Dear Sir, Dear Life: A Peanuts Journey Through Daily Reflections

 I have always felt a deep connection with the Peanuts characters. Whether it was from reading the easy-to-read comic strip growing up, to watching the Christmas special as a kid, to seeing the Charlie Brown Musical; all of these things contributed to my love and fascination for Charlie Brown and his gang.

The characters, so simply drawn and simply put, were so deep and complex and I resonated with all of them in one way or another. Charlie Brown: with his grief over life and its complexities; Lucy: the lovable bully and go-getter; Schroeder: the Beethoven and Mozart afficionado and lover of his toy piano; Linus: the boy with a deep sense of faith and belief in God but also the Great Pumpkin; Snoopy: a character of his own right and his deep and beloved friend Woodstock.

As a high schooler, I picked up the newspaper and turned to the funnies, excited about the next adventure in the life of Charlie Brown and his friends, and to my utter delight, and soul wrenching experience, I came across a week long strip about Marcie, a character I didn't know too much about, but with whom I resonated to the highest degree. In the strip she had called Charlie Brown and invited herself over, all because the pressures that she felt from school and mostly her parents were putting on her were getting to her.

Never had a comic strip touched me so deeply and resonated so true to me. I was a 16 year old boy, trying to navigate the challenges of a high school in California, and, for the most part, dealing with my own self doubt and worry that my parents were not happy with how I was turning out as a young man. I wanted exactly what Snoopy was offering her, relief and a "cookie" to alleviate the pains and struggles that life brought in those moments.

Since that time I have grown and surpassed the need for my parents to be proud of me, and my faith has grown in myself and the inspiring messages that the Peanut's comic strip brought me. I tell my wife that if I ever get my own classroom, I want it to be dec-ed out in Peanuts decor. She even got me a little Peanuts flip calendar from Hobby Lobby which I flip to to keep track of the day and read a delightful comic strip.

This blog: Dear Sir, Dear Life: A Peanuts Journey Through Daily Reflections, recalls Marcie's amusing Title that she gave to her friend, Peppermint Patty, and is meant to be a thoughtful and hopefully sometimes amusing reflection of what is going on in my life and my commentary on a daily comic strip, from the very beginning.

Please follow me, as I follow the Peanuts gang through comic strip history and reflection.