chuck

i was at costco the other day before opening.
do you ever get there early?
i find that there are always a few older, and very kind folks who like to come and chat.
especially when i have a child in tow.
they like to make faces and tell me about their grandchildren.
i smile, and ask questions.
routine.


well, this time when the chatter came over, i was expecting more of the same.
he started out his story,


"when i was a boy not much older then him, (lincoln),
i was abandon in the swamps of louisiana by my drunkard father and my little mother left in a shack.
i decided then that i was going to have to make something of myself because no one was going to do it for me."


i was hooked at this point.


he continued,
" i became a self proclaimed renaissance man.
internationally known,
and while working at the world's fair as an architect, i was in the same building as walt disney.
they were doing some of the shows that year.
walt and i started talking and he liked me and asked me to have lunch with him.
i said yes but that he had to leave the seven dwarfs at home so i could get a word in."


i laughed at his joke and watched as he started to take something out of his wallet.


"walt was so impressed that he asked me to come and work for him.
i became one of the imagineers for disney for 20 years."


he had pulled out his disney id card.
sure enough.
there he was.
much younger.


" i tell you this story so that you can teach this little boy to be successful. the 3 keys to success are 
learning how to draw.
if you learn how to draw, you see the world differently and how things fit together.
you see creativity all around.
second, have a positive outlook on life."


i don't remember the third, i think it kind of meshed in with the second.


i told him thank you for sharing his story with me.


his name was chuck.


he told me this story with no bottom teeth.

lincoln successfully sneaking my beverage.