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Dear Lynn,

My Mom has collected your books for many years and growing up it was one of my favorite past times to grab one and read it cover to cover! Elly, John, Michael, and Liz are like my own family! Thank you for the many years of enjoyment!

As for the new format I have to say that I am enjoying this as well. I am now a Mom and wife myself with children ages 16, 15, 3 and 1 year (can we say yikes!) and seeing Liz and Mike as youngesters again helps me with what I am now going through. Not only does it bring back memories of my own childhood but I can see my own kids in it now too! Especially this past Sunday's comic! LOL! My three year old got hold of bottle of cleaner last Friday and sprayed his entire room causing white spots to show up on just about every fabric that got in the way. I wasn't even told what happened when I was greeted at the door with "Sorry Ma Ma". Uh-Oh! Then to see Mike and Elly with couch..........you couldn't have timed it better!

Keep it up Lynn! Not only do you deserve the break but you help to bring back wonderful memories and let us Moms know that we are not alone when it comes to little ones.

Thank you for making my day every day!

Debra M, Cleveland, Ohio

I started reading this strip when Elly and I were both pregnant. I totally missed April's birth because I was off work on maternity leave. In retrospect it was one of the things I am glad I missed the first time around. Every time I read it in the collections books I have I get really upset at seeing Elly drawn without clothes on.

But, despite my own ups and downs with the strip I have loved it. I think the ups and downs are part of what makes it interesting. I dont' always agree with it so I want to find out if the character make what I consider better choices.

Because my children were not the same ages as Michael and Elizabeth there were a lot of things I read back then that were just amusing. Now I think that you made Mike awfully imature. I raised three sons and none of mine were the bozos Mike and his buddies were. On the other hand, I felt you matured April much too quickly.

It is interesting to reread this reread the strips and evaluate my feelings now.

Mary J, Indiana

First off, I love this strip. It seems so real, which brings me to write to you.

My father passed away just 2 years ago and although he loved life he would not want to have been trapped in his body like "Grandpa" is. He was a very active man. Who loved his family with all his heart. I am carrying my 3rd child and it breaks my heart that this baby will not experience his love first hand. Today would have been his 79th birthday and I feel like yesterday & todays strip was a message to me.

Thank you again and Happy Birthday Daddy.

Terri H, New Rochelle, NY

I enjoy the flashbacks because just like the Patterson children, mine have grown up. The flashbacks remind me of what was happening in my house those many years ago. Sunday's strip was one of those - only it was permanent markers on a newly painted wall rather than felttips on the sofa.

Thanks for the memories, Lynn!

P.S. I sent the child who wrote on the wall washable markers for her daughter. I'm sure my grandaughter will follow in her mom's footsteps and test her artistic talent on an unapproved surface. I am waiting for that story to be told.

Cathy K, Tulsa OK

I have been shocked and disappointed to see the lack of family values displayed in the way the Elizabeth character has conducted her love life. I am particularly disgusted that now that she is finally back with her one true love, Anthony, she has chosen to "live in sin" with him instead of getting properly married. That is the only interpretation I can give to the shameless "let's go home" strip that took place at Christmas.

Anthony is also being shown to be totally without values. He has supposedly wanted to marry Elizabeth for years and years now. Why does he not propose to her and make an honest woman of her instead of encouraging her to live in his home with his small child without the benefit of marriage?

I would have thought a family strip would show better choices. Shame on you Lynn.

Lana L, Des Moines Iowa

Hi there,
that is so wonderful, that there is a website about fbofw now, so it will be much easier for me now to get to know new things as fresh as possible. I got to know fbfow during my first holidays in Canada when I was a kid. Since then I ordered them from Canada and started to read them. Everytime a new book is coming out, it is like meeting old friends. Thank you for inventing such a lovely and heartwarming story, that gives you the feeling that you live right beside them.

Sabine S, Germany

Hi Lynn,

Thank you so much for your strip. I had been an intermittent reader through the years, and only recently discovered the blog and started picking up the storylines. Unlike many of your readers, I don't find the Patterson's storying echoing my family's life; my family immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960's and our story is a different one. Growing up as I did in the American Midwest, though, the Pattersons are familiar to me in many ways.

I wanted to comment on the hybrid-time strips. I have to say that I admire your creative way of fusing the past and the present, giving yourself some time and space as an artist and human, and providing back story for those who have joined more recently (and reminisces for old-time readers).

