(Strip Number 4976, Original Publication Date, 31 May 1988)
Panel 1: Having noticed that Lizzie is looking at something or other in the tree, Mike asks her what's up there; she tells him that it's a nest with four new baby birds.
Panel 2: She then tells him it's a nice nest because it's all lined with down plucked from the mother bird. (For those of you paying attention, she's also telegraphing the punchline.)
Panel 3: She asks him to notice that the big birds spend all their time getting bugs and stuff to feed the baby birds.
Panel 4: This causes Elly to muse on how it's nice to know that she and John are not the only parents who sacrifice for our children.
Summary: There is a vision that leads Elly like a pillar of flame by night and a pillar of smoke by day. It is the vision of a fifty-five year old Mike standing at her graveside denying that she ever had emotional needs or deserved to be treated like a human being because a mother is simply a robot that's supposed to clean up after sons and husbands without complaint. This becomes comic fodder when one remembers that Elly doesn't actually do a Hell of a lot of parenting that I can remember. All she does is stand around yelling about how she's the victim of all victims surpassing all others when confronted with piddly little inconveniences.