I just discovered that Lynn Johnston, creator and artist / writer for the comic strip For Better Or Worse is slowing down. She has started a process of re-running older strips and will occasionally inter-mix some new stuff. However, the characters will quit aging at this point.

Over the years, Johnston has tackled many difficult subjects with sensitivity. Parents passing away, mid-life crisis, broken romances, homosexuality, Alzheimers, other illnesses, working moms, pets who pass away -- these are just a few that come to mind. Tackling these real work issues and having her characters age in the process has given me a sense of growing up with the Pattersons.

I will miss her daily new material but look forward to seeing whatever she does bring to us.

It makes me wonder though. For thirty years she has been creating a new daily strip. As much as the Pattersons are a part of my life, they are much more a part of her life.

This has to be a very difficult process for her. I have to imagine that each day she will think up new stories and ideas, only to realize that she will never really be able to live (or draw) them out. I trust though that she will handle it with the same grace and sensitivity which has hallmarked her comic strip.