Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for June 21, 2012

Excuse me…. I think I have something in my eye.

Alex’s life comes before his eyes.

Mike’s having a stroke.

Awwwww!!! What a lovely strip!

Your children are only yours for a short time. Treasure every minute.This was the best one GT ever did.

whatta great strip, sometimes it pisses off the squares and sometimes it hits a homerun like this week

Awww. Weddings sure do bring back the memories, don’t they, Mike?

LITTLE GIRL GROWN Monday I tied blue ribbons in her hair before she went to school. Tuesday I packed her teddy bear and she was off to camp. Friday I drove her to college with her silver flute. Sunday she moved to Manhattan with her fiance. Will the neighbors on East 35th Street please see that she doesn’t dawdle on her way to work? She’s the one with the flute and the teddy bear and blue ribbons in her hair. — Arlene Mandell

This has been one of the sweetest arcs in Doonsbury ever. I am definitely sniffly.

Sometimes I really wish I had a dad.

Typical Mike! One of the biggest days in his daughter’s life and he has his annual summer daydream! Alex and Toggle should have set the date for winter!

My little boy is 42 and I would trade him for anything. We live in different states now, but talk on the phone at least 3 times a week. He and his wife will visit this Summer.

How can the 99% possibly afford a wedding like this?

“where are you going, my little one, little one?Where are you going, my baby, my own?Turn around and you’re twoTurn around and you’re fourTurn around and you’re a young girl going out of the door…”

ahhhh. she inherited his nose. (sob)

(Tevye)Is this the little girl I carried?Is this the little boy at play?

(Golde)I don’t remember growing olderWhen did they?

(Tevye)When did she get to be a beauty?When did he grow to be so tall?

(Golde)Wasn’t it yesterdayWhen they were small?

(Men)Sunrise, sunsetSunrise, sunsetSwiftly flow the daysSeedlings turn overnight to sunflowersBlossoming even as we gaze

(Women)Sunrise, sunsetSunrise, sunsetSwiftly fly the yearsOne season following anotherLaden with happiness and tears

(Tevye)What words of wisdom can I give them?How can I help to ease their way?

(Golde)Now they must learn from one anotherDay by day

(Perchik)They look so natural together

(Hodel)Just like two newlyweds should be

(Perchik & Hodel)Is there a canopy in store for me?

(All)Sunrise, sunsetSunrise, sunsetSwiftly fly the yearsOne season following anotherLaden with happiness and tearsn with happiness and tears … When did she grow to be a beauty? When did he grow to be this tall? Wasn’t it yesterday when they were small?"

Okay, I’ll admit it. I am a rank sentimentalist, and a childless one at that. This stuff always makes me tear up.

Actually, If you’ll remember that far back…This whole life with Kim, working for Bernie in Seattle STARTED OUT as Mikes Summer daydream, but he got to keep it!It’d be just like GT to snap him “Back to reality” and no Kim, no startup, no ANYthing from the last ten or so years.

Hope it DOESN’T happen, but y’know GT!

@Doughfoot—with you there buddy!

wow…..this one brought tears to my eyes. I’ve got two daughters, 24 & 17, and I’m not looking forward to this moment for either.

Mike is a great guy, a wonderful father and at the moment, a little over whelmed. Awesome work GT! You have hit the spot for so many of us Dad’s as we have watched our children grow up. Thanks.

Thanks, Mike, and ESPECIALLY Trudeau…for our generation’s Great American Novel…

My eyes are a little damp today. That was me, walking my little girl down the isle 7 years ago.

In August, my little girl will be having a little one of her own.

“♫ ♪ Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset ♪ ♫♪ ♫ Swiftly flow the days ♫ ♪♫ ♪ One season following another….. ♪ ♫”………………………………………….That says it all. I’m 82 and I’ve summed it up this way:You’re born, you live, you dieAll in the blink of an eye.

He lost a daughter, but gained a son.

Reminds me of a recent car commercial. Not that they can’t be brilliant too… In fact, people would be shocked if they knew what all goes into the ads that we take for granted.

Oh, Trudeau and you commenters! (Sniff!)

Like they all said. Blinded by tears!

Aww Brings back memories of my wedding! Lovely strip!

my daddy was in a wheelchair and died a month after my wedding……………but he still gave me away and we both cried

thanks dad

Of course she’s just a little kid. My children are in their late 40’s and their children are going to make me a great grandfather soon but they’ll always be my little ones.

