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Lynn, it is with sadness I bid your strip a fond goodbye (I can't spell adieu). I am Michael's age and we have grown up together, we had kids around the same time. My brother is Elizabeth's age. The Pattersons were a part of my family. I will miss them terribly.

You, of course, deserve to retire, so I do not begrudge you this new format that allows you to draw an income and to continue to visit the family you have created and who are so much a part of your own life while freeing up your time.

That being said, I find that something about the new format just doesn't attract me or hold my interest. Maybe someday in the future it will. I am certain it will be successful for you and that many other fans will enjoy the endless trips down memory lane. To them, I say enjoy!

For me, the real enjoyment of the strip was moving forward with it. Moving through time with Michael, Liz and the rest of the Patterson clan.

I may check in from time to time and see how Liz and Anthony are doing (hopefully not well...just my 2 cents) and to revisit an old friend, but for now, my daily visits with the Pattersons are done.

I leave you not with bitterness, but with a hearty thank you. I will miss the Pattersons the way I miss any of my friends who move away and I thank you for your life's work well done.

JC, Cleveland, OH

I wanted to thank you Lynn for a wonderful comic strip over the years. I have often felt like the Pattersons were long time neighbors or good friends. Elly is everyones ideal mother. I enjoy reading your collections as well as the daily strips and i like the new hybrid idea.
Thank you for sharing your time and talent with us for so long and may you always see Farley and Edgar running through the leaves on a sunny day beside you.

Jennifer, Pennsylvania

I read in today's USA Today about the new changes and the "hybrid" format. I'm a bit saddened and will miss the ongoing changes in the lives of the characters -- but I certainly understand your reasoning for the change.

I simply want to thank you for all the work you have put into sharing the lives of the Pattersons with us these many years. It is one of the few comics I read on an ongoing basis and the main reason was because of the development and allowing for passage of time in the story.

I live four hours from my Mother but whenever I call or visit we always talk about the latest, "For Better or Worse." I am grateful that you had the story line with the gay character years ago. It was a difficult time for my Mother when I first came out. I think that seeing your treatment of a gay character helped my Mother see it as more normal.

I wish you good luck and a continued blessed life.

Steven, Cleveland

Thank you for FB or FW - this comic strip has truly helped cement the relationship between me and my mom. I can't tell you how often we talk about the lives of the Patterson family - from the death of Farley to the reunion of Anthony and Elizabeth, we have discussed it all.

I remember writing you years ago regarding the Lawrence story - your response helped me to be true to myself and for that, I will be forever grateful.

I look forward to seeing the lives of the Pattersons continue to unfold, even as we view their past.

Richard, San Fran

I am in mourning!! It is like my favorite television show is permanently in reruns. This format is like a daily clip show. Seeing the daily events of my favorite family had become a daily ritual. I want to see April graduate from high school and Liz get married. I understand that you want to reture, and that is normal. However, couldn't you have trained your staff or a relative to carry on? Plus, you left Jim Richards totally senile. I didn't want that to be his final fate. I can only say one thing to that...."Aw, boxcar."

Nancy, Tampa

Regarding your comic strip,it is the BEST out there and I read everything else first and save yours for last. You have a lot of insight into family relationships and I have seen so much of my life and feelings reflected in FBorFW.
I have gone through a lot of changes in reading my daily "Comics"(I have been reading the paper for most of my life, every morning before I start my day, way before I was married and for the 30 some years of my marriage, always saving the comics for last) and I have to say that that your strip is one of the best.
I sure don't mind reading a hybrid version of FBorFW. I know it will be better than anything any new cartoonist can come up with. In truth, I have been disappointed in several that have popped up to take the place of other strips that have retired. Some of them seem so pointless!
So, hang in there. If you believe in prayer, you have got mine. If good thoughts and wishes are more your style, mine are coming your way. Thank you!

Susan, Woodhaven Michigan

For years I've grown up on FBOFW. I'm the same age as Michael and oddly, my children are the same age as Meredith and Robin. I've loved your comic strip for years, but I never knew how much I had bonded with the character's stories until I read that Dee was pregnant with Robin at the same time I was pregnant with my son. I was so excited I told my husband one morning, "You'll never guess who's pregnant?!?" As soon as the words were out of my mouth I realized I was talking about a fictional character! We had a good laugh over it, but I can't shake the closeness I feel to your characters. They are so realist and thier experiences are so genuine.

Sabrina, Chicago

Why do I love FBorFW?

Mostly for the affirmation that I am not alone in my thoughts and experiences as a mother, daughter, wife, and dog and bunny lover!!

It's the first comic I read in the morning, while the coffee is brewing.

It's the first new book possibility that I check for when I go into a bookstore.

Through FBorFW, I've learned:

- That my kids are not the only to ones to argue, fib, or put my best clothes on the snowman
- That a woman is a separate entity who makes her own decisions, but is always the ballast of the household ship
- Canadian and the Northern Peoples traditions
- Ways to handle adolescence, employees, strokes, friends, old folks, grieving, and children leaving the nest
- That bunnies will never learn to not chew electric cords
- Why I am the only one who changes the toilet paper roll or throws out the empty shampoo bottles
- That "Nosehair" is an 'N' word

As far as I am concerned, these books could also be in the self-help section!

My 10-year-old daughter spent the month of August reading and re-reading all of our FBorFW books, learning as April has learned! She has become as addicted as I have

There has been a constant in these strips since 1979 - it is "change". All of the characters change, because they grow and age. Now, a new kind of change is occurring in the strip and in Lynn's life, and I say that is a fine thing! It is part of life, and through it, we learn. And continue to love.

Thank you, Lynn, for giving us sanity, laughter, and insight into life!

Laura, Connecticut