I think the old comics, in the context of the new - as well as the context of what is happening in real time / in the artist's life, create new nuances. It is interesting to see the younger Elly dealing with the both the stifling-ness and the blessings of raising children as a housewife twenty-some years ago as Dee does so today; to reflect on her marriage and relationship through a new lens of evolution and separation; to see her struggling with the aging process even back *then*, and most poignantly, the questions of identity and self-development, of having time for herself.

Just some thoughts!

- S.
p.s. I especially like the post-stroke story-line of Grandpa Jim. Not something that is often depicted, and does a good job treating the question of dignity.

S, Oakland

I didn't think I'd like the flashbacks, but was really taken by the one with Elly saying she'd "like Michael better if he left her alone." It just made me think about what a good parent Elly has always been, but she was allowed to make "mistakes" also.

We have been so harsh on Anthony-what would people say if he said the same thing to his daughter? Makes you think, doesn't it...

Michelle, Cincinnati

Our Parkinson support group is two years old. Our support group for caregivers is a year and a half old.

Jim J, whose wife has PD, is founder and chair of the caregiver group. I have PD and chair the PD support group.

We both want to commend Lynn for her honest and sensitive treatment of our favorite grandfather and now a stroke victim. Revealing his thought processes gives courage to special segments of our society. You show special concern for his new wife and their family.

Thank you, Lynn, Lynn Johnson Productions - and our local Arizona Republic for your development and delivery of these special messages.

Bruce and Jim

I just wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed your strip over the years. I especially appreciate that you have included house rabbits in the cast of characters. Bunnies make wonderful companions, and it's nice to see them portrayed realistically....as adorable, loving and sometimes destructive members of the family.
I also wanted to to let you know how much a particular strip has meant to me recently. I remember when Mr. B died in April's arms, Elly comforted her by telling her that death was a miracle....and April said she never knew there were SAD miracles. (I can't remember the exact wording, and it's unfortunately no longer online) This strip has been stuck in my head for the past couple of days because my own darling house rabbit, Natasha, died in my arms yesterday morning. She had been ill, and her death was not unexpected, but it still hurt a great deal. I just wanted to tell you that your strip has provided me a measure of comfort as I mourn the loss of my sweet little friend. Thank you for so eloquently and succinctly expressing such complex emotions. It has helped with my grief.

Amy S, Upstate NY

I just read the Sunday Jan. 13, '08 cartoon. It almost caused me to fall out of my chair. I nearly laughed myself unconscious. It was a perfect rendition of a harried Mom trying to complete a difficult sewing task while little Junior is pestering her for attention. When Elly finally blows up the effect is totally hilarious. Seriously, I laughed so much I started to get a little woozy. FBofW is one of the best 'toons around. I've been reading since sometime prior to '93. Always a good story line there. Bravo!

Mark C, Missouri

Hi Lynn & Co!

In reading through your online comments and your books, I can see that you've received letters and fan mail from the beginning of it all, all saying all the things I've wanted to tell you all along.......

Except one thing! There are/have been ONLY three comic strips (opinion here-discounting the now very old Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Peanuts) that are intelligent, funny, engaging and truely worth seeking out. I don't read the newspapers - virtually all bad news - so I seek them out online or in book stores. Those are, in order, FBOFW - Calvin & Hobbes and .

What is going on now with strips and their creators is nothing less than sad - dry, boring and not even a whiff of creativity or intelligence - a sign of the times....? Our family has purchased all the published strips of the above in every form available and we read them repeatedly - often quoting lines to one another!

I love that you have scrapbooked my life (along with thousands of others) and in owning every book you've ever published, I can pull them out and review MY life; we have the same kids (in real life, only two a boy and a girl - the same ages) and the same experiences.

Like many other comments I've seen, please don't make Elly any more dowdy and dumpy - YOU AREN'T!! I've seen your photos and you are a bright, beautiful and vivacious woman, why make your alter ego LESS than you are??

Celebrate the process of aging through Elly & Connie (her plastic surgery could not have gone south THAT fast anyway!) by letting them get fit in the next few months - so that as they continue "frozen" it will be as the strong, intelligent, accomplished, fit and HEATHY women in their 60's that thousands of us are (including YOU!). We've been watching them run together for YEARS - that has to have done some good, and yet it's never shown (except earlier on Connie - while Elly never received any benefits from any efforts!)

But even more than that, I wanted to say....Thank you Lynn. Thank you Aaron. Thank you Kate. Thank you John. For sharing your lives, your ups and your downs; lessons and growth with all of us. Even in silent partnership with Lynn, you've touched us all very deeply and given us a gift, throught 'the funnies' we will all treasure - forever. And for the record, I LOVED the Farley story line - it was beautiful, touching and so incrediby well done, I cry each and every time I read it again....

