It's been a crazy year to put it mildly! I decided last Christmas Day that I'd go on the family vacation to Disney that my youngest brother had been planning for 2 years (better late than never right?). Then, 4 days after Christmas I felt this terrible pain in my abdomen- I had ruptured a hernia, had to have emergency surgery, and ended up spending the next 25 days in a hospital 40 miles from my home. The pain was so bad after the initial surgery I could barely walk for the first week. After another emergency surgery and a gaping hole left in my abdomen, I was finally released to go home. This was putting me behind the 8-ball financially as far as the vacation was concerned. But I kept getting better and found a way to get the money for the trip, all the while thinking about how one of the most exciting things about going to Disney was possibly meeting Michael Duron, who I knew worked for Disney. I sent him an email thru Scoundrel Art two weeks before the trip.. but heard nothing back from him. I was getting worried. Then two days before I was leaving I saw him on Facebook- so I hurriedly wrote him a message saying "I was going to be in Disney and was there any way we could meet?" He wrote back.. "I'm not working next week." Trying not to sound anywhere near as disappointed or heartbroken as I was, I wished him a good evening and went off to lament my bad luck. Of all the weeks for Mike not to be working, why was it that week? Oh well. I sucked it up and figured I'd make the best of it. When we got down there my brother had it all planned out for us.. Epcot on Saturday, Animal Kingdom on Sunday, Magic Kingdom on Monday, etc, etc. Sunday we got to Animal Kingdom and my brother headed off to Guest Relations- and came back smiling. Let's go this way he pointed. So off we went, and as we came around a corner he said "I have a surprise for you.. he's over there".. and he pointed to a shop with some people milling around. "Huh?" was my response. "Just go" he said. As I got closer I saw a guy in a colorful green shirt.. and I recognized his face from a Topps Interview he had done for Indiana Jones.. it was Michael Duron! Too cool! Turns out my brother had been talking to Mike for months making plans to surprising me with a meeting. I sat down at his Caricature stand and we just talked. Soon I realized that he was doodling, but I was too busy enjoying the conversation to think much about it. I told him about how the first sketch card I ever bought was one of his Lord of the Rings Masterpiece II "Gandalf" sketches, and how I was pretty much addicted to opening boxes of Non-Sports products where I have a chance to pull one of his sketches. Soon my family was crowding around behind him with wide eyes, and then it finally dawned on me.. he was doing a Caricature of me (ya, sometimes I'm not the brightest bulb in the bunch). Amongst my family were my nephews and my niece- the youngest being 5 and the oldest being 11. Mike let me see some of the cards he has been working on and finished, and ended up giving my niece Shelbie one of his Ahsoka Star Wars Fan Days cards (her favorite Star Wars character- see the enclosed scan). We talked for about an hour , and then I got to see my Caricature... it was sooooooooo me! I was blown away.
