Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for August 30, 2016

First rule of married life: Never miss a good opportunity to shut your piehole.

Turns out the bump in the road was just the fold in the map…

you’re quite the dunce, Brad… but at least Toni is feeling a bit better form all that stress

Whew!! Okay who said something about bailing?

She’s resilient. Brad doesn’t need to call 911 and commit her to the hospital. But the two of them need to do something about Jonah.

Such a happy strip today! In many good marriages the partners through the decades wind up saying to friends that they are unsure why their spouse has been able to put up with them for so long, and they regularly are amazed by their good fortune. I see both Brad and Toni each doing some of that today.

Brides and grooms all start out as dunces. The ones that last allow for a learning curve—and do learn.

It’s quite understandable. Everyone has days where events can overwhelm a person and they just need to take a breath and relax.

Toni still needs to put the brakes on Brad’s over-sized wedding ideas. He’s getting out of control. A big wedding doesn’t guarantee a good marriage.

Somehow I thought Derek would come driving by with a “Hey Babe, hop in” and that would be the (merciful) end of the (hot) Toni Daytona (lame) Brad Degroot story line. Oh well, one can only hope.

Got to step off the conveyor belt once in a while, get centered, and let the rest of the world go on without you.

In the last panel, Brad looks like a kid, and up to now, that’s the mentality he’s had: that of a kid who believes the whole world is good and that others, especially Toni, will want the same things he does. But he’s about to grow up. . .

The final panel, made me smile

Handled nicely. Time to jump to Gunther getting free movie tickets and wants to take Tiffany.

Since shannon spends so much time with brad and toni, maybe they should adopt her.

@U U Moderator.Regarding Kimberleigh’s (and Sukie’s) FAQ that was being posted on Mondays for the last few weeks: I have been a participant on this board for a number of years. I do not think I could imagine all the space consumed here by “drive by” readers who genuinely ask questions pertaining to the strip and by trollish types who repeatedly ask the same questions to deliberately draw the ire from long time readers and commenters. I can tell you that the once – a – week FAQ uses far less space, and at the same time has proven to be helpful to long time readers as well..It was not written in a way to demean anyone that is not an “up to speed” reader, rather a compilation of facts that are backed up with links to the actual strips that the answers to the questions can be found. It was a labor of love to compile this information and make it available. Removing the post as you did is tantamount to having a disgruntled few deny the use of reference material or “Cliff Notes” to students of literature. Nothing is offensive in the content, so I am not sure how the FAQ would violate the TOS of this site to the point where it would justify its removal. If one does not care to read them, then they have the freedom to scroll over it, simple as that..Perhaps the positioning of the FAQ is a factor in the challenge to its existence? That could easily be remedied by posting it later in the body of the comments instead of on the “first page”. Or, if it is a Monday, it could be posted at the last of a previous day’s comments where it could be found if there was a short comment alluding to its whereabouts. Your input would be welcome..Many have thanked Kym and/or Sukie for making the information available compared to the relatively few that have complained. Hopefully, you will give this consideration and weigh the needs of the many against the wants of the few. Or the one..

Whew!!!

Elope!

Either that or take control and have a nice intimate wedding without all the foo-fa-rah.

Toni and Brad have survived their baptism of fire. They’ll probably elope instead, which would work due to being on call as firefighters.

SSSSSSSSSSSsssssssssssssssssss……………………….Dud!

Just have to slow down. And readers have to trust the participants of the comic.

That’s what I’m talkin about baby, real maturity to the rescue. Yes!!! That just put a big smile on my face. Thanks I needed that!

That’s the Brad we all know and love.

I learned long ago, you don’t need to try and solve your spouse’s problem unless they ask. Listening why they vent is sometimes all they need.

That sound you are hearing is the sigh of relief,

Thanks to Toni’s resilience and quick regaining of her composure, Brad’s Big Time, Spare No Expense wedding fantasies have not dealt a mortal blow to their engagement. But Jonah, and his casual dumping of Shannon on Toni whenever he has his Big Break in sight (over and over again, with no significant outcomes), remains a serious problem that needs to be dealt with, one way or another….

Brad – “TONI! Are You Calling Off the Wedding?!!?”

Toni – "Why NO, Sweetie! Surely YOU Didn’t Expect to Get Off that EASY did You, Pumpkin? I just wanted to SCARE You and Various Fans of This Strip AND to take THIS Opportunity to tell YOU what I EXPECT from OUR Marriage!

A) “YOU No Longer SPEAK, Except when I Tell You and ONLY in Monosyllabic Responses that ALWAYS End in Yes Ma’am!”B) “YOU Give Up ALL of Your Hobbies, ALL of Them! Model Kits, Baseball Cards, Girly Magazines, Your Crappy Car that You Loved so Much, ANYTHING that YOU once Enjoyed, GONE! Because THAT’S what ‘Grooms to Be’ Do!”C) “If You So Much as Give a Sideways Glance at ANOTHER Woman, You’re Dead! You May Look at Your Mother and Sister But Only with My Permission and at 2 second intervals, Got It?”

