Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for December 06, 2024

When I was a kid I believed old people were always old and us young people would always be young. Guess I was wrong

When I was in my teens, I couldn’t fathom living past 50. Long past that now.

Pawn and knight lines are getting rather sketchy.

Little Lulu and the Peanuts troupe made it work; the Doonesbury gang seem somewhat aware and resigned to the fact that Mr. Trudeau is in charge.

Danae must be a fan of Zeno’s Paradox – no matter how old she gets, there’s still a little further to go till she reaches adulthood.

When l watch old shows and movies, in my mind l become the age l was when l originally viewed them.

Otherwise it’s depressing being older or as old as characters l originally construed as ‘ancient’!

Being old has its rewards (no more 9 to 5!), but it would be better if simply getting out of bed didn’t hurt.

Over the river, and through the wood,

To grandfather’s house we go;The horse knows the wayTo carry the sleighThrough the white and drifted snow.

-Lydia Maria Child

I know far too many people that have grown older, but have yet to grow up. Heck, seems to be a requirement to be a Republican. Remain a child and take no responsibility for their own actions. Always play the victim and prosecute the actual victim. Sigh. No wonder we’ve entered another age of stupidity, when we could have entered an age of enlightenment.

I have heard that if you don’t grow up by the time you’re 50, you don’t have to.

Don’t worry about it. It’s what is in your heart that counts, not the color of your hair.

She’s a character in a comic strip. She’ll be a kid until the strip ends.

When I say being old holds no surprises for me, I mean it. At 18 I spent 6 months as a orderly in a convalescent home. [In the 50’s that meant the place where you put your old folks so you don’t have to take care of them and they just die.]

I was an aide, butler, and waiter to 9 ladies in one ward and a dozen guys in another. The ladies – many bedridden – always dressed as best they could for each day. They chatted, played games, teased each other out of the blues, and were a joy to help. They got lots of visitors.

The men sat on their beds or in a chair – alone, rarely talked to each other or me, and didn’t laugh much. Food often sat half eaten. Rare visitors. They died quietly in the night.

That time was a total shock to the mind of a young man just about to finish high school, whose family had never experienced that. The images – and some of the shock – I brought away from that time are still etched vividly in my mind.

That is why I say the the problems of old age don’t surprise me. At age 89 [in 3 weeks] I am fairly healthy, reasonably active, and still handling life as it comes. And I am very thankful that my sweet blue-eyed girl and I are still together.

You might want to go put some winter clothes on, Danae.

Danae, you and Calvin make pair!

Danae is not unlike the Greta Thunbergs who expect the unusual Pleistocene weather should continue forever unchanged.

Well, she is in a comic strip…

This reminds The Count of Lulu the Wonder Cat Who Came In From The Cold and Stayed. The Lu doesn’t get it that the climate is the same outside the front door of Stately Count Manor as it is outside the back door. Nor does The Lu get it that just because it is bright and sunny outside doesn’t mean that it isn’t 15º out. However, like Danae, Lulu lives in the moment by finding a soft, warm place to snooze. Dilly! Dilly! and God Bless Us, Every One.

When I was her age, I thought I’d die in 2000 because that was when the world was going to end

When I was young I was shown photos of my grandparents when they were young. I had no delusions.

She’ll eventually grow out of it.

When my daughter was young and asked if she was acting too much like a kid, I told her there was no hurry to grow up, she will have her whole life to be an adult once she gets there and won’t get to go back.

Maybe a parallel arc of Kate is in our future?

I’m gonna live forever………….so far so good!

The trick is to learn from other people’s mistakes . Danae doesn’t even learn from her own.

Maturity is that delicate balance between childlike mindfulness and adult pragmatism.

There is enough worrying built in when you get older, enjoy this bliss of a wide open future ! ;-)

Getting back to the actual comic art……. love Lucy’s eyes as she balances on the log bridge over the “stream of life”!

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.

Little Orphan Annie disease still runs rampant

Having older parents growing up I knew at some point there would be an old man in the mirror. He’s there and I’m not a bit happy about it.

I’m honestly still a kid. Sure I’ve lived through times of heartache and joy. I’ve worked and am now retired. But my visualization of the world, of life around me is still immersed in the wonders of magic, of hopes and dreams. In the moments when age slaps me in the face I just smile from ear to ear. Why not? What an adventure existence is. “Life what is it but a dream.” (Lewis Carroll)

Considering that Danae is a cartoon character, she might not age.

Maybe just speaking for myself, but I always thought that “growing old” would take longer.

Oh, Danae, do not forget: “past performance is not a guarantee of future prospects”. The past is a memory, the future is unknown; we are all living in an eternal present.

Love it!

Republican climate change denial argument.

It’s what horses do. And thinking about the future doesn’t change anything for kids as long as other people are in charge. And usually there always will be others with the power to force you to act towards their interests, not to your own aspiration.

I found growing up kept sneaking in a cheap shot while I doing other things. I still haven’t forgiven it for puberty.

I feel very young every time I’m here and I’m nearly seven decades old. Danae, Calvin and going all the way back to good ole Charley Brown reminds me of my own childhood.