A red cross volunteer welcomed me to the snack table after my blood donation yesterday. The 75+ year old, freckled, slow moving man said to me, "It's funny, you look so much like Joy. You see I'm a caricature artist, and your bone structures look just like her. She's a lady that goes to my church. Your nose, your cheeks. Just like her."
As I nibbled on cookies with my one good arm, I asked, and he told me about how he began drawing caricatures when he was in eighth grade and how his passion developed into a career. He works at weddings and celebrity parties in LA. He can draw 20-30 an hour, side view, 15 front. If he had time, he would draw backgrounds too. I told him I had a caricature of my best friend and I drawn by an artist at the OC Fair with the Eiffel Tower in the background. I liked the look on his face each time I asked a question. I could see him revisiting his past as if the snack table suddenly transformed into his own caricature background.
He was a Christian man and a substitute teacher during parts of his life. He had even subbed at the school where I work (years ago, though).
Yesterday was a long, upsetting day, but this stranger slowed me down and let me absorb some of the goodness in the world. He was one of the only smiles I saw all day.
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