Excuse me. I have traveled a very long way to tell you that...

• I think I know a way for you to live for another sixty, seventy...

Maybe eighty years.

I have ten years left if God decides to be so generous...

And I have illustrated many books and written stories...

And painted many canvasses...

I will live on.My ideas will be passed on

through the years.

And, God willing, I will live a million years in heaven

painting angels and stars and the mysteries of the universe.

I have no doubt you have lived a long, good life here on

earth...

...your books have inspired many. Including me. I have read all your books...I think...there are

so many...So many wonderful stories. Ideas. They have moved

me to tears, to giggles, and to deep thought.

One day a few years ago, while reading a book of yours,

I let the words enter me the way I usually did....

...when suddenly, the spirit of the book entered me and lifted me for a moment.

And while I eventually was put back to earth, I felt the

spirit still tucked inside me.

I think it belongs to you, but I'm not sure I can return it

even if I wanted to--which I don't.

It's a treasure I don't quite understand, but I am very

certain it will be alive in me for as long as I live.

I know your own spirit will be alive among the angels and I

know your books and stories will be with us forever

--touching the future for you...

But when you are gone there will be new thoughts about

new things that won't be captured by your brush...

What if the sun turned pink, or if for one day everyone

discovered their dream, or...

Shhh. I understand.A gift for living for so long,

I understand.

The old man took the boy under his wing and nurtured his own spirit within the boy.

He did not teach him how to paint or how to tell

stories...he only shared how he saw the world,

how he listened, how he tumbled thoughts in his head, how he opened his soul to the

universe...

                                                                                                                         

I wrote "Living Forever" in a coffee shop in the spring of '97. I had been thinking about how wonderful it would be to meet children's book author and illustrator, William Steig, but I wondered why he would want to be bothered to speak to me. Like a bolt of lightning I realized why. The idea just flowed out of me nonstop. I composed and drew it on napkins. I decided not to redraw them, rather to scan them in as is. I am a strong believer in mentorship and sharing our gift with others. Enjoy. --Peter Reynolds