“There’s no giving without living.” – Marty Coleman
Christmas season is such a paradox. It is the time of giving and largeness of heart. It is also the time of increased depression and loneliness.
I woke up thinking about how if you focus on what you can give to the world (the world can be just one individual, one animal, not the big wide), won’t you always make the choice to live in it as well?
What do you think?
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Hello All,
Just wanted to let you know that this drawing is in the latest Time Magazine! It is the ‘Person of the Year’ issue and it comes out today (12/19). So, go to your local newstand/bookstore/back alley and pick up a copy!
You will find it in the section dedicated to “Obama on Flickr’ that shows the big surge in images, drawings, graphics, photos that surrounded his election.
When Obama was elected I went looking through my napkins to find just the right quote and drawing to express my positive feelings about the event. I just couldn’t find one so I went into the kitchen, found a napkin, rustled up the only marker I could find and drew away! I posted it the morning after the election on flickr and here. Along with many others who posted election related material I got a huge push in hits on that particular piece. It also engendered a lively conversation about Obama, elections, hope, hype and other ideas.
Time found my image as a result (along with many others) and after a little bit of back and forth with them they decided to publish it. I am excited to have the image among those generated by people spontaneously happy and proud of our country. As I said in my blurb below the napkin, I am not talking about Obama’s politics when I say that. I am talking about our American ideals of working towards the best in all of us.
Thanks and keep in touch, ok?
Marty
“Life Is Much More Unexpected Than I Expected.” – Marty Coleman
Did you wonder where I had gone? Why no napkins for a number of days?
Well, this napkin explains it.
But I can also explain a bit more.
The daughter who gave me the napkins back on Father’s Day (read the story about the napkins to understand) moved to Tucson, AZ under trying circumstances about 1 1/2 years ago. She initially communicated sparsely, with no return address and no telephone. Then all communication stopped. When she missed cards on birthdays we started to really worry and so over Thanksgiving 2008 her younger sister drove to Arizona to look for her. She found her and spent a number of days with her, reporting back to her mother and me (we are divorced) about what she was learning of her life style and health, mentally and physically. We decided we needed to go to Tucson also to talk to her, which we did the day after Thanksgiving.
We talked to her the next day and it was a bit more confrontational than we would have liked. She didn’t react well but eventually agreed to and got a neutral evaluation of her health. We talked after that evaluation and she agreed to talk to someone about issues she knew she had to deal with. She promised she would communicate with us so we would know she is safe. She said she would see us the next day at a cafe she frequents. She didn’t show up to see us that day or the next. We left without further communications.
On the positive side we met her landlord (she lives in an outbuilding on the lady’s ranch). She was instrumental in getting our daughter to go to the initial evaluation. We were very impressed with her willingness to help us out and her insight from years of practice of teaching and helping people in similar situations. She gave us great confidence that our daughter has someone watching out for her. We met a number of her friends as well, and we found them all to be very loving and caring with a good level of understanding of our daughter. We now have addresses and phone numbers of people who can help us and can tell us if she is in danger or is in need of help.
We will hope for the best; that she will communicate with us, no matter how minimal it is, and that she will seek and get the help she needs to resume functioning at a healthy level.
Send good thoughts, ok?
PS – I decided I want this quote on my tombstone.
Cutting Thoughts From A Sharp Chinned Girl
So, the question becomes…are pretty people the good people and ugly people the bad people? Did Disney get it right? If you think that is not true, then why is that an absolute in almost all entertainment?
Long Live Shrek!
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
A Message From
How do you receive your messages? What messages do you receive (and act on) that you aren’t even aware of? Why aren’t you aware of them? Were you once aware of them? Can you ever be aware of them? What would you do once you were aware of them.
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Ladder Man at Work
This man is smart about getting knowledge. He hired the world famous ‘Ladder Man’ (as seen on TV) to climb up to the hole in his head and pour in important information. I wish I had that guy!
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
“America The Beautiful Is Beautiful Today” – Marty Coleman
I am a complete sucker for our elections in general but nothing in my lifetime is as grand and wonderful a statement about us and our predecessors as Obama’s election yesterday. I am not talking about him being a democrat and I am not talking about his policies.
I am talking about the people of America taking our obligation seriously and really paying attention to our world and what we want to see happen in it.
What I love most of all though is that how I raised my daughters, to be color blind and focused on who a person really is, is something that many of our generation taught our kids and it has come home in reality now.
In the end the vast majority of baby boomers and children of baby boomers (including the ones who didn’t vote for him) didn’t care if he was black, white or biracial. They cared that he gave them hope in their country and hope that we can be who we said we wanted to be 232 years ago. And the answer to any who doubt, here and around the world, is Yes we can.
Drawing and quote © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Sad Girl With Searching Turtle
I am posting napkins with no quotes this week, just for something different!
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Leaf-Nosed Man
What can one do when they come upon a man with a leaf for a nose but to draw him, right?
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
A Woman Cuddling With Flowers
Sometimes I didn’t have a quote, just a drawing I made up for the girls. It actually was good practice to try and draw the same drawing 3 times in a row. They always turned out slightly different, no matter how hard I tried to make them alike (I never tried very hard actually).
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com