Mitchell is driving Friday night…

How could one little statement from a neighbor evoke so many random thoughts?

Mitchell is the younger of the two blond-haired neighbor boys that live down the streeet. My husband and I have always joked that their parents got their names wrong, and instead of “Henry” and “Mitchell”, they should have been named “Dennis” and “Mitchell” – you know, like Dennis Mitchell, aka Dennis the Menace!

These boys are not bad boys, but they do have a lot of energy, love life, and are curious…VERY curious…

Over the years, we have seen their antics played out in so many ways. Please indulge me as I share a few…

Several years ago my husband ran for city council. In his platform he wanted to let people know that he was concerned about preserving neighborhoods – the upkeep, the quaintness, the social aspects, etc. Anyway, he thought it would be good to include some of the neighborhood kids in his brochure. Our friend David Pascolla is a wonderful wedding and portrait photographer and he took some photos of my husband David and the neighborhood kids. When we received the proofs to select the photos to include in the campaign brochure, we realized that Henry and Mitchell had made a different funny face in each of the photos!

Another time, my parents were visiting, so we had moved our truck from the driveway to the street, so my parents could park in the driveway. Anyway, we were all inside visiting when we heard a loud commotion on the street. We all went running outside to find Henry and Mitchell standing next to their wagon that was smashed into the side of our truck. Evidently they had ridden the wagon down the hill and didn’t navigate the turn very well and our truck ended up being their $1800.00 brake!

Yet another time, we saw Mitchell walking down the street with a camera in hand. It was almost as if you could see the creative wheels in his head turning. He would see something that caught his fancy, stop dramatically, position his body to get the perfect photograph, and shoot. As we were observing, our neighbor from across the street came home – evidently she had been out grocery shopping. Anyway, she pulled into her driveway, popped her trunk, leaned in to get a bag of groceries and Mitchell, who just happened to be in front of her house at this point, stopped, turned, lunged into a dramatic photographic stance and snapped a photo… I have no photograph of that occasion, so I illustrated the memory that is etched in my brain.



My husband and I roared with laughter as this little boy took dramatic photo after dramatic photo. We later learned that the camera didn’t have any film in it…in fact it didn’t even work!

And now, Friday night, Mitchell will be driving. I can’t help but think of the wagon smashed into our truck, and I make a mental note to make sure our vehicles are parked in the driveway on Friday night.

What does this posting have to do with art, you might ask? Well, I did design the brochure for my husband’s city council campaign, I also included a link to David Pascolla’s portrait and wedding photography site, and I illustrated the image of Mitchell taking fake photos of our neighbor, but more than anything, I wanted to stress that creativity is expressed in a multitudes of forms. These boys have never failed to live life to the fullest, explore their surroundings, and creatively bring appreciation and laughter to our lives.

Note: I have photos of the boys making funny faces…and standing next to their overturned wagon smashed into the truck, but I couldn’t put my finger on them. As soon as I find them I will add to the post, so keep watch. They are priceless!