In The Beginning, There Was Chaos

I've always enjoyed cartoonist Lynn Johnston's comic strip, For Better Or For Worse. I enjoy it even more now because, like her, I've seen my kids grow up, fall in love and move away from home.

I still remember the turbulent years of diaper changes and scraped knees, the happy times of family gatherings, soccer and basketball games, sleepovers, first loves, dating and watching my children grow up and mature into adults.

My wife and I have been married almost 33 years and like Lynn we have had our ups and downs, disagreements, shared sorrows and joys, struggles to make a living and all of the other idiosyncrasies associated with a man and woman growing old together.


Lynn's new book, In The Beginning, There Was Chaos, looks back on the Better Of For Worse family's early years when the kids were young, the Patterson's had not been married for many years and the resulting adjustments, readjustments and roller coaster ride of young married life and raising young kids.


The book takes the best from Lynn's previous Andrews McMeel Publishing collections containing the Patterson's adventures during the early 1980s and compiles into a large hardback book aptly called the For Better OF For Worse 2nd Treasury and what a treasury it is!


Daily and Sunday strips are intermingled with photos and observations from Lynn about her strip during the early '80s. It's funny, poignant and as relevant today as it was back then.