A couple of hours ago, I squeezed my hand into my unreasonably tight skinny jeans and fished out my ancient iPhone 6S that was buzzing like a hive of angry bees. Lo and behold, it was a text from Chad, a buddy I hadn’t talked to in a while. Chad’s the Art Director at a middle school out in the Highlands Ranch area—American Academy - Lincoln Meadows, to be exact. Great school, great people! After the usual “Hey, how’ve you been?” and “We need to catch up” chatter, Chad hit me with something that caught me completely off guard.
Chad has a student named Emily in his 6th-grade art class. Recently, she was assigned to create a piece of art based on a drawing rubric he’d put together. You know, one of those challenges meant to flex her wicked pencil skills. She had to come up with an idea, work on composition, perfect shading, and all that fancy art lingo that most of us would just call “doodling.” But here’s the kicker: she had to pick a real-world person who inspires her, someone who brings her joy, and turn that person into a lovely drawing to be displayed for the whole school to see. Chad left it entirely up to Emily to pick whoever she wanted.
Text message #6 from Chad contained an image that brought the biggest grin to my face. “Check this out - you’ll get a kick out of this!” he said.
Sweet little Emily had chosen ME as the subject of her drawing. How adorable is that?! Chad explained that she picked my goofy mug because she loves listening to me every morning on the radio show and that I make her family crack up on the regular. The drawing is now proudly displayed in the school’s hallway with a little radio station shout-out scribbled in the corner. What a fun project, and what an incredibly sweet gesture from this 6th grader - I’m genuinely flattered.
I’m planning to make a little trip down to the school soon to meet Emily and her class and personally thank her for her amazing work. I just hope that my buddy Chad gives this girl an A+ on the project, along with some sort of first-place ribbon. She’s definitely mastered her drawing techniques—I mean, just look at the details on my giant teeth!
In all seriousness, moments like these remind me why I love what I do. Sure, it’s just a drawing, but knowing that I can bring a little joy to someone’s day, especially a 6th grader like Emily, makes all the early mornings and endless dad jokes worth it. Now, if only I could convince Chad to let me take that masterpiece home—it’d make the perfect addition to my wall of fame.
