EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

So I was at the doctor's office yesterday, and this doctor always overbooks his appointments. So, to make use of the time, I brought my pad, paper, and sharpener, and worked up some sketches. True enough, he kept me waiting (I eventually left without seeing the guy because it was going to take an hour and a half....!)

While I was sketching in the waiting room, this mom comes in with her two young kids, I'm guessing, around 4 years old. They're obviously nice kids, but being in a doctor's office was upsetting to them, and so, they're carrying on, and the mom is trying her best to keep them from going nuclear.

This wasn't annoying me at all. I'm a dad. I have great empathy for kids, and frankly, I felt like whining at this point, too!

But I thought I could make the situation a little better for the mother and her banshees. So I put away my sketches, and drew a cartoon teddy bear. Then I told the mother that I'm a cartoonist, and that I drew something her kids might like. (I always ask permission).

So she looked at it, and warmly received it, and gave it to her kids, who instantly calmed down.
I realized that my friends on DA could each have done the same thing. Professional or not, you're all artists. And believe me, no one sitting in a doctor's waiting room draws nearly as well as you do. So, I pass this on to you. If a situation ever arises where you're somewhere, and a mother is at wits end, and her kids are showing her no mercy, then grab your pencil, and transform the moment.  

(I should also mention that when I was about five, my dad had a friend over to the house who was an old time animator. He drew me a picture, with long, energetic, loose lines. I still remember it vividly. It was a funny, cricket, and the sky had swirling, cartoony clouds, and a road that went back into the distance. Five years old, and I still remember it. Cartoons have something special about them...)