Brad – “Yes Ma’am!”

Toni – “Good! Now, Put This Ring in Your Nose, So that I May More Easily Lead YOU around. That’s It. Oh I Am Going to Be So…..,Oops, I MEANT WE Are going to be So Happy to Together! NOW, Let’s Go to My Place and Make Love, On MY Command, Off Strip, After which I’ll Teach You How to FETCH.”

It’s nice that Toni is written to be very mature, even if she’s a bit overwhelmed. Hoping that Jonah becomes a success and moves far, far away.

Her problem is Bwad’s “Kardashian Wedding” plan but Bwad still doesn’t get she don’t care for it a bit!I don’t know why anyone here would think she doesn’t want to get married?

Well then, are you canceling this meeting? Cause they’ll charge us!

7I have been thinking about this a fair amount since yesterday. So many of us here in the comments have been berating Brad about his “big, gradiose, over-the-top” wedding plans for the past two weeks of this arc. But, looking back on it…The reality seems to be that IMO Brad was not being pushy about things, as he was simply trying to have he and Toni both be able to make decisions together. Virtually everything he has said during this arc has been about making decisions. To me, that seems like Brad is working pretty damn hard to be as inclusive as he can about he and Toni working as a TEAM to figure out what they are doing for their wedding. Now, sure, Brad may have pre-conceived ideas of what a marriage ceremony is like, and sure, Toni may have sort of let Brad just “run with it” so-to-speak from earlier talks. But, and here I think is the important thing…. Toni and Brad have both been somewhat nebulous about the plans, they both have put forth ideas, but no firm decisions were ever made. So, I really cannot fault Brad in this arc. He has been trying pretty damn hard. It is not Toni’s fault either… she has had a very rough day prior to meeting Brad. Imagine how much more successfully this could have gone if Toni had not had to rush from work, did not have the Jonah confrontation, did not have Shannon wailing about swimming, etc. Making decisions about a rapidly approaching wedding is important. And, now hopefully they will actually both communicate successfully (ie talking AND listening) with each other and make a mutually compromising and yet happy wedding plan for both of them.

I still see this story line ending with Toni and Brad coming home and telling TJ and Shannon that they eloped. By Saturday.

To all, sorry for my outburst at a certain individual.

Whew!

Shut your mouth and hold her, Brad…

I still say they should Elope,, Get Married in secret and then plan the wedding

Reply is down. Your post is beautiful, Brd!

Well, that would sound good, and I think a link was tried before, without the added info, but not only do some try to ‘edit and ruin’ any wikis/databases that links were provided for, but for some things, people will bypass a small link out of habit or intend to follow them but forget to go back to use it, or would just not notice it- and some are still unfamiliar with what links can do. Or even as one commenter once remarked, some have a condition where they can’t distinguish the blue link text from the regular black text. -And a lot of times, someone was just wanting to know an answer, hoping someone could just relate it, and couldn’t stop to look it all up. And so stemming from all these reasons, that’s when the idea for the handy dandy FAQ was born.

Well, not ideal but this couple is a work in progress. It would be nice to hear Toni clearly say, “I feel overwhelmed when you press lists and decisions at me.” And to hear Brad respond, “I can understand, and I know you had a perfectly awful day. We can always scale back the wedding.” And then Toni says, “Thanks for that. But I want to try this, just one step at a time.” And now THE BIG HUG! But these panels were very sweetly drawn.

I hear ya, too, about the bitterness on a lot of other forums!

This is why the elopement suggestion was premature and irrelevant. You cannot solve the problem until feelings have been shared. Now it’s clear to both that they can proceed with their plans, cautiously.

Well, there’s usually that term, “an open and shut case”, but given Toni’s being able to finally communicate, and Brad’s ‘learning curve session’ -followed by a gentle, playful ‘shushing’, I’d say this is “A Case Of Open And Shut”!…“Or Open Up, And Shut It”, even!

Frank, the two problems with the link approach were:1. The people who would not use links2. The trolls who altered the Wiki to be incorrect.

So, the FAQ became the workable solution.

hey, elopement may NOT be totally off the table yet!

I like the fact that her engagement band is in view, as she ‘shushes’ and reassures Brad in the last panel!

good premarital counseling op here, Toni sometimes you need to say just listen, Brad sometimes you need to ask, do you want me to fix it or just listen.

I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be a simple, family fun wedding at the Fuse suggested sometime really soon…it just seems to make the most sense given the characters in this strip…

They can’t elope. Shannon has to be a flower girl, and Luann has to be a bridesmaid. Those are givens. Brad and Toni’s roles in the ceremony are secondary.

