Drawing

We went to Parris Island, South Carolina, this past Friday to watch a friend of ours graduate from Marine Corps boot camp. We didn't spend as much time on the Island as I wanted, because we met up with friends and went to eat lunch with them. After lunch we drove past the Beaufort, South Carolina, Marine Corps Air Station, where I was stationed for several months while I was training to become an avionics technician.

Being in Beaufort brought back many memories, but one set of memories in particular -- memories of drawing. It was while I was stationed in Beafort that I became fascinated with drawing cartoons. I bought dozens upon dozens of comic books, everything from Spiderman to Richie Rich to Disney comics, because I was determined to study the characters and practice drawing them. Sitting in my barracks on my lunch break one day, I drew my very first picture of spiderman, and I was hooked.

For a brief time, I decided I wanted to become of cartoonist, even though I had no formal art training at all. It was a dream I toted seriously for a while, then rather loosely in my back pocket for a longer while, and eventually gave up altogether. But I've still enjoyed phases of drawing. When I began substitute teaching in local schools in the late 90's, I started drawing again. I would draw pictures on the board -- Scooby Doo, Tweety Bird, Winnie the Pooh (those seemed to be the most popular). With elementary school classes, I would draw a picture based on a story we'd read, and all the students would gather around utterly fascinated, then they'd retreat anxious to try their own drawing.

Sometimes I still long to draw again, but so many other things intrude to occupy the time. My determination to be a cartoonist has long since waned into the obscurity of distant memory, but I still love cartoon characters, and I guess (hope) I'll never outgrow this pleasant, mild obsession.

[A sampling of my various doodles through the years -- Groo the Wanderer, Pebbles Flintstone with her teddy bear, Underdog, an unnamed alligator character of my own creation, and Snoops the cat .]