I’m usually a brutal critic of my own work but I actually like the top panel and inset panel in this page. That’s pretty rare. Anyway, this brings us to the conclusion of our first “chapter”. Next week we begin a more action-oriented storyline (albeit still heavy on the comedy). I’m really excited to get this one out there so I hope you all enjoy it too.

I’m posting early today for Mother’s Day. There’s always a ton of sentimental stuff for Moms published every year at this time but I can’t help adding my two cents

I’ve commented frequently over the years to my friends etc. about the strange transformation that your relationship with your parents undergoes as you get older. As a child your parents are gods. They define your reality, they establish the rules for life and whether or not their actions are pleasant (presents on your birthday) or unpleasant (a spanking when you misbehave) those actions are the LAW and the filter through which the rest of the world is delivered to you. Eventually you get older, you begin to challenge and question that authority but it is still an AUTHORITY that you question. It’s not until you move out and form your own independent life that you truly start to see your parents for what they really are. They’re people, same as all the other people you meet day in and day out, with all the same flaws and quirks that make your time on this Earth both wonderful and aggravating. They carry the same short tempers and strange beliefs and compulsive behaviors and desires for instant gratification that we all do.

But.

Somehow, in that maddening swirl of impulse, random emotions of fear and anger and the endless self-doubt that most of us can never fully shake, somehow your parents held it together in their heads and they did it for YOU. (I am all too aware some of you may have had parents that didn’t and you have my deepest sympathies) Whatever their arguments (and they ALL argued), whatever pain they struggled with they kept it together for YOU. It’s tempting, I suppose, to find diminishment in the revelation of their humanity but I would argue it also presents an enrichment, a realization that being a parent doesn’t just magically make you everything you should be. You still have to fight for it, the same as everything else in life worth doing.

And so today I say Thank You, Mom. Thank you for trying so hard and thank you for all the good you gave to me and all the love you STILL carry for me. Thank you and know that I love you, too.