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Off topic

Happy 70th Birthday, Mom!

1 minute 9 comments

Rarely do I diverge from the hard news of the cartoon industry, but I’d like to take a personal moment to wish my Mom a happy birthday today. I think turning 70 is a milestone that should be celebrated, but she doesn’t seem to think so. She’s a bit self-conscience about things like that.

Because this is a cartooning blog, let me share a cartoon related example of how great my mother is. At the suggestion of a retired magazine cartoonist that I met in the late 80’s, I started to ink my cartoons with a brush – which of course required a bottle of ink. To this day, there are faded ink stains in the carpet of my old bedroom floor from knocking the bottle off the desk. I remember, after the first spill, feeling petrified of how my mother would react when she found out. As best as I could, I blotted out as much ink as possible, but it was impossible to clean up. It was one of those afternoons where I died a thousand deaths waiting for her to come home from work. When I showed it to her, she merely shrugged her shoulders and said that things like that happen and left it at that. I was shocked, but very grateful that she didn’t ban the bottle of ink. I think she knew how important it was to me to learn the art of cartooning.

So, Mom, I love you very much. Happy Birthday. Thank you for always being supportive of everything I do and please don’t be too embarrassed that thousands of people now know how old you are. 🙂

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Comments 9

  1. 🙂 Nice story. Many happy returns!

  2. Happy Birthday, Alan’s Mom!

    Cheers!

  3. Behind every cartoonist, there is a very supportive mother. Happy birthday to Alan’s mom.

  4. Happy Birthday, Mrs. Gardner!

    Alan…does your mom ever read this blog and if so, what does she think?

    She must be relieved to know that her son wasn’t the only one crazed about cartooning! Cartoonists are a rare breed 🙂

  6. Happy Birthday to Alanâ??s Mother. She sounds like a great lady.

  7. i live in cape town but come from zimbabwe where the local shona people have huge respect for elders but also a wonderful word meaning congratulations, so here’s a hearty “makorokoto” to your mom.

  8. Recently we heard of (what I will call) a cartoon mum passing away. It did bring home to us all how we should cherish our mothers while they are still with us.

    Congratualtions to your mum, Alan, and I think I will ring mine tonight. She is 10,000 miles away and the call is overdue.

  9. When I was growing up (and long after I’d already grown up!) my mother constantly demanded that I be a doctor. She once told me I’d become a cartoonist “over my dead body.”

    Fortunately the second half of her prediction has not come true. Now she not only accepts my calling, but puts up with good humor my endless ribbing her in public about all this. Thanks for being a sport, mom.

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