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Today is Thanksgiving. Just wanted you let you know that as I contemplate the things I am blessed with and am thankful for, FBOFW is on the list. Happy day!

Mona P, Watertown NY

I have been a fan of your strip for as long as I remember. Liz was always my favorite character, as she and I are about the same age. I loved watching her grow from an awkward teenager to a lovely young woman, because her transformation made me feel better about my own. I'm in the process of buying all of the collections, and have enjoyed rediscovering the older strips. But I have to say, it is the newer storylines that have appealed to me the most. Watching Liz go through college and the beginnings of her career, and Michael and Deanna discover the joys of parenthood (just before my older brother, who is Michael's age, went through the same), and seeing April grow up has been such fun! Getting my "strip fix" comes before even coffee every morning, and I read many of the collections before I go to sleep. The Pattersons have always made me feel good about my own life, and when I miss my family, they remind me of them. Thanks you for creating such a wonderful strip!

Sarah P, Seattle WA

I'm very thankful for many things on Thanksgiving...
... a good family
... good friends
... a good job

But I am very thankful I can still read this strip that is truly a strong thread in the quilt of life.

Here's to you all! Keep up the good work... and Happy Thanksgiving!

Jim I, Bloomington Indiana

FoFW really is a wonderful strip. I fell in love with it the first time I read the comics. I like the fact that the Lynn is revisiting old strips. I mean, I missed out on a lot of stuff! However, I was very, very sad to read that the strip is going to be frozen in time. That was what made FoFW so unique, realistic, powerful! Now it will be just like any other strip. Funny, sure, enjoyable, of course, but it just won't have that special something that made me care so much about the characters.

Maureen T, Huntington Beach CA

Hail, Lynnions!

While I'm sure that nothing any submitter to Coffee Talk says will change your mind about the hybrid, it would be nice if we saw more scenes in the modern day -- or more scenes with a feasible narrator. Remember, Liz is telling stories of things that occurred when she was less than a year old -- no one has a memory this vivid. If these are stories that have been told over and over again over the years, it's just as likely that April would be the narrator. Perhaps, at least for the earlier strips, you could have Elly narrate. And show Liz's dorky courtship with Anthony -- telling humiliating childhood stories to your child's serious boyfriend is something we all can relate to.

Molly S, Nova Scotia

I'm a 64 years old and was hooked by FBorFW as soon as it began to appear in the paper where I lived twenty years ago. My spouse is a dentist and we are gay. We were both blown away when the story of Lawrence first appeared. I have children from a previous marriage and found the Pattersons kids very much like my own. Although confusing at first, I am now enjoying the early part of a story that I had missed. I hate to see the family stuck in limbo after next year but have to agree it is probably the right thing to do. There was an old comic strip called Gasoline Alley that saw my parents through WWII and the fifties. Then the characters reached the age when the only thing left to happen is what happened to your dog Farley. The next generation of characters just couldn't carry it after that. I'd rather think of Elly and John always out there somewhere doing what they have always done: living, laughing, worrying, loving. As long as we know everyone in the present is in a good place, we'll be happy to relive the past with them. Thanks for a truly meaningful comic strip.

Rex V, Cincinnati Ohio

My husband plays guitar in a band, and it has always bugged him that April plays an acoustic guitar with no amplification, along with a band that has drummer, miked singers, electric keyboard. In reality, in that scenario, you would never hear an unplugged, acoustic guitar!
If you're going to have April continue to play in a band, plug her in!

