Friday thing : my huckleberry

Layers of goodness

The fall of 2018 brought a lot conflicting feelings for us: the end of a year-long sabbatical from teaching + return to my classroom; the final sessions of our son’s chemotherapy, showing promise; the start of our daughter’s freshman year at college, solo because of her brother’s cancer treatment. At the same time, I was able to work Rose City Comic Con with a couple of great folks - a video game voice & a Superman - but even more marvelous (and I believe those actors would agree) was the opportunity to meet Val Kilmer after purchasing a piece of his artwork.

Kilmer’s appearance was special because well, obviously, he’s Val Kilmer. But it was particularly extraordinary that year because he had recently publicly revealed his throat cancer diagnosis, and had also begun exhibiting his stencil & airbrush art¹. He sat in a private booth where those buying an autograph/art could meet with him one-on-one for a few minutes, so I arranged for a break from my duties to get in line. Before I got there, however, my son - dressed as a War Boy from Mad Max: Fury Road, using his chemo-induced baldness to cosplay advantage² - took our DVD of Top Secret! to be autographed by Nick Rivers himself. Though his voice was already weakened then, Kilmer chatted with my boy and after discovering he was also in treatment, kindly signed his arm as well.

When I stopped by later, I let Kilmer know that it was my [war] boy who came through earlier, and also that the signed print would be hung in my classroom. He paused to look in my eyes, tenderly took both of my hands in his, then thanked me for raising such a great young man and also for teaching teenagers. I focused with steely determination on the simple actuality of being touched by Batman/Iceman/Jim Morrison/Madmartigan/Doc Holliday so that I wouldn’t dissolve into snotty tears³ at his table. Also, I had to go back to work and sobbing with the celebrity guests is unproductive and frowned upon.

“There's no normal life, Wyatt, it's just life. Get on with it.”

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This print did hang in my classroom during the last few years I taught, and now it’s right next to me in my office. Besides being perfectly delivered (twice) by Kilmer in Tombstone, the “I’m your huckleberry” line also felt pertinent for a high school teacher, and not just because of similarities to life in the Wild West. And of course “Say when” is spectacularly, deliciously ambiguous - a mundane request by the waiter offering ground pepper, general invitation by a friend, or saucy proposal…who knows? Regardless, my personalized Doc Holliday always delights when I meet his eyes in my office.

1. He has since expanded to all kinds of media - check it out!

2. His faithful best friend went as a Blood Bag, attached to my kid via pretend IV bag filled with a red-dyed corn syrup mixture. We had quite a summer of dark humor.

3. Related-ish anecdote: I resolved to not cry at my own wedding since I know I’m an ugly crier and because of that will try to stop crying which results in facial contortions making me look even uglier; then while obsessing over what I look like, I forget about everything happening around me and that seemed like a terrible thing to do at my wedding.
And so I did not cry, while my sister and groom wept themselves incoherent on the altar. They were cute though.