At the age of 86 (and counting; still doing good! walked my mile early this morning), I’m reflecting on how life works. From time to time I’ll be posting these little memoir-essays on my FB page. The plan right now is not to leave them up very long before posting a more typical piece. The point is to keep the essay.)
I was thinking how little things matter.
ONE DAY IN 1945, my mama made me a cartoonist by one small act.
Mom had three children in school and three at home. When I was 5, Carolyn was 3, and Charlie was 1. Mom was always working hard and furiously–cleaning, cooking, washing clothes, everything. And I recall the day she put Carolyn and me at the kitchen table, gave us a tablet and a pencil each, and said, “Now, sit there and draw!”
I learned that day that I loved to draw. And never stopped.
People ask if mom knew what she was doing. My answer is: All she was doing was getting us out of her way, trying to find a little peace and quiet.
The Lord took it from there. Next year when I went to first grade, the other children would gather and watch me draw. Could I draw well, people ask? Of course not. I was six years old. But the point is I could draw better than the rest of them.
For reasons unknown, the single most asked question when I’m sketching large numbers of people is this: “How long have you been drawing?” When I say, “81 years,” they are stunned into silence. So, then I explain what Mom did.