Once, there was a boy. The boy loved watching animation and loved art and music. But the boy’s teachers frowned at his drawings. ‘These are not good drawings’, his teachers said. ‘You should focus on things that are not art’, they said. So the boy turned away from art, thinking it beyond him.

Fortunately for the boy, he also loved science. ‘Yes, focus on science’, his teachers said. And so the boy did. For many years, he studied and experimented and wrote papers for scientific journals and spoke passionately to all who would listen about his tiny corner of the scientific world. The boy was good with words and helped others to understand. But deep down, the boy believed he had more to offer.

So the boy learned how to make films. How to create visual stories. And he hoped to use these new skills and passion to craft beautiful tales and share science with everyone. For a time, he helped to do this at places like National Geographic and The American College of Cardiology. The boy also edited short narrative films that appeared in festivals on big screens. The boy enjoyed these times and he even won awards for many of these efforts -some people find awards to be important.

But by then the boy had also met a girl. And together, they had made babies. Babies require attention and energy and love to grow and become boys and girls in turn. And so the boy focused his attention on growing his babies into boys and girls. All the while, he found small moments to focus on his new passion: animating characters. For he had learned that animating in the 3D world did not require the drawing skills his teachers long ago convinced him he did not possess. Instead, this was a world of puppeteering. Of animating matter through digital strings. This was something that the boy could do. This was something for which the boy had passion. Though the learning was slow -the boy still had babies to grow after all- the learning progressed and continues to this day.

The boy’s babies are now mostly grown. They still require attention and love, but less energy. So the boy now has more time for animating characters. He also has more time for other passions like mountain biking and climbing and snowboarding and dogs and cats and of course, the girl he met all those years ago.

The boy often wonders what his teachers would say now about this path that so contradicts their expectations.