Jeez, i just realized Mike and I have been friends our whole adult lives, sharing the latter half of one century and the start of another.

Daddy, there’s a boy outside. His name is Leo…

*snif

Almost like the Subaru ad where the little girl is in the driver’s seat and Dad is giving her all these warnings. Then the camera goes back to the driver’s seat and a young woman says, “Thanks, Dad.” I teared up the first time I saw that. Of course my youngest had just moved 500 miles away for graduate school……

This was me almost 2 years ago.

“Yesterday a child came out to wonder…Caught a dragon fly inside a jar…Fearful when the sky was full of thunder…And tearful at the falling of a star.

And the seasons they go round and round,Painted ponies go up and down.We’re captured on a carousel of time…We can’t return, we can only look behind from where we came, and go round and round and round in the circle game."

I used to sing this as a lullaby …

Thanks, G. T., now I’m all weepy……..

Always wondered what a terrier would look like in a wedding dress.

Awwww…sweet! Who knows — some day in the not-too-distant future there may be another little child you will watch play, Mike.

@krisjackson01 I was having that same thought! And I was trying to explain all of this to my 21-year-old college-student daughter. She’s 40 years my junior, has never read “Doonesbury,” has a whole different set of life experiences, and thinks I and all of you are “lame” for sitting here mopping up sentimental tears! “Doonesbury” started during my own college years, and while there were some years where I lived in a cabin in the woods (no Doonesbury) all the characters speak to my own experience in one way or another. I love, love, love what Trudeau has done with Alex all along the way, and Leo seems just perfect to me. Carry on, everybody….

I’m thinking this is a perfect time for Mike’s summer dream…the wedding will still be there in an instance when he returns

You beat me to it. My mind always goes to this song when thinking of children growing up and life-cycle events.

Walked my daughter down the aisle 16 years ago, and it felt like she was only 9 and I was asking “what happened”? Now she lives half-way around the world, but is never further away than my heart.

and jennifer, I have always liked the Circle Game

So long as it’s said with the love only kids can bring, they can call us anything they want. I’ve been pa-paw, daddy, dad and once or twice by first name. That he still gives me a hug and a kiss on the cheek, means it doesn’t matter what label it’s by

Okay more sappy song that makes me cry every time I hear it.

All the precious timeLike the wind the years go byPrecious butterflySpread your wings and fly

She’ll change her name todayShe’ll make a promise and I’ll give her awayStanding in the bride room just staring at herShe asked me what I’m thinkin’And I said I’m not sureI just feel like I’m loosin’ my baby girlAnd she leaned over

Gave me butterfly kisses with her mama thereStickin’ little white flowers all up in her hairWalk me down the isle DaddyIt’s just about time …Does my wedding gown look pretty Daddy?O Daddy don’t cry …

Oh with all that I’ve done wrongI must have done something rightTo deserve her love every mornin’And butterfly kisses at night.

What’s the big deal? EVERY father has these thoughts!

Very well said.

Someone cutting onions?

Beautiful — I’ve always thought Alex was adorable (and still do), but this just makes it so perfect!!

To continue an earlier post by Jennifer:

“And then the child moved 10 times round the seasons…And skated over 10 clear frozen streams…Words like when you’re older must appease him…And promises of someday make his dreams…

And the seasons they go round and round,Painted ponies go up and down.We’re captured on a carousel of time…We can’t return, we can only look behind from where we came, and go round and round and round in the circle game"

I’ll leave it to somebody else to supply the last verse of this Joni Mitchell song.

Thanks GT and everyone …. to add

Love You Forever started as a song. “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.” by Robert Munsch..

Alex was right around that size when I started reading Doonesbury at age 11 around 1994. So it’s more like a sibling thing than a parent thing for me, but still.

Not much I can say that everyone else hasn’t alread said, but I just wanted to note that Alex’s wedding bouquet transforms into a bunch of little flowers that looked like they were just plucked off the lawn next to the driveway—-just the kind of bundle a little kid would pick. That’s the kind of extra little detail that takes something already poignant and really takes it over the top. Hats off to you, GBT.

Very touching moment.

This is enough to make you cry. This is one of the BEST Doonesbury comic strips I have ever seen. So Beautiful. So Amazing. So Sweet and yet so incredibly SAD.

Your little girl is grown up already mike. soo sad. I don’t blame you if you don’t believe it. I DON’T BELIEVE IT, either.

I like how Doonesbury is one of those rare cartoons where real time passes and the characters actually age.