For Better or For Worse has been one of my favorite comic strips for nearly as long as I’ve been reading newspapers. With the characters aging in real-time, I’ve literally grown up with the strip. Since we moved to New Jersey, I’ve only been able to read the strip online and I still haven’t missed a day.

Months ago, Lynn Johnston announced that the strip would be transitioning to a stasis period, allowing Ms. Johnston to ease into retirement. The characters will no longer move forward. Instead, strips would be a mix of present-day (it will always be Fall 2007 in the Patterson home) and older strips as Michael “writes” his book and tells his family’s life story.

While we may soon find out whether Liz and Anthony make a long-term commitment, we’ll likely never see April graduate from high school, Merrie start kindergarten and Grandpa Jim’s condition won’t significantly change (which means it won’t get worse, thankfully). I wish it were that easy to freeze time.

Today’s strip is bittersweet as it marks the beginning of the end: