Pickles by Brian Crane for July 06, 2021

Most folks don’t notice YOUR boundaries until you point ’em out.

Even my maternal grandparents felt — what’s a good word? — disappointed when their youngest daughter and her husband (my parents) moved away from Arizona to Washington, but not because of privacy issues. It was because he had a job offer.

If my then future wife had not decided to leave her home town for another 5 hours away and in another state, we would never have met. And, while I would never have known her, I still would have lost a great friend and companion along the way. That was 1962. We still remember our first meeting as serendipitous destiny realized, because we both knew at that moment that what was going to happen would bring a good change to our lives. T’is the way of it.

You have broken their hearts. All they had to live for is gone.

They said to Opal that they thought that they would be happier living somewhere farther away from Opal and Earl.

I am not convinced that Sylvia and Dan told them bluntly that they were overstepping their bounds. I’m not sure Opal and Earl understood it as just overstepping their bounds.

I never saw instances where her parents drove them crazy or overstepped. They were always babysitting.

If only things had been this easy for the Romanos.

It ain’t over. Just sayin’.(Heck, it’s only Tuesday after all!)

Kind of sad for all involved, and then there i Nelson!

Strange arch when you think about all the times Nelson and Sylvia go to Earl and Opal’s house ….

Overbearing parents have a tendency to drive their children away, achieving the exact opposite of what they seek.

Damn old people, always getting lonely. Such a pain.

YOUR boundaries are like YOUR pronouns, only important in your own head.

Nelson spends more time with the grandparents. You would think they would appreciate that.

who knew she even had a husband? LOL… don’t go over there so much if you want more privacy. DUH

Curtains? Blinds? A fence?

Too close for comfort. Move!

seems like daughter and grandson was always hanging out at THEIR house, not the other way around.

Well, they never had to worry about burglars?

Boundaries work both ways. When one of my stepsons lived downstairs from us along with his wife and two kids, they would never think of entering our apartment without first asking permission and we would never think of entering theirs without asking. Recognition and honoring another’s space are indispensable factors for living together.

Observing social politeness goes a long way to harmonic living.

Seems he is hateful toward her parents. No a good thing. He can only criticize them so much.

Instructive, but no longer funny.

A few properly placed cameras and microphones can work wonders.

No wonder Nelson is spends so much time over there.

Never had that problem with grandparent’s when I was a kid, lived too far away, parent’s only one husband’s mom though few blocks away, my mom further away different town.

He could have the mother-in-law like on “Everybody Loves Raymond”. I don’t think Opal is that bad.

Back in the day, we lived a “Sunday drive” from her parents. They would frequently show up unannounced at….er……well….during a private moment. That’s just one of the disadvantages of living close by.

It’s a comic that shows us snapshots of moments in their comic lives. Suggesting their story but not showing the whole of their lives.I like that Pickles doesn’t always go for the laugh but treats family situations with humor. It seems this arc is resonating positive and negative with readers creating a good time to look at our own feelings and investigate a bit, might open our eyes about real life situations with family.

My parents never interfered with us and we try to stay out of our kids’ decisions and life choices, although I’ll be sad when my son and his wife move away, which they are planning to do. When my uncle married a Catholic woman and agreed to raise the kids Catholic, his mother told him that if he married “that papist” he would burn in Hell. She was never allowed in their house which was only a five minute drive away. She was always trying to convert me and my sisters and my cousins to her fundamentalist views.

Ah, the other side of the story today. Maybe the kids weren’t as nasty as was thought.

It’s amazing what communication can accomplish, who knew.

Anybody wanna guess where Nelson is ?