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I am soooo sad, my favorite strip is changing. Not that I don't understand--I do. I have watched the family through everything thing from births to deaths and was excited about Liz and Anthony.
When the format changes it will be like a death in my family because the Patterson's have been my extended family since the beginning of the strip way back when, it was fun watching the kids grow and become responsible adults and parents.
What would be wonderful if one (Michael) would continue the strip, I can't call it a comic strip because it is more than that.

TO THE PATTERSON'S ENJOY LIFE AND CONTINUE BEING THE FAMILY I WISH I HAD HAD WHEN I WAS GROWING UP.

LOVE ALWAYS,

Beverley, Sterling Heights Michigan

I've been reading your strip every day for years now and have never been more attached to it than any daily column/strip/article ever.

I am sad that the characters will not age from this point on, but, I am sure that you will continue to share the Pattersons with us in the way that you always have... lovingly, and comedically. Good luck, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who will keep reading, no matter what.

Marisa, Akron Ohio

Thank you for your lovely view of life. I have followed it for more years than I like to think about and am sad that I won't see the resolution for many of the characters. I realized today as I read the last letters that I have come to view them as part of my own life and shed some tears at this passing. I will continue to read the strip on line from England and in the paper in the states but hate that soon it will freeze in time. It has been the real life part of the journey that I have loved so much as it has mirrored my own in so many ways.

Sally S, London UK & Bainbridge Island WA

I'm a soldier and have been in Iraq for the past 15 months and started reading the strip there. (It's published in Stars and Stripes) It rapidly became my favorite "comic." Thank you so much for making this time easier for me. It makes my day.

Christopher M, Seattle, WA

Thank you for years of entertainment and heart warming words. My mother and I began reading the comic strip years ago and now I can't wait to get up in the morning to read what is going to happen next. As a teacher I can identify with Liz and as a new mother (3 months old) I can identify with Michael. It is a joy to read your work. I even use some strips in class.

Jamie S, Port St.Lucie, Florida

I don't like the new strips. I think you should go back to the way it was.

Ann, Montana

Today was Day Three of the hybrid strip. I had a general idea what to expect, especially after we were given a small sample a few weeks back of Robin and Meredith gazing at old photos. Elly's meticulous photo and family history record-keeping have been mentioned several times, so the format of the hybrid isn't a huge surprise.

It's only Day Three, so I think it's a bit early to start complaining about it. It's going to take time for all of us, readers, creator and staff, to get used to it.
One of my favorite quotes about writing, by Cyril Connolly, is: "Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self." Lynn, you've been getting it right all these years, so please stick to your guns.

I read the monthly letters yesterday. I didn't stop to realize that they would also be coming to an end. It makes complete sense, but I was dumbfounded and almost weepy when I read Liz's words "This will be my last letter to you." The letters and the Coffee Talk features are my favorites on the website. I hope you will keep the letters already written on the website for us to look back on, at least for a while. I am secretly hoping that maybe we'll get one more letter from each character, or at least one from Elly, as the current storylines are wrapped up.

Good luck, Lynn. You deserve a happy retirement, in whichever form you choose.

Mary, NY

I understand changes need to be made due to Lyn's making distance to pursue other things.

But this sudden new change on Sept 3rd was abrupt and rather brutal. I'm a decades-long fan, and I think we deserved better.

That the monthly letters are being discontinued with last issue, cold and sounded like a last minute decision. Why not one family scribe?

And this "hybrid" recounting?

I've GOT all the old FBorFW cartoon books, and Elly NEVER wore her hair in buns, always pony tail. Neither she nor John look like they WOULD have looked, in the 70's, (and as they did in the old books). If Lyn wants to make the strip more historically relevent, then she needs to be "realistic" in the drawings as to the times. (Which have already been depicted in her past work.)

ps: I'm 60. Our daughter did follow Liz's path of kissing many frogs before she found the right Prince. And our daughter is a budding writer, as is Mike, after a short but successful career as a lawyer.

We are one more household who KNOWS the Pattersons like the back of our hands.

Please do NOT dilute the past of the strip? Thanks for your "ear"....

Mickey F, Washington State

Thank you so much for allowing us to share the lives of the Pattersons. I've been reading the strip since my brother was little- since Michael and my brother were the same age, at first- then younger by a bit. I still have a few of the letters from April, Ellie, and Michael, when they were responding to letters personally from the fans of the strip. I bonded with Deanna, since we were pregnant in 2002 with our daughters, Meredith for Dee, and Chrissa, my daughter. Now Meredith and Chrissa are kindergarteners- in two different 'school systems', but taking steps in their educational careers. I just read the last of the Monthly Letters from the characters, and nearly cried. I enjoyed reading them as part of the site as well as seeing what was new with the strips every day online...

