For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 21, 2024

Semantics.

I’m 64 and I never stopped growing or learning new things.

Parental definitions:

Grown-up: An ambitious term that applies when you need to take on more responsibilities…but not when you want more privileges.

Noise: Any piece of music composed after 1969.

Sixteen: The number of miles your father had to walk to school.

What is this—a remake of the movie MARTY??

From Lynn’s Comments: I once asked my mother, “When do you know that you’ve actually grown up?” She said, “Never.” This strip was done with her in mind.

Why do they call it growing UP? The older you get, the more you shrink!

Aging is mandatory, growing up, well that’s optional.

does liz have a double bed or are they lying on their parents’ bed?

My standard for the moment we become adults, is the time we look at ourselves and ask in shock, “What have I done?”

You awake with a start / To just the beating of your heart / Just one man beneath the sky / Just two ears, just two eyes

Pink Floyd: “Childhood’s end.”

I’m 66, and I never had a career.

When I was a young fella, I didn’t know everything a young fella should know. Now, I’m an old man, and I don’t know everything an old man should know! O well…I still “think” young!

This is one of the best For Better Or For Worse! It goes into my saved collection!

I remember my best friend & I planning on getting an apartment together once we graduated from high school. Then I met my husband when I was 17 & that kind of put the kibosh on that. I did go over to her apartment quite a bit, and she was my maid of honor at my wedding.

My standard for when we are “grown up” is the moment we look at ourselves and think in dismay, “Oh, no! What have I done??”

Most people become adults but not everyone grows up.

Apparently the answer is to not be Elly.

I don’t know how to be a grownup at age 58 & counting

I hate to break to Elizabeth, but she has already achieved physical maturity.

looking at 82 in 3 weeks, hope I never grow up !!

You “grow up” at the end of the month when you can’t get alll the bills paid.

This is by FAR the talkiest Sunday FBoFW I’ve ever seen. Heck! It’s even talkier than most of her weekday strips.

Not to say that it isn’t funny and thoughtful at the same time.

What I learned yesterday: Because of it’s large mass, Charon orbits Pluto at a point between the 2 bodies and they are gravitationally locked, always facing each other on the same side

♪ I don’t wanna grow up ♫

The trouble is you’ll have to do your own laundry, cook your own meals, clean the house, etc.

At 69, I’m still learning how little I know, and I try to learn something new each day.

We are all essentially a work in progress.

You have to grow old, but you don’t have To grow up!

They the brain is not complete until about 25. Then you have to learn how to use it. Thus, the Founding Fathers (of the USA) put the minimum age of the President at 35.

Peter Pan song…. “I’ll Never Grow Up!”

I was so much older then; I’m younger than then now

“I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys-R-Us kid…!

Give me your answer, fill in a formMine for evermoreWill you still need me, will you still feed meWhen I’m sixty-four. ( thought it was 6 ft 4)

If you don’t become a grownup by the time you’re 50…..you don’t have to grow up.

Career goals and preparation for them by education and job experiences are very important. Maturity is establishing, recognizing and following those rules that guide you. Keeping an active mind and enjoying those things you like and want to do is necessary for all your life. However, physical maturity rakes place differently for boys and girls., usually in High School……

I’m retired and doing very well financially. I still think I will be a “grownup” some day.

Older

I’m 76 and the doc says I’ve shrunk an inch. I think that means I “grew up” yesterday.

I think I started shrinking about 58 so then I was as grown up as ever probably around 57.. ish? I don’t think it’s a clearcut instant and probably spread out over a couple of weeks.

I may grow old, but I will never grow up!!!

I’m 83 and haven’t grown up. My wife calls me a 9 year old.

I admitted I was an adult when I had to work through my Dad’s estate after he died. I pushed away emotions to do what was necessary. (Late 40’s BTW)

Forty years old and still a child at heart.

That is in contradiction with this strip:

Elly is on the phone with Michael.

Elly: What do you mean you won’t be coming home for the summer?

Michael: I was able to get the internship here in Ontario. Besides, I don’t have a place to stay at home. You gave my room to Grandpa when you invited him to move in with you, remember?

Elly: Oh…yeah….right.

Michael: I have reserved a room at the Howard Johnson’s nearby so I will come visit two weeks before school resumes for fall. Talk later?

Elly: Yes. Love and miss you.

Michael hangs up

Elly{talking to herself}: Sigh…For years you scream at them to grow up, and one day, they do. Be careful what you wish for…you just might get it.

I’ve never met anyone “of a certain age” who, in their heart of hearts, didn’t feel like they were faking this whole “grown up” thing.

There are some aspects of everyone’s life where we grow up fairly quickly. Then there are other aspects where we never do. The latter is a whole lot more fun.

“I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys-R-Us kid.”

Surprised Dawn is not doing anything academic right now. School is the Enjos’ cocaine.

I think most people end up in some sort of arrested development where the point of consciousness in our heads that we call our selves reaches a certain age (that is different for each individual) and just stays there while our bodies keep on aging. So basically we all end up feeling like we are 20 or 30 years old and find it hard to imagine how we got stuck in the semi broke down bodies

You’re grown up when you say “NO!” to yourself, and can make it stick!

Yep - you never really finish growing up. You just get older. :)

Her responses are valid.