Who the hell is Derek? Why would that happen? You are entitled to your opinion of course, but your analysis is very shallow. It is irritating for such a comment because you clearly don’t know the history or characters very well, or the storyline.

I’m as dumb as Brad. I thought she was calling it off. I still think she is though… Elope. The hell with all the wedding plans. It’s too overwhelming. just elope. Get married now. They can all fix up the house together after the honeymoon. Then work on adopting the little brat, and tehn the little girl. The brat is TJ.

Toni and Brad need to elope!!!I tried to bribe my daughter to elope when she got married……Didn’t go well, especially when my wife and mother-in-law found out. :D :D

I love this woman…

::whew::

Is it just me, or is this the same park where Toni told Brad she loves him?

@SukieFrank, the two problems with the link approach were:1. The people who would not use links2. The trolls who altered the Wiki to be incorrect.So, the FAQ became the workable solution.I liked Sukie and Kym’s Monday FAQ because 3. I can’t remember plot elements like some here. Having said that, the FAQ didn’t affect item 1. There were still folks asking about items in the FAQ. And do trolls alter the Wiki Luann site?. Still it all seemed harmless and well-intentioned!

Brad dodged a bullet, But if his brain is operational (I’m not sure), he will take this experience as a critical fork in the road of learning about relationships. It is not enough to just ask Toni what she wants, re a wedding. He knows. He needs to go a step further and say “hey lets just go and get married quietly somewhere and forget about all this staged drama.. I really don’t want it either at this point.” That would be the truly unselfish thing to do.

This is healthy for the couple. Brad needs to learn to read her a bit better, and he will. Happy wife=happy life.

Or, it could be a connection outside the connection here…

You got to know when to fold up, know when to hold up, know when to walk away, know when to run(Kenny Rogers – The Gambler)You got to know when to shut up, know when to hush up (Toni Daytona – I’ve Heard Enough for One Day)

Sweet!Brad stops when she asks him to stop. Brad stifles it when she asks him to stifle it.

Toni should just tell Brad to take care of the planning. Let her pick a dress and just show up on time.

I created this account for the sole purpose of making this comment – I have read Luann on this site for several years, and perused the comments with amusement and sometimes annoyance at some people who insist on getting caught up on certain points, or who seem to consistently dislike the comic but return day after day only to continue disliking it. Not having read the comic from the beginning, I have had questions from time to time about this character or that character. So, speaking as someone who has never spoken on here before, only read, I would like to thank Kymberleigh and SukieCrandall for taking the time and trouble to have created the FAQs. It seems a very nice thing to have done for readers such as myself, who may have idle questions but don’t quite have the burning interest (or maybe just not the time) to search the internet for answers. For those who consistently pick on Kymberleigh over the FAQs – if people can take the time to complain and find things wrong with a comic strip, what is the matter with someone taking the time to compile answers to commonly asked questions? As others have said about negative comments – if you don’t like them, it is a simple matter to scroll past them. Short version – Kymberleigh and SukieCrandall have done a favor even for people who don’t post. Please do not take away the FAQs – far from being clutter, they actually prevent clutter in the form of repeated questions.

Brad is sure clueless about women. He must be a conservative.

♪ Moderator ♪♪ would you let us place this FAQ?♪♪ It really helps a lot for newbies to catch up with ♪♪Even tho we scroll♪♪On past it if we know ♪♪It’s not a burden to deal once a week with ♪

Not really sure what I may have missed from your comments, Frank. If you want to elaborate on what I must have missed, I will try to explain. What sense of humor do you mean that I apparently do not have?

Sallymargaret, i have no idea. Kym is considering possible solutions.

I have never seen Kym’s hair so have no idea.

Kym and i got to know each other a bit because of Luann. People meet each other in many ways in this world. I wound up with some friends from Lost Side of Suburbia, too.

Well, actually, no one has anyone else’s sense of humor, but, luckily, the world has a great deal of room for many flavors of humor.

Sorry about sounding so tired. I just read what i wrote and it really shows, but if i rewrite it will just be worse. So, apologies, and i will try to get more sleep tonight. Yaaaaaaaaawn…

Our vote in the Presidential Election will not count…Why not?

She just wants him to slow down.

SPOILER

Toni explains, and Brad gets it. Crisis over. For now…

I don’t know why she includes T.J. on her bad day.

if it wasn’t for him, they wouldn’t have a moment to seat on a park bench and think. He helped her manage what that idiot Jonah did to her. Again, some people here think she wants to dump Bwad, but it is his Kardashian wedding plans shewants to dump. And he doesn’t get it!

“I could never lose the desire to be married to you, Brad.It’s the GETTING MARRIED which is overwhelming me.”

Toni doesn’t like to make BIG decisions…