Do what you love

Do what you love

This is a portrait I painted of my dear friend, Wayne Allwine -- the voice of Mickey Mouse that many of us grew up with (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Allwine) -- following his death in 2009. His lovely wife, Russi Taylor-Allwine (the voice of Minnie Mouse; yeah, they met at work! ... :oD) shared it at the service we attended at the Disney studios and everyone agreed that it depicted him aptly -- a man of many talents.

Not only was he an exceptional voice-over actor, but he was also an accomplished musician (he was an expert in guitar, banjo, piano, drums and harmonica, as well as composing his own music), a writer of children's stories, a humanitarian, a philosopher, an interior designer and a darn good cook! He was good at all of these things because he loved them. He earned a good living for his acting skills, indeed, but primarily because he loved what he did!

Money gets a bad rep, when it is the only motivation. Because we are only talking about a representation of effort (...and not always accurate). Money is a symbol only -- a symbol of stored energy.

If it is a person's only goal -- well, it is quite attainable. However, when you really think about, if it is one's only goal, money is the only thing one will have in the end! Sure, we can buy "stuff" with it, and maybe, that is a goal too. However, "stuff" is ephemeral; our love and joy in that stuff wanes and often in a very short time. The only things that are worth having in the end are things that we have built, character, family ties, friendships, a dream bigger than ourselves, and all of that other romantic, hackneyed, mawkish -- but true -- stuff!

Do what you love -- and get paid well for it! And do stuff that you love -- just for the love of it. That's a life well-lived.