April Patterson turned 14 a few days ago. She’s really grown up what with the part time job and the band and all.

Don’t worry, April isn’t real. Neither are her father John the dentist, her mother Elly the bookstore owner, her big brother Michael the magazine editor, her sister Elizabeth the teacher, her sister in law Deanna the pharmacist on maternity leave, or her niece Meredith and new nephew Robin.

They aren’t real, but I check in on them every day anyway.

The Pattersons are the main characters in Lynn Johnston’s comic strip For Better or For Worse. I’ve been reading it off and on for years. I missed Michael and Deanna’s wedding and the birth of now two year old Meredith, but I caught baby Robin’s newborn pictures. I missed Elizabeth’s college days, but I watched her take a job in Mtigwaki and learn to live among the First Nations people.

I guess the reason I like the strip so much is that the characters are real. They have birth (and sometimes death) dates. They are messy and funny and make mistakes and grow and change and try and adapt. They make and lose friends. They fall in and out of love.
They marry and start families. They fight and make up. They age and they die. They mourn and they grieve.

When Elly worries about April growing up too fast, the readers worry too. When Deanna agonizes over going back to work, we agonize with her. When one of Elizabeth’s students drops a half frozen kitten on her doorstep and pleads with her to adopt it, we know that she will.

They are real. They are relatable. They have grown up with me and I with them.

Like Trixie Belden’s Sleepyside or Turtle Wexler’s Westing Estates, the Patterson’s home is one I keep coming back to.

And they are always there to welcome me.