For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 27, 2020

just four more years for me

X 2 for me.

Well, easy for John to say…he was there a few years back. Elly, the REAL changes happens when you hit 50. Enjoy the next 10 years as you know it…menopause, arthritis, droopy boobs, paunchy stomach, wrinkles, graying hair (deciding whether to stop dyeing), floppy arms, less tolerance for body forming clothes, embracing spanx and athletic attire….yep. You’re not there yet, Elly, and stop whining and enjoy those last years before all those happen.

Just wait a couple of decades and the knees start telling you that they don’t want to work for you.

Considering where Elly’s hands are in Panel 4, do I want to try and guess which part of her body is making that “Flap Flap” noise?

Some people are determined to look at the bad side of things.

One thing’s for sure – you look younger with a smile on your face.

Oh, 40 is so 35 years ago!

“A man is as old as the woman he feels!”—Groucho Marx

It’s better than the alternative……

When you wake up in the morning and something new either hurts or doesn’t work

And yet, only a few years later, Dr. Hypocrite there is so depressed about turning 50 that he doesn’t want a party or even presents to mark the occasion. Only a card and a cake.

40 was the most depressing birthday/year that I had. I reached middle age, looked at my life and saw that I had achieved none of my youthful goals, had few friends, no family. In no way shape or form could i find a way to define myself as successful. So i did the only logical thing i could do. I stopped caring about anything and accepted that i will always be alone, in a low paying job and started getting rid of possessions so that when I die there will be little stuff for whoever finds my decaying corpse to have to get rid of. Life is much simpler now and turning 50 didn’y bother me at all.

Ohhhh boo hoo hooo!!!!

I’ve been 76 for a month. Don’t really feel any older, but I sure don’t feel any younger.

Actually, I do remember feeling older on my 40th birthday.

I wish I was 40 again

I’ve been having fun this year, being 55. Whenever one of my FB friends posts the game about “what would your age be if you switched the numbers”…I’m still 55! Seriously, tho…I haven’t hit my “traumatic age” yet. 30, 40, and 50 all passed with no fuss.

40 was my favorite birthday. I finally lost all the “3 kid baby weight”, the kids were 21, 17, and 14, so they were self-sufficient, and we were at a point in our lives where we were financially stable. Now the older I get, the younger I feel. I turned 53 this year and I dyed my hair purple to celebrate. My 4 year old grandson loves it because it’s his favorite color.

I wish there was a sign or something that would tell us when we are at the zenith of our existence. Something that would definitively tell us when the rest of our lives are “all down hill from here.” Most of us can never really know when we are half way there.

Wait a min, I’m 48 and have been reading this comic for 40 years….

When I turned 40, my parents, who were both 62 at the time said they wished they were my age again. I thought they were nuts, but then when I turned 62, I knew exactly what they meant.

It beats the alternative!

But you don’t look 40 and look more like 60

I WISH I felt like a 40 year old !

I am 65 and I embrace every year. Don’t understand why people whine and focus on aches and negativity. Age is awesome. I would not trade the aches for the insecurities and worries of being younger.

My approach to this: say, some day, I find myself “wishing I was 40 again”. Well, once upon a time, I WAS 40.Now I’m 73, and some day, I could well find myself wishing I were 73 “again”. Well, here I am…NOW…73…so, like a wish come true in advance, I make sure to enjoy being 73 now, while I have it!

Joseph Pilates invented the exercise program that bears the same name. There was a photo of him at 72; he was built like Arnold Schwarzenegger. He certainly did not whine about age!

I turn 40 in 20 days.

Technically, we’re a few months older than our actual birth date, making me 75+. I’m short, with a somewhat lumpy, bumpy and dumpy physique but, other than an inherited double chin, have aged well. I think it has more to do with accepting what I can’t change and embracing those things that speak to my heart. I’m passionate about interacting with and photographing Nature. In return, Nature shares her vast examples of incredibly unique beauty and, like this morning, humor. A squirrel (not my favorite critter) brought a twig to my front door and sat expectantly looking at me as for either praise or, more likely, something to eatApparently, it had confused me with a neighbor who puts out p-nuts!

What they don’t tell you is that getting older comes with a sound track.

Mine is cereal, “Snap! Crackle! Pop!”

At 30 I was still being carded, 40 was a breeze, 50 was a lot of fun, 60 rolled by without much hoopla and 70 is approaching fast (36 days). Lovin’ life, now and always.

I’m about to turn 43, young’un.

“You’re only as old as the people you feel.”

exercise is a great “FLAP FLAP” remover

I feel like I’m 108 some days.

People who are complaining about their knees going out – I have a strange twist to that. I am 65 and have a little (not major) problem with my left knee going weak on me. Not both – my right knee is fine, just my left. I’ve had it buckle before and almost throw me to the ground.

It never bothered me to turn a certain age and it still doesn’t…

The only time I can remember being really glad about a number of my years was when I turned 18 and I could vote. That was a real milestone in my life.

But to be upset about all those other decade milestones, it never even occurred to me to take notice. My mother is the same way, she never pays attention to birthdays either.

Hell I turned 60 in February so 40 is just a distant memory.

How many of you have kids who are old enough to have grey hair? Me for one…just visited my son and his family. I was shocked to see how grey he’s getting. His beard is almost all white grey and the sides of his head grey to black. He’s 48 this year. My daughters in her 50’s.

I WISH I felt like I did at 40. The birthdays ending with 0 don’t bother me, it’s the bad things happening in between that do.

This last time I read this one, I was about 40. But that is 25+ years ago. How time flys!

Wait until you are eighty. Forty will sound SOOOO appealing.

Don’t freak, El. The fun hasn’t even started yet!!

What a drag it is getting old

Kids are different today, only Elly says

Elly needs something today to calm her down

Although she is not really ill

There is a little yellow pill

She goes running for the shelter of an Elly’s little helper

And it helps her on her way

Gets her though her busy day

Doctor, please, some more of these

None for two week wholes?

Damn price controls!

What a drag it is getting old

I just was not made for these times

I hear only Elly and the Beach Boys chime

What happened to the Greatest Generation?

And if Elly takes more of those

She will get an overdose

No more running for the shelter of an Elly’s little helper

They just helped her on her way, now her funeral John must pay.

I mentally refer to a number of my colleagues as “Beautiful young women in their 40s.”

how do you know how 40 feels? i’m 70 and i don’t feel 70 but i don’t know how 70 is suppose to feel. like your husband said, 40 is just a number; it lets you know how old you are according to when you were born, that’s all!

You’re as old as you feel. I look pretty good for 85(even though I’m 50)

Congrats, Ellie. You’re now a COUGAR! Go git em’ girl!

Don’t tell me I’m as old as I feel! That adds at least twenty years. More when I’m not having a good day.