My Grandma Ruth
During my four years as an attorney, I've fallen away from writing and drawing. Other than a two-week period during which I used certain IRS guidance to design a clever payment method for employees receiving the federal COBRA subsidy, I don't think anything I've done could be considered creative. My wife Kelly has been urging me to start writing books, but everytime I start I fall back on my old favorites - irony, double-entendre and poop-jokes. For some time now, she's been asking me to write something genuine and emotional, but I haven't been able to think of anything.
Then last spring, my Grandma Ruth died. I was flooded with memories of growing up with her and was saddened to think that my kids would never know anything about her. I wanted to write down every memory I had of growing up in Seaside and being with my Grandma. Everytime I saw pen and paper I had a new memory I wanted to hold on to. I started looking through old photo albums trying to remember what she was like when I was young. In looking at them, I realized that the people and places in my memories don't look the same anymore: Kerwin's drug store is a sushi restaurant, my dad no longer wears grey Oregon State t-shirts and the Star Wars posters are no longer in my bedroom (they're in my son's room now). With that in mind, I tried to draw the world where I grew up to go along with my memories of my Grandma Ruth, who was so much a part of that world.
Anyway, here's the finished product. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope it captures the feel of growing up with such a wonderful woman.
