Peanuts by Charles Schulz for November 20, 2020

For Charlie Brown, it’s mostly valleys.

As Carly Simon said, these are the good old days.

I’m pretty sure that I had mine, already.

Dawgs gone. I never thought about that. I wonder when it was? OR, could their be that one day coming….hmmmmmm

Notice she asked CB “What if YOU’VE already had it?” Not “we’ve” or “I’ve.” Another little dig at CB.

Chuck does not have many peaks in his life. In fact he is in " Death Valley" as far as how low can you go at times. Poor kid has never really been up to sea level as far as luck and emotions go in his lide except for fleeting moments which get yanked away from him very quickly…..

There will be peace in the valley.

“It’s funny how we always tendTo look back on our pastAs if they were the only good timesThat we’re ever going to have”-Gilbert O’Sullivan

Happiness is a cold black nose and two brown eyes looking at you with all the love in their little canine heart showing through. And no questions asked, just love.

This year PBS has A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on Sunday.

I have already set my DVR.

This year has been Death Valley and sparse peaks.

It’s all downhill from now on, the good thing is going downhill takes no effort…..

Yea though he walks through the Valley of Kite-Eating Trees, he will fear no evil, for his baseball glove is with him, and the pitchers mound, it comforts him.

CB: “No, pretty sure my ‘happiest day’ hasn’t come yet … your family hasn’t moved out of the neighborhood!”

and how would you know what that day was?

Charlie Brown has his happiest moments in the Peanuts films.

But how would you know?

COVID-19 can have its peaks and valleys, too.

If you look at the “Peanuts Begins” strip for today, you will find that he has already had the happiest day in his life!

You cannot appreciate the peaks without having been in the valleys.

As I look back on my life (I need a telescope nowadays), I lived through some very good times. They might have been even better times if I had the wisdom to see how good they were. At my age, I am wise enough to appreciate what good I can find at any time.

The happiest day was the day I was born. Then came the valleys….

I think there was a Larry Niven short story with this theme. What do you do when you find out the greatest day in your whole life has already happened?

If you are a good person and worthy, there can be many peaks in your life.

Lynda Barry wrote a comic about how people anticipate there will be a ‘big moment’ their life has been building up to. For one unfortunate soul it happens when he’s ordering a hot dog – trumpets blare, an angel hands him his hot dog…he’s bitterly disappointed.

It was at this point that Charlie Brown began drinking heavily.

Lucy- the original Debbie Downer

He has. The day he finally beat Lucy in checkers (see Peanuts Begins).

You may have…

This is the one time ignorance is bliss: it allows you to hope for the future, and not dwell on the past.

Indeed that is one of life’s great mysteries – can it get better than this? We know not the future, and thus is core of the choice between despair and hope.

Same thing you do when life gives you “the Blue Screen or Spinning Rainbow of death,” reboot.

For Charlie Brown, it had to be his time at camp when he wore the bag on his head. It was the only time in his life when others look up to him. It was his moment in the sun.

Al Bundy’s 4 touchdowns in a single game was the pinnacle of his life.

Look at the mountains. The peaks are barren rock and snow, while the valleys are full of life.

That intellectual thought process is going down the trough.

The perennial question

“Those Were The Days”

Once upon a time there was a tavernWhere we used to raise a glass or twoRemember how we laughed away the hoursThink of all the great things we would do

Those were the days, my friendWe thought they’d never endWe’d sing and dance forever and a dayWe’d live the life we chooseWe’d fight and never loseFor we were young and sure to have our way

Then the busy years went rushing by usWe lost our starry notions on the wayIf by chance I’d see you in the tavernWe’d smile at one another and we’d say

Those were the days my friendWe thought they’d never endWe’d sing and dance forever and a dayWe’d live the life we chooseWe’d fight and never loseThose were the daysOh, yes, those were the days

Just tonight I stood before the tavernNothing seemed the way it used to beIn the glass I saw a strange reflectionWas that lonely woman really me

Those were the days my friendWe thought they’d never endWe’d sing and dance forever and a dayWe’d live the life we chooseWe’d fight and never loseThose were the daysOh, yes, those were the days

Through the door there came familiar laughterI saw your face and heard you call my nameOh my friend we’re older but no wiserFor in our hearts the dreams are still the same

Those were the days my friendWe thought they’d never endWe’d sing and dance forever and a dayWe’d live the life we chooseWe’d fight and never loseThose were the days, oh yes, those were the days

If you have already had it, you go on to the second.