The best manager I ever had was a man named Dave. After a string of tragic events, I was unemployed for nearly a year.
I applied for dozens of jobs. I couldn’t get hired for anything–I applied for janitorial jobs, fast food jobs, and everything in between.
Yet, I couldn’t get hired.
Depression set in, and I felt like it was the end for me–I was only 20 at the time, but I felt like my life was already over. Had one mistake truly cost me everything? Was every chance I had in life already lost?
Yet, finally–one job application finally saved my life. Dave hired me–he believed in me.
I worked for him for six years. He promoted me a few times; eventually, I became the Assistant Manager of the store. Because I also managed the Copy & Print Center for a time, I gradually came to know some of Dave’s friends.
One of his friends–who also became my friend–was a man named Tony.
Tony was the kindest, most loving person I have ever known. He was positive and lively–and he also had ALS. Perhaps you’ll recognize it, or you know of a more common name, Lou Gehrig’s disease.
ALS is extremely rare; allegedly, there’s only about 20,000 cases in the US each year. 20k seems like a lot, but in the face of how many citizens we actually have, it isn’t very many.
This disease is fatal; there is no cure. As it progresses, those afflicted by it will gradually lose control of their muscles. They grow weaker and weaker until they eventually pass away.
Tony was a great man. In the short time I knew him, I grew to love him immensely. He and his wife have a beautiful story as well. I think he was loved by everyone who knew him.
He recently passed away.. but I didn’t know. I had finally left the store–and Dave–in February 2016. Dave texted me on the day of Tony’s funeral to tell me that he had passed on.
I felt terrible.. I still do. I wasn’t able to go to his funeral. So.. I made something for Dave–something that he could print out and keep as a memoriam.
So, you know the background of the people. Here’s the background of the image:
Tony is pictured on the left, and he is holding what we lovingly refer to as Flat Tony.
When I ran the Copy & Print Center, Dave had a special request for me one day. I was to make a Flat Tony–like those giant pictures mounted on sticks that you see at football games and the like.
So, I Photoshopped a picture of Tony and enlarged it substantially. I printed it on our wide format printer, and mounted/laminated it.
Dave said that Tony was so excited and happy for the Flat Tony.
Dave is pictured on the right–and he’s holding a ticket. For one of my other Tony Projects, I was asked to design a huge ticket.
The ticket was for a walk for Tony. The ‘winner’ would be presented with the large ticket–similar to TV shows where winners get the giant “million dollar check.”
The ticket I made was actually gray with lime green trim and letters. I also printed that on the wide format printer, and it was also mounted and laminated.
So, we have Tony with the Flat Tony and Dave with the Giant Ticket (I have decreed these both as proper nouns).
Dave and Tony were devoutly devoted, and so I wanted to honor Tony by depicting him with a halo and wings.
I don’t know if Heaven is real. If it is.. I truly believe Tony is there now.
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App: Procreate app
Size: 16″ x 12″, 300 dpi (4800px x 3600px)
Layers: 14
Time spent: 8 hours, 4 minutes