he took a shower. He would get up at 5am and try to go to work. The irony is that his mind was going but physically he was in great shape. Luckily he passed in his sleep, just before we talked of a nursing home. I miss him.

My mother had dementia. My father-in-law had dementia. BUT I still found the old lady’s comment funny. She just took what the son said literally.

she MIGHT not be senile, maybe they haven’t told her they’re moving and putting her in a home.

My wife was on four different chemotherapy agents over a nine month period before she passed. Every week I lost another part of her. Sort of Alzheimer’s on steroids. Nothing funny about dementia.

From the replies here so far, I think whoever decided to rerun this story arc made a mistake.

Well, I think the Mother’s comment is endearing, and that’s because I’m used to the way some old people’s conversations go at that age. For one think it makes me realize that one day this will be my fate, if I live long enough, and I hope I will have people around me who will be just as accepting as her son and his wife are…

Need to have a conversation with Mother.

@ Valka – I agree, it looks like Elly is hiding a laugh, can’t tell on Georgia, very bad taste on Lynn’s part to put that in a comic that she basically “bases on real life” and I do find it poor taste for Howtheduck to point it out, I would not have noticed it, had it not been pointed out in a comment

so many reasons for elly covering her mouth, but her eye expression does look more like a laughter expression than a shock expression – jmo – I hope that this is the last we see of this type of strip where it can be construed as someone laughing at a stranger that has obvious memory or mental disability going on, especially since Lynn has said in pas that her stip is based on real life – one thing to joke with or about your family member who has dementia or alzheimer’s – sometimes that is the only way a family can get through it without crying 24/7 – but to react that way to a total stranger is insensitive and wrong JMHO

Reminds me of when my daughter bought a house in Keokuk, Ia. Went to clean the place before moving in and found a man living in it! He protested “But I paid the rent!” Uh, the landlord sold this place!

My mother, who I loved dearly, had Alzheimers. It’s a vile disease because it steals people from us. But, sometimes she said things that made me smile (and later, laugh). I knew it wasn’t really her speaking – it was the illness.

I don’t find this at all offensive. My grandpa lived with us for a while when he got Alzheimer’s. Dementia patients often lose their sense of inhibition, with sometimes funny results. One day, as all 9 of us kids were running around the house, Grandpa turned to Dad (who was a doctor) and asked, “You’re a doctor – didn’t you know of something to keep from having so many kids?” Even Dad had to laugh!

You’re absolutely right as usual mom!