As I sat in the Houston airport today I was thinking how odd it was that despite thousands of people coming and going in the terminal, no one ever recognizes anyone. I had run into Lola cartoonist and good friend Todd Clark at the Boise airport earlier in the day, but we both live there so that didn’t count. These are the kinds of weighty issues cartoonists ponder in their spare time.
Literally seconds after that thought entered my head, I looked up and saw another friend.
It was Stephan Pastis, my travel companion on many USO trips. This is us flying to Kuwait on our way to Iraq in 2009.
This is us flying to Memphis on our way to the Reuben Awards.
When I got to Memphis I headed to Millington to visit with some of the fantastic personnel working in Operational Stress Control & Suicide Prevention. The Director, CAPT Mike Fisher, showed me some pictures he took of a bunker while evading mortar rounds in Afghanistan.
Garry Trudeau
Tom Richmond
Rick Kirkman
Jeff Keane
That bunker became famous and attracted several celebrities and military personnel to add their own messages to the walls over the years.
So after pondering how rare it was to connect with a familiar face while on travel, I proceeded to prove myself completely wrong. And I’ll see all of those guys this weekend.
It’s a small, small world after all.
