(Strip Number 5152, Original Publication Date, 15 July 1989)
Panel 1: It would seem that Elly is about to put the photo album back on the bookshelf. This is because she stares a thousand-yard stare when she tells Michael and Elizabeth that she remembers how her own mother told her to enjoy her children when they were little because they grow up far too quickly. This advice fell on deaf ears because Elly didn't feel like listening and she's dead set against enjoying anything because no one will take her seriously if she's seen to smile.
Panel 2: As she puts the album away, she says that her mother was right about the growing up overnight part. History teaches us that Elly never managed to do any great amount of enjoying anything about their childhoods so she didn't meet Marian half-way on that.
Panel 3: Since Mike is aware of something Elly doesn't want to face (namely the "being an intolerant dimwit pissing away her life on panic and resentment" that defines her), he asks her if she wishes they were still little. Since Elly thinks she's a kinder, calmer and fairer person than she is, she says no.
Panel 4: She then delivers a line fit for the person she falsely believes herself to be when she tells them that the bigger they get, the more of them there is to hug.
Summary: This would be more palatable if it were true to Elly's character. This is because the real ending to this arc is years later when she thought-bubbles that if she'd been more tolerant, it would have seemed as if she had more time. Oh, well. Next week, Phil takes the kids to the fair to get away from being told to man up and buy a house.