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

Look, Mike is away at University and April isn’t doing extracurricular yet, so it shouldn’t be that bad.

One of my favorite movies is ROMAN HOLIDAY, where Audrey Hepburn played a princess on an official visit to Rome, who ran away from her endless duties and spent a day just having fun as an ordinary human being, abetted by reporter Gregory Peck.

Maybe John should treat himself to a “Roman holiday” away from his family and their endless demands.

Jean: “Soooo… you’re rushing around all over the place, eh? Are you sure you’re not REALLY cheating on your wife this time?”

I used to be like that, always rushing around, million things to do each day, no time to relax. And although I now can sit and relax whenever I feel like it, there’s always that little devil inside me, that will come forward as soon as there’s things to be done. Like this week, when I really need to finish painting and wallpapering the attic so that we can put everything back into it and my husband will be able to work from home again once a week.

Jean’s right – relaxation requires coordination and planning!

What she said in panel #4 is true. Especially here in NYC! But that’s because NYC is like the capitol of the world being that we have the stock exchange a few other things.

The nice thing about 2020 was things were shutdown and you could relax instead of rushing around everywhere.

Between 4 and 5 am.

Relax??? Maybe that’s why he comes to work!

So, John sat outside a locked skating rink with a car full of grumbling teenagers? That sounds pretty funny. I would have liked to see that story.

Here is an idea for another like strip, complete with Lynn’s odd sound effects…

0430 hours. Elly is in bed

Elly{groggy}: John? Why are you up at this ungodly hour?

John: Got to take Elizabeth to that early morning skating practice

Elly: Poor John, poor…poor John…Elly resumes sleeping and making “Patterson noises” NNN….SNORK….SMURFS….ZZZ….GOBOTS.

When you have children, there is no such thing as free time.

Car full? I thought it was just Elizabeth. Either some of her friends jumped in the car to wait with her, or she grumbles enough herself to make it feel like the car’s full of grumbling!

True.

Is that a punchline, or just straightforward good advice?

I’m exceptionally lucky. I am retired and can afford to keep the house up, pay the bills and eat well. I guess I’m living the Roman Holiday almost every day. ;-)

There must be an outdoor frozen lake SOMEWHERE in t he nation of Canada……

I think Mike’s hockey practice started at a similar ungodly hour, so Dad should be used to it.