Thank you again to Lynn and those behind the scenes working to bring the Pattersons to life... LONG LIVE THE PATTERSONS AND LYNN!!!!!!!!!

I hereby "Spill Your Beans" and some tears of sorrow that the strip will be ending next year but happy tears too of the memories that Lynn and the team brought to the comic pages and online

Lara B, Santa Ana

Mizz Lynn, I will sure miss your strip! I've always liked how your characters grew and aged through the years. The only other strip that I can think of that did the same was "Gasoline Alley," although there may have been a more. So many stories, so many issues, and so many laughs! I really do like the 'Time Travel' part of your website. Oh so true! I especially like the one where Elly greets Jon at the door stating "Abandon hope all ye who enter". (You must have foreseen my beloved nieces!!) I was overseas when you did Lawrence's story. I remember the letters of outrage and anger that appeared on the editors page, and your whole strip was pulled from the paper after just a couple days. I always wondered if these outraged people ever took a really close look at who was standing next to them in formation!! I don't want to spark off a whole new round of anger, but I do want to say that I really did (and still do) respect your audacity to even broach the subject. On the whole, how is the topic of homosexuality any different than the topics of rape, leaving home, menopause, washing the diapers, or (OMG!!) a husband and wife kissing each other WHILE IN BED? (And the SAME BED, at that! Oh the depravity!) You've always brought realism and a big touch of humor into your strip. I will so miss that! By the way, how is Lawrence? I hope he's doing great! I love most of your characters (yes, count me in the anti-Anthony camp, and Rebecca needs a good whacking!) and I wish them, and you, wonderful lives. Thanks for the laughs!

Lucy, Texas

I started reading FBoFW as a college student in the early 80's. Although I wasn't at the same place in life as Ellie, I enjoyed her company. And, as with real friends, there were times when real life brought back smiles over strips long past. In the late 90's my preschool son came home with a mysterious hole in his shirt...a hole that grew and grew. I couldn't help but smile thinking back to the time some ten years earlier when Elizabeth had done the same thing to a pair of slacks. Some things about family life are timeless. I'll miss having the Pattersons continue to progress through life, but really, it may be a kindness to us all that Lynn is sparing us the inevitable sorrows of aging. I'll enjoy looking back as much as I've enjoyed looking forward these past 25 years!

Beth W, Monument Colorado

I agree with those who dislike the new format so far. Everything about it. From Elly's not looking the way she looked in the early strips, nor John looking like himself then either, to Meredith's not acting (or looking) like a typical five year old. And it does feel like a death in the family. I don't know if it would have been better if the strip had just come to an end; or if someone else had taken it over, but either might have been better than this. I guess I have to give it time, but I wanted to register that much. I know we "have no right" to be so attached and have any demands whatever, and Lynn deserves to take a break, but you give us the opportunity to say how we feel and that's how I feel. Thanks for many years of a great strip anyway.

CJ

Two Things -
Thank you for having the strength to allow FBorFW to continue in a way compatable with your needs. I love that you are doing a hybrid of discontinuation without leaving entirely. I really admire your ability to see that letting others take over "your baby" would not result in anyone being totally pleased with the outcome. Loved the comment about not wanting anyone to dance on your grave, especially.

Second, the Therese "carrer woman" thing. I am 33, I was raised by a working mom due to divorce and I am one by choice. I LOVE DEANNA AND ELIZABETH for being so true to life in what happens to women our age. No one who has been reading the strip could feel Therese loved Anthony, she was doing what she felt was expected of her and using the most available male around to do it. She never wanted Anthony BUT she married him. She didn't want a baby but she had one. That is what makes her an unsympathetic character not her carrer.

Deanna - and Elly, and Connie, and Annie, and Tracy before her, show the ever lasting tightrope walk that is motherhood and professionalism. Above my workspace I have the comic that shows Elly debating if her child would be better off with a crazy mom or a working one. I also have the one where Annie says "we both work and at the end of the day we are both moms". One never doubts that Deanna loves her children and wanted them for who they are and as a part of her and Michael's love. The difference is that Therese has always seemed to view marriage and motherhood as a staus symbol and not been connected to the people involved in her choices.

Working moms are not perfect. Neither are stay-at-home moms. But at the end of the day a "good" mom knows she loves her children and wants to do what is best for them. With all the insanity - whinning, sibling rivlerly, needs, bills, work, housework, marital effort - a 'mom' knows she still wants this life. She may be willing to sell said children on e-bay for a hot bath and an hour worth of peace and quiet but after that hour she would still give her soul and all the gold in the world for her family.

Lynn via Elly has given voice to that diachotomy for my whole life and I honor her and her characters for that honesty.

Yvonne E, Willow Springs, IL USA