Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for April 04, 2018

sure is hard

Oh noo….

Call Steve McQueen!!

Get all the CO2 fire extinguishers you can find!!

For the past three days that staked out area has been getting bigger and bigger.

Like I’ve been saying, not convinced this marriage is a sure thing…

Still not sold on the “Guest House” notion.

Oedipus

I’m not so sure “divorcing” is the best way to refer to this. Might be accurate, but creepy.

SCENES I’D LIKE TO SEE #631

Gunther – "Mom? I’ve thought it over and I’ve decided that I’d like for you to postpone the wedding until the Summer. The Summer after I Graduate from college. And after I get my Master’s degree. And My Doctorate in Physics. And after I’ve have moved far, far away. And have gotten married to this Brilliant, Voluptuous, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Female Scientist that only I can understand, and then, just barely. And after we have our .5 child. Oh, and if Al says he’ll wants to build the “Guest House” in the meantime anyway , tell him Heck, NO because I know he’s just dying to make Les Knox MY problem! Do we have a deal?"

I know what Gunther means. A marriage planned for this summer means it might happen in 3 or 4 years.

Change is hard, especially for mothers. Mothers devote their life to their children for the first 20 years of their lives (many continue to raise past age 18) only to have them seemingly abandon them. We mothers know our babies will leave the nest one day and we fool ourselves that we would be ready and be happy when that day come. I know I mourned my motherhood when both my boys left home. I say ‘lost motherhood’ because that was my life and now I am just an inactive mother. I do have a grandchild but he is not mine to raise. So, I do get where Irma is coming from. Nobody is really ready to divorce their children but all of us know we have to one day.

Seems like before this arc, Irma was usually seen wearing Aunt Bee-style granny dresses. Seems she’s moderned up a bit.

Is it just me, or have the last couple of arcs just fizzled? Now, I know that Evans has the right to pick up and leave off arcs at his pleasure. But somehow, something hasn’t felt right in a couple weeks now…

I tend to forget that Gunther at 19 or 20 and in college may not have the means to go out into the world on his own. With his ability it seems there should be a scholarship that would allow him to live on campus – much better than the arrangement that appears about to happen. But what is depressing is that this thing seems more about maintaining the closeness Gunther had with his mom – rather than an issue of necessity. Gunth needs badly to start growing up – now – and Mom should be giving him a gentle shove. I had hoped that attraction to Tiffany would get Gunther into changing course – but doesn’t look like it. Mr. Gray seems to want Gunther around as a good influence on Les – but Les has a job and is actually closer to learning how to maintain and get a life. Here’s hoping that this arc doesn’t go for the odd couple type of humor with Gunth & Les living together. I still think it’s weird that Brad & Toni want TJ in their house so they don’t have to cook.

Why use the term “divorcing”? It honestly doesn’t apply to yours and Gunther’s relationship at all!

…does it?

Irma you already said no in Feb so stop with the games and just tell Gunther that you will say no.

Creepy but appropriate. She needs to stop over-mothering/smothering Gunther, but he still needs security. Mr. Gray has a version of the same problem with Les obviously. Both of these parents or parent figures have the same problem with boy-men who need parental back-up. ROSA PLEASE LET HER COME BACK GREG!! I don’t agree on Tiffany, she has other issues, but Gunther needs to become a man, and having a normal, romantic relationship might, and I stress might, go a long way toward helping him.

The more changes the better!!! I mean come on!!! Luann is now an adult and not going through a dramatic life as a teenager anymore, her brother is now a married man with a pretty woman and working as a firefighter. AND Tiffany is now a plus size girl! So yeah, come on!!!! MORE BIG changes!!!!!

The contractor calling is from the Pettigrew Casket Company right here in Sacramento.

Boy, those two sure are more alike than we thought.

One of these two needs to put their big girl panties on and commit to this relationship. I’ll let you decide which relationship I’m talking about.

Which means that yes, she’s unsure about marrying Mr. Gray.

OK, Gunth… This is your moment. Tell mom to proceed immediately! You know that if you have any hope of maturing into the adult you want to be, you have to break clean free. Do it now! And give your mom a new life in the process. You’ll find a way to be self-reliant. You made a chunk of money when away with Rosa. You can do that again. You can probably bring Tiff along with you! Deus ex Machina works wonders, ya know!

