Title text:
"Want to feel old?" "Yes."
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3172/
I'm not crying, you're crying! Shut up!
this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2025
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I'm crying, and I'm not ashamed of it.
I have a para-social relationship with an Internet cartoonist and his life partner, that part I'm kinda ashamed of, but the tears are genuine happiness, and have I really been following him for over 15 years? There's some sadness in those tears, but they're covered by the happy ones
Back in my day, webcomics weren't all fuzzy like reading through tears!
Same! Who's responsible for this degradation in image quality?!
I think we might be getting old.
Nah, I'm gonna blame JPEG
XKCD has a few of these tear jerkers that rank as some of my favorite all time strips
For all the popularity they have for their comedic and science strips, they also put out some really good emotional ones.
I still remember the first one
Glad to hear everything is fine
For those who may not know, Randall Munroe is the author of XKCD.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Munroe :
In October 2010, Munroe's fiancée was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer; there had been no prior family history.[51][52] The emotional effect of her illness was referenced in the comic panel "Emotion", published 18 months later in April 2012.[53] In September 2011, he announced that they had married.[54] In November 2012, Munroe published a comic entitled "Two Years", reflecting on their relationship since his wife's breast cancer diagnosis.[55] He revisited the subject in December 2017 with a comic entitled "Seven Years"[56], in November 2020 in a comic entitled "Ten Years"[57], and again in November 2025 in a comic entitled "Fifteen Years".[58]
I've been a fan of xkcd for almost 15 years myself. Randall seems like such a genuinely great person and I cry with the happies a little bit every time there's another comic on how long they've had together after the diagnosis.
Damn. I'm happy for them.
I used to be afraid of getting old, but I like this perspective. It's not something to look forward to, but something to be proud of.
I'm a hair older than him.
I hurt pretty often. I get tired more easily. I have hangovers now. If I jump out of the bed of a pickup my knees make noises. I could go on for days about it.
And it's great. I don't worry about what people think and I have adventures. I do what I want outside of work. And I have stories and hobbies and old friends.
Wisdom of old age is great. Age related chronic diseases are not.
We can do better than now. But we need investment in research and development. You may ask your elected representatives to provide it.
Beautiful
I remember the first one. I cried. I cry at every one of these.
Shit, right in the feels. This is nice to read.
And I thought the other day that it has been a while since he's done a romantic comic.
I'm not crying you're crying
We both crying :3
Every single one of these X-Years updates just wrecks me. Here's to many more!
My SO and I celebrated a 12 year anniversary of some sort earlier this month and we always take a selfie at some point. I looked at the photo and realized we got old
It made me so sad that we have so little time here together
My husband has stopped joking about his hair growing distinguished and started admitting it's turning grey.
Now I feel old.
As we notice we're getting older (I'm still sort of young, honest!), my partner and I like to remind each other that aging is a privilege. I really hope we get to grow old together.
Wonderful.
I was wondering what happened with this the other day (haven't kept up with XKCD since highschool).
It makes me happy that they're both still here.
Surprise wife hug attack. She won't see it coming.
wholesome.
Who is peeling onions in here?
The onions are pretty strong here. AND the dust.
Is this win?
So happy for you, Randall! Enjoy every day, event he bad ones.
This comic made me feel old and I love everything about it.
That is the right kind fo want.
❤️
awwwww
Is this not loss?
Is this gain?
I think you dropped a hyphen.
And no, it’s not ass-love
This is if Buckley actually knew how to tactfully deal with the topic of grief.