Watching my kids take after me has been both gratifying and terrifying. I cringe when I see them picking up my bad habits (i.e. not coming to the dinner table when called because they need just “one more minute” to finish working on legos). But despite my ability to get things wrong, some good has rubbed off on them. And I can’t help but feel proud.
I had one of those proud moments a few weeks ago when my oldest son participated in the school talent show. Unlike most kids who participated, he didn’t go up on the stage to perform. His talent is drawing. So he was given a table next to the snack bar where he could sell his comic book.
He loves drawing comics. And his little book was about a superhero who’s a bowl of Jello. The hero fights a villain who’s an evil marshmallow. (I should also mention the police officer is a doughnut.)
We made 50 copies of his comic book and put them on sale for 20 cordobas (about 55 cents) each. Many of the customers we had were parents and teachers, people who saw a young entrepreneur and thought, “How cute! I can pay 55 cents to help him out.” There were also my son’s friends and other kids from school who stopped by his table because they were genuinely interested in the story. The comic books sold like hotcakes.
It’s a silly story on a couple of pages stapled together. But as simple as it is, I’m proud to see my son following in my footsteps and becoming a storyteller in his own right.
Sic Parvis Magna
To quote Uncharted, the greatest video game series ever: “Sic parvis magna.” Greatness from small beginnings. (OK, maybe it was Sir Francis Drake who said it first.)
Who knows where this goes? When Stephen King was a kid, he had his start going around his neighborhood selling a one-page newspaper he wrote with his brother. Now I’m not so naïve as to expect my son to reach King’s continual New York Times Best Seller status in the future. But I believe my son will reach greatness in his own way.
He already has. Stephen King may sell millions of copies of his books. But I doubt he shared the same amount of joy my son felt when all 50 copies of his comic sold out.
It makes this writer dad proud.