For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for September 11, 2023

Your heart is heavy, Elly.

One time there were six places at the table altogether.

One time there were five bedrooms.

By the time our kids were in the ninth grade, they were doing their own laundry.

And also since practically all of the color in her laundry has faded out to a bland white, she should maybe think of going lighter on the bleach next time.

That’s how my mother felt when I signed up in 1970. Plus, the other thing.

There will soon be a new arrival to pick up after—Eddy.

E.N.S. !

How I felt when my son went into the Air Force…I remember breaking down and crying when I pulled his jeans out of the dryer!…and he hadn’t even left yet!

Experiencing a version of this in my home now. Father in law who lived with us the last 7 years just passed away, and our 19 year old grandson who was with us for the last 4 years is out exploring the world. Both gone within the space of 2 weeks!

My teenage daughter had to do one chore every day, so when she left for college, my work quadrupled.

One less bell to answer, one less egg to fry…

Learning how to menu and shop groceries for the 2 of us and not the teenage hoover was tricky.

For some reason saying “goodbye” to someone you love is a little bit like practicing for death.

Ellie is a typical mother.

The good news is that Elly can do math. The bad news is that the likelihood that Mike left his room clean is remote, so Elly can probably spend weeks getting that room where it is no longer a toxic waste dump.

Elly have you yet to realize the beauty of an empty nest. Instead of month at the end of the money, there is money at the end of the month. Not to mention peace and quiet and time to do those things you always wanted to do.

My daughter went on a high school trip for a week. It felt very strange without her.

There is something to that, Ellie. Here in my yard, one less horse is almost an hour less work. Add one back and the workload exponents far beyond one hour. I am just glad I can still do the work without too much difficulty….. or staff…yet.

@French Persons- I didn’t learn how to do laundry and cook until I was 20. And that’s because I was at odds with my parents because I had come home from being away at school and because I was sheltered growing up, lots of things were new to me and I was trying to explain that, especially to my dad but he was one of those old school West Indian men whom you couldn’t tell anything to. So I stayed with a neighbor across the street and that’s where I learned how to survive, so to speak. She taught me how to cook and wash my own clothes. And after going through the a nightmarish marriage, and now being retired and a single bachelor, I will forever indebted to my neighbor to giving the tools in which to live and survive!

It’s a Mom’s world………

Poor sweet Ellie! My sister travels the WORLD with theater companies doing scenic, audio/visual and everything else work. Me? I can’t leave home because I cannot work and have no car anymore!

My dad? He wants her to move back in!XD Too disfunctional though, so she stays a few weeks a year on breaks.

Wait until he comes home for a visit with three months worth of laundry.

One less bell to answer, one less egg to fry. Paraphrasing.

She can always take in an immigrant family from New York

Aptly timed.

September 11

Elly probably is well aware how many people were killed on this very date. She is likely thinking what if Michael or John had been on duty at the Pentagon.

Awwwww Cru-Elly, do you miss your favorite whipping boy?

The mother son relations are most precious of all.

I still wonder why Elly felt she had to tidy Mike’s and Liz’s bedrooms. We’ve seen strips where she forced them to stay in their rooms until they got tidied up, so where’s her effort? Besides, most parents make their kids clean their own rooms, so again where’s her effort? (Beyond nagging I mean.) Yeah, I know that Elly is OCD about cleaning her home and won’t allow anyone else to do most of it, but with a teen’s bedroom, all you need to do is to shut the door.

Times have changed…

Our electricity bill plummeted when our son left to go to college.