Barb P, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl

Hi. While we do read your comic strip, please consider dropping the not too funny *^%(&@* attempts at swearing. I do not want to have to keep explaining to my children what that means. The comic can still be funny without that.

Paul M, Ashland Ohio

I've loved fborfw for years. Lately, Elly's difficulties with aging are so in tune with my own (we're about the same age) that she's become my best friend. Recently, she tried to feel better about it all but concluded, "It still sucks to be me." I could relate so much, I laughed and cried at the same time. Even my same-age gal pals don't get why I'm struggling with this, but Elly does. Thanks so much for acknowledging that aging gracefully isn't easy and help Elly work through it so I can follow her lead.

Mindy G, Maryland

Your panel was the first thing I read every day as I opened the paper. Unfortunately, your hybrid, or flashback, strip does not do the trick for me. Compared to your current work the drawing is amatuerish and the content is less than stimulating. Like many others I could associate with the things that were occurring in your characters lives, and found myself anxious to get to the next strip each day. No longer though.

I find no enjoyment in reading the current recycled strips from years past. I understand your desire to "phase out" as noted some 5 years ago, however, I do not wish to do so with you. In this time of being bombarded with so much information and entertainment we must all decide constantly of what is worthy of absorbing the few expendable minutes that we have in our lives. I can no longer devote any of those minutes to reading your strip in the hope that I will find a truly current strip "occassionally" in the hopes of being able to find out how the challenges of the Patterson family are progressing.

I wish you and the Patterson's well in the future. It has been a truly enjoyable experience sharing in your lives, but I won't be joining you to start my day any longer. Thank you for the laughs, the tears, and the realizations that many of us share similar experiences that sometimes make us feel as if it is only us against all odds. Thank you for sharing your gift with all of us!

Respectfully,

( I too am a Grandpa Jim )

Jim S, Canandaigua, New York

Okay, I have to weigh in on the Elly aging conversation! After looking at today's (1/14) strip, I think she needs a trip to What Not to Wear with Stacy & Clinton!! 1st, she needs a decent bra so "the girls" ride where they're supposed to instead of sagging. Then she REALLY needs a new hairdo, and clothes that flatter her instead of make her such a frump. C'mon now, Lynn, give Elly some self-esteem and confidence!!

Sally G, Memphis TN

Thank you, thank you for your wonderful comic strip. I have always enjoyed reading it, but now, being 37 and a stay-at-home mom to two it has been a real eye-opener! Your recent publications of your older cartoons have brought me tears of laughter and painful understanding. El's frustration with the 'joys of motherhood' from picking up toys to losing patience with her son are achingly familiar. Your honesty in the strip has helped me realize that maybe I'm not such a bad mom afterall--that maybe I'm simply 'just a mom'. Thank you again and best wishes!

Myra T, Mattoon IN

Lynn Johnston has always been my favorite-bar none-strip writer.Her human & humanistic views come through beautifully.My partner,John Kuntz, as a playwright & lyricist who went on to write for Soap Operas for 29 years has often ststed that Lynn would have been the perect Head Writer for any of the Shows.(John wrote for "Texas","Guiding Light",a brief stint on "Loving","As the World Turns"as writer & Editor, & "One Life to Live") He recieved 11 nominations -& 1 Emmy-for "Guiding Light" & 9 Nominations Writers' Guild Award-1 actual Writing Award for "Loving". In the case of his Emmy win they announced the winner as the wrong show,but all the Writers were "Guiding Light". They later presented the Emmy at a private Award Show at the Sherry-Netherland(?) Hotel with much resulting publicity in every Newspaper & on every TV Station. Such Confusion & such fun. At any rate, I adore Lynn Johnston &,while I realize she is taking a well-deserved break, I'm most greatful for the on-line strips. I still have her 1st book of cartoons which I treasure. Good Health & God Bless to Lynn,her Family & all those who assist her .
Fondly & Sincerely,

Syd L, Manhattan

Lynn & Staff,

To be honest when I first read about the plans for the strip to be and old/new hybrid I was a little concerned.

However I love the new format. I have been reading the strip since the very beginning. It is like and old friend and like so many other readers, it has carried me through some trying life changes!

Some of those changes include both my children in University and getting ready to leave. When the strip flashes back to when the children were younger, it mirrors exactly what goes on as your children get older. You think back to when they were younger and miss those years (sometimes...).

Thank you so much!

Joanne C, Yellowknife NWT