Raspberries and Labor Pains
Year 2019 B.C. - Before Corona
I had spent 912 days in labor on drafts, phone calls, sketching storyboards for books and white board animations, 2nd drafts, 3rd drafts, 10th drafts, meeting with artists, musicians, singers, animators, parents, children, courthouses, toy fair conventions at the Javitz Center in Manhattan, a church that was now a music studio in Montreal, and printing companies. “When you talk about the monster you bring him down to size” was ringing in my head like holiday music I was trying to forget. And now, I was tired, but proud. I held in my hand a beautiful, colorful, hard cover copy of my very first children’s book: “Talk About The Monster”. Yes, I posted it on Instagram, Facebook, and social media; yes, I did a text blast to all my friends.
January 2019 - E Train leaving Jamaica Station/Archer Ave. Shoes of Berlin, Pants of Wool, Scarf by Yemen, Glasses by Warby Parker, Book by Mistofer Christopher, Illustrator Michael Hogan
But this one friend of mine, let’s call him Von*, I respected both him and his wife. They were a super-cool handsome, intelligent, young millennial couple from humble, honest upbringings; family and God were priorities to them. They had just brought a beautiful baby into the world, the color of dark chocolate with hair, black and full with silky thick Absalom curls. I phoned him. He picked up.
“Bro.” “I got great news!”
“Yeah.” Von replied semi-curiously.
“Yeah. I published my very first children’s book.”
“Great man! Do you have it in electronic format, eBook, or as an app?”
“…”
I can’t lie. I heard and felt the flatulence of a balloon losing air, .02 percent per every loud lousy millisecond, maybe 15 percent, so it flaps like a kindergartener’s tongue blowing an obnoxious raspberry: “thbptttttttt'. A few micro-thoughts flashed across my mind, time travel of all that it took to bring a book to birth from idea to living, and a smigrace (pronounced smig-russ, a smile and a grimace) formed across my voice. “Thanks man…that’s a great idea…” I murbled.
*Names have been changed.
“Talk About the Monster”, the children’s story and app, released May 1, 2021, Mental Health Wellness Awareness Month. It is a whimsical little story for children to take a little BIG step to face anxiety and fear because when you talk about the monster, you bring him down to size. When you talk about the monster, you bring him down to size. When you talk about the monster, you bring him down to size.