This morning Patch got ready for school with time to spare. He sat down with paper, pencil, and the boxes from his Halo toys. I watched as he began to draw. Then erase. Then draw. Then erase.
He looked up at me. “Mom, this isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.”
“Yeah. May be you should work on practicing drawing Halo dudes and worry about making comics later.”
Patch nodded. “Or I could just practice drawing Lego guys. Maybe I’ll make a Lego comic instead.”
I gave him a hug. “Just remember that practice isn’t about getting things perfect. It is about trying your best.”
Patch jumped down and fetched his Halo sets from his room. He began to carefully arrange them around his piece of paper. “I’m going to need more Halo sets, cause I’m a Halo collector.”
Patch carefully arranged the little guys on their vehicles and created a tableau. Then he looked at me.
“Dad had a harder time than me. He didn’t have anything to practice from. He just had to think it all up in his head. I’m lucky. Dad said if I start drawing comics as a kid, then I’ll be better than him. Really.”
After that the Halo guys were too busy talking to each other for Patch to have any attention left over for either me or drawing.