Say what?
As many of you know, we effectively shut down the Studio for about two and a half months this year, to embark on a tremendous opportunity. The door opened on the chance this summer to work with the most dynamic, utterly cool people I’ve ever met, and the time spent with these folks is forever etched in the story of my creative and personal life.
If you’re a dad like me, then you understand the impact that seeing another parent’s child in pain, or seeing that little person ill can have. I worked with group dedicated to bringing some spark of joy or relief to kids in just those situations… I’m honored to have worked alongside some of the most positive, friendly, creative and just outstanding folks one could hope to meet, and I can’t say enough about the impact this time had upon me.
Each day I was there, I’d look at a poster hung in their headquarters. This poster had the image of a young boy who was granted a wish to do pretty much anything he wanted. In the image, he’s packing pickles into a jar alongside an employee of the pickle factory.
This hit me like a ton of bricks.
Here I was, a dad of three young boys, not much far off in age from this child, and I thought I was doing a great job, and that I understood a kid’s thought process, that I “got it”.
Wrong.
I understood perfectly after seeing this image… Here’s a kid going through a frightening situation, his body fighting something he certainly didn’t ask for, probably enduring some damn harsh treatments and procedures to fight it, and he has the opportunity to go almost anywhere, meet almost anyone, experience virtually anything he desired.
He chose to make pickles.
I got it… crystal clear. He most likely thought “I can go/see/do anything? Awesome. I like pickles. Let’s go make some.”
Simple, clear, linear thought. In that moment of understanding this, my life changed. Everything I was doing was broken down into its simplest form. (a friend described my decision to leave my day job and go at the Studio full-time as my own “pickle-making experience”, and he’s right. I just never stopped to think about it.) At present, I have a new outlook on things… when my kids do something that would have aggravated me, I get it now. Kid-logic. Make some pickles. When things aren’t going right… why get upset anymore? No need. Make pickles. Focus on the simpler things… Settle down, and make the situation work out.
And that’s what’s going to happen over the next few months with the Studio.
I’ve seen the climate change in our part of the industry, and I’ve broken free of that drama and thanks to some truly great and supportive clients, and a photo of a kid making pickles. To say that my work over this last week (since getting back in the Studio) has been a million times tighter, more creative and just down-right exciting would be a gross understatement. I’ve never been more focused, creative or energized at any point in my life.
Needless to say, we’re back at it, there’s big things brewing here, and damn it all if we aren’t excited as all get-out. Thanks again to all of you whom I had the pleasure of working with, and who I am proud to call friends after the project and the great opportunity. Something great happened to bring all of you to one place like that, and what you do humbles me not only creatively, but as a human being. All the best to each of you, and I look forward to hopefully one day having the honor again of working beside you.
I’m gonna go and make some pickles.