Gunthie doesn’t want off the boob anymore than his mommy wants him off.

Cut the apron strings, already!

The last balloon sums up why change is so hard, even if you know the future will be better because of it.

When the strip got “divorced” from its high school structure, everyone went in different directions. Ms. Berger is now voicing the uncertainty of that move by using her pending marriage as an example. Has the strip already evolved too much?

ROCKNAWW just came up with an interesting thought. Would a Gunther-Tiffany hookup be G&K’s Leonard and Penny???

8

While I can understand the several commenters who labeled the “divorce” phrase as “creepy”, I am taking a different view of the situation. For me, even though the words in the dialogue between Gunther and Irma are a little awkward…. I think today’s panels are really very, very valuable and insightful in regards to real world family struggles. I see today as a real effort between the two of them to actually discuss their family and how they both can see that it is evolving and changing in a host of different ways.

Today I am especially appreciative of the concern both Gunther and Irma are expressing for each other and for the family unit they have had. I think that is a good, kind, unselfish, and holistic way for folks to proceed. While the “American, Rugged, Independent” mindset is what our society tends to idealize and put forth as the gold standard…. in a real world context, when family members do care, do take into account, and do sometimes sacrifice parts of themselves for their collective family…. you get a far deeper and more meaningful life in the end.

Now, do not get me wrong, Gunther SHOULD and MUST go and find his path in life, and he needs to have adventures and dreams and aspirations. And the same is true for Irma as well. But, taking into account others in your family and in your community, and sometimes adjusting or modifying, or altering the timing of these adventures, dreams, and aspirations is a form of service, a form of caring that people can express for others.

I see today as a VERY good beginning of a dialogue whereby both Gunther and Irma can work towards both of them growing, and expanding, and developing their lives…. while at the same time figuring out how they can retain the parts of their family construct they also hold as valuable, vital and important.

Cutting apron strings can be painful for both. Hopefully it will unclog Gunther’s testosterone tubes.

Well, Brad and Toni had their moments, before they tied the knot.  But it wasn’t too long ago, that Irma had Gunther ready to board a plane for Lima, with her pep talk about ‘the need to be bold, and try new things’.  Lol, guess it’s easy when the shoe’s on the other foot…

-

I feel confident that she is looking for pep for herself, too.   But is it just ‘the old life’, in general…or maybe something specific?  Or is this just a small speed bump, on the road to the vows?  Guess we’ll see…

“Flyer’s Remorse”

“Gone, With The Whim”

“Cold Feet?  Starkly Beleagered!”

“I’m Learning To Fly….But I Ain’t Got Wings…” (♪)

“Melting, In The Face Of Summer”

“Call Me A Hotel, Cos I’ve Got Some Reservations”

“Life, As We Knew It….”

“I’m Only Looking For Spare Change”

“Look Twice, Before You Leap”

“A ‘Delay’ Reaction”

“Quiet And Pensive, My Thoughts Apprehensive….” (♪)

“Fly By Night? Not Yet, My Dear!…” (♪)

“The Love Boat Pulls Up A Long, Long Chain”

or

“Getting Ready, To Get Ready, To Get Myself Ready”

What if AL and Irma go on a “Round The World Cruise” for their honeymoon, and are gone for a month or two Luann-time?

Way back on 31 Jan. Gunther showed some hormonal growth in a confrontation with Les re Tiffany’s interest. Les brought up the marriage and Gunther wandered off in mama-land. Irma lost weight and hasn’t appeared in an apron since. Tiffany dropped off the face of the earth. Dez still hasn’t called the police. What a mixed bag. Can this strip survive without a theme?

OK, Gunther, you came back from Peru just to break up any potential wedding between your Mom and Mr. Gray, and it appears that you have in fact succeeded in driving a wedge there. Mission accomplished. Now go back to Lima, get your job back running the clinic’s computer network, and this time, stay there.