Jennifer K, CA

I know that you hear this a lot, I have followed your strip ever since its debut. I only had one child so it was interesting to watch the dynamics of a brother and sister in your strip. I remember my daughter telling me when she was young she was going to have six kids and they were all going to be girls. My daughter now has her six kids, 5 boys and 1 girl. (God was merciful letting her have the one girl...LOL) Everyday as I watch them, I live very close by, I see some of the same dynamics that I have seen in your strip. They may fight like cats and dogs but pull together when times get rough. They may call each other names but heaven help those outsiders who do the same. You have an amazing insight into families and I applaud you for it. I am so very glad your strip will not "be going away" and am looking forward to watching Elizabeth and Anthony's love blossom and grow. Thank you for so many years of family. =

Margaret, Franklin TN

I just wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed the comic since the format change this fall. I became a fan in college (92') while living with my dad and step-mom (Linn Johnston), who are also big fans. Not having seen the comics from the beginning a lot of what has run is brand new to me. I have young children now and relate so much to the the material. It offers great insight into the family and the content is timeless. I laugh daily at your strip. And I love that you are sprinkling in the new with the old. It's a very original format that I don't think many strips could get away with. Thank you for sharing the old with those of us who are newer fans and keeping things so interesting.

Jeanne, St Louis MO

Dear Lynn,

I am a very visual person and an artist, and have always loved the comics. I remember a photo taken of me "reading" them when I was less than a year old. Your work is the very best: more artwork and novel than comics. I love your puns and punch lines, too. You do the most amazing job depicting expressive hand gestures, both now and in your early drawings.

I have enjoyed your work since "David We're Pregnant." My son John was born about the same time as Michael in 1976 and was just as naughty. My daughter Laura was born in 1979 about the same time as Elizabeth. I remember a Sunday strip I framed of John putting Lizzie in her highchair in the middle of the night for a cup of milk, then shutting off the lights and staggering off to bed, leaving Lizzie in the dark with a befuddled look on her face. If you've never had kids, you wouldn't have any idea how realistic your scenarios are! I then had three more sons, and didn't have time for comics for a while with three in diapers and car seats at once.

I've especially enjoyed your depiction of dogs. I got Ralph, a great overgrown Afghan Hound when I was in college, much like your English Sheep Dog. He never once nipped or growled at my five-kids-in-seven-years litter. I remember my toddlers clinging to his fur. Ralphie would sigh, wriggle out of their grip, wander off a few yards and collapse in a heap until the next assault. He lived to be fourteen, and like Farley, I still miss him.

In the summer before my youngest son began his senior year, I got another "Arfgoon,"� Greta Garbo, then two years later we brought home her niece, Audrey Hepburn. I have my three favorite strips on display in my study. My all time favorite is April 1, 2005. "Click"� (door opening and Edgar and Dixie sit up), "whappitawhappita . . . SLIDE . . . BONK!!� (Eddie and Dixie careen down the hallway and crash into the door). Ellie opens the door behind which the two dogs are sprawled in a pile seeing stars, and Ellie says, "I should put a carpet in this hallway." As with kids, you so accurately depict the lovable bone-headedness of dogs! I also enjoyed the recent flashback strip with John's punch line, "Remember . . .to err is human; to forgive is canine."

Thank you for all the years of sensitive stories and laughs.

Blessings,

Christine K, Lynnfield, MA, USA

I'm wanting to whine about the wind-down of FBOW. I felt the same way when my grandparents sold the farm/ranch I roamed throughout my childhood. I was hurt and mad. But, my gentle grandmother explained how she didn't want to be left out there alone if my grandaddy passed away and that she'd only been out there all those years for his happiness anyway - she was very social. They sold it, built a house right in the middle of her friends in town and she happily spent her last days busy as can be with people all around. Her happiness made the loss of my favorite place on earth bearable. I hope it will be like that with you.
Thank you for many years of comraderie. My oldest daughter's life was in many ways parallel to Liz and she has three younger sisters, one of which is like April. We had a rabbit and a big dog and a cat and so many similarities to your characters and situations. I was always grateful for your Sunday strips because they required little or no reading and the youngest kids of mine could "get" the humor of them. We did not have the kind of man heading our household that your portray and often it was heartbreaking to see how nice things can be when they are normal. The marriage is over and we are all healing because we're meeting good men who actually like to provide and protect their families. Thanks for giving us a place to see, in some ways, how normal and on track we were, and in others, how we needed to have a change.

Susan C, Fort Worth Texas