Irma Berger’s comment was not having anything to do with Al Gray. And it may not be as ‘creepy’ as some may think. Though she said it to Gunther, it isn’t in the sense that they both are married to the same thing. It is that they each (individually) have a thing, an idea, that they both, at one point or another, seem to have been “married” to. It was just a ‘play on words’, to lead Gunther to the correct path, as to what she may be going through… whatever that is, about their old life, that she and/or they may each be ‘divorcing’…or to even put it another way, whatever she reallizes they would each have to be ‘giving up’, if she moves forward.

Cut the cord mom….cut the cord.

TYGE: Why should it be Dez who calls the police when it was Tiffany who discovered Ann Awful’s crime and told Dez and Bernice, Tiffany who has actual proof (Dez has only hearsay), and Tiffany who confronted Ann? At the very least, Tiffany and Les should have reported this to either the DeGroots or Al Gray, and the DeGroots and/or Gray should go to the police. It does little good for someone who has no proof of a crime to go to the police…

Gunther. Hear this. Time to move out and become a man! Les- you too!

Irma went through pain early on. Really, so did Les as well. Even pain can become something of a habit – and hard to let go at times. Maybe Gunther can help ‘cut the cord’ here.

“I don’t mind change, I just don’t want it to change anything.”

There’s a flaw there somewhere.

Irma has got to decide whether she truly loves Al – and if it will really WORK for her – and, yes, emotionally, financially, all that stuff! If so, then she should GO FOR IT!

I do think that Al, now that he has her accepted-proposal in hand, is moving TOO fast and is being quite presumptuous here, really. I know he thinks he’s doing the right thing, charging ahead and all, but it seems at least that this is HER land still, not his. Even a TINY bit of the, ”Hey, dear Irma, here are my thoughts … but, I want to know first, what do YOU think?”, would have been a considerate move for him to do for her. Then, THEY could’ve together done the ‘Surprise!!’ for Gunther. But he is one true business man – doing as some do and go ahead – mission-and-agenda bound.

I know Irma has been the ‘smothering-mother’, but I don’t think she’s being really fair with her son, here – saying she’ll postpone, etc., if Gunther isn’t ‘ready’.

Remember, Gunther said to her before that, ”If you’re happy, Mom, I’m happy!” There you go, and he’s concerned about HER happiness, here now. Al and Irma are older here, but Gunther is behaving more grown-up – and showing it!

There’s a monkey wrench out there I tell ya’s …..

Oh, dearie me! Ma Berger just can’t cut the umbilical cord to her beloved Gunthie, her first- and, as far as we know, only-born son! I’d say that the question posed must be, does Mr. Gray want to go through with marriage if he is aware of the situation?

My opinion, for what little it is worth, is that Greg and Karen should man up and let Irma and Al get married and make Gunther start the long-delayed growth of his spine….

It is my hope that tomorrow Gunther reassures his mom that he will be fine and that she should follow her instincts on marrying Al Gray, and not worry about him and their ‘old’ life together.

When Gunther start’s being interested in training seeing eye dogs, that’ll be the time to start worrying.

Contractor? Contractor? Don’t they call hit men contractors? With Big Al’s contacts I’d want to make sure he’s talking about nail guns and not the kind that go boom in the night.

“Philadelphia Flyer’s Rob Morse”

“Golly, With The Twins!”

“Gold Feet? Starly Bagels!”

“I’m Learning To Fry….But I Ain’t Got Chicken Wings…” (♪)

“Belting, In The Face Of BOOM right in the kisser!”

“Call Me A Boat, Cos I’ve Got Some Scrapping of Barnacles to Do”

“Fife, As We Knew Barney….”

“I’m Only Snooker For Large Thick Purple BOOM right in the kisser! Again”

“Look Three Times a Lady, Before You Lead Her Down the Primrose Path of KMart”

“A ‘Dead Laid The’ Racoon”

“Quiet And Pens, Knives and Automobiles, My Thoughts Appreciation for the Creamy White Lucy On Her Knees! Please!….” (♪)

“Fly By Night? Away From Here! Caress The Steel!…” (♪)

“The Love Throat Prims, Preens Up A Long, Long Long LONG you know BOOM, yadda yadda yadda….”

or

“Getting Freddy, To Get Betty, To Get Myself Into The Elevator of Love! Before I Hurt Someone….”