Back in early August, 2006, my mother - Sheila Shell Martinez - passed away after a long illness. At that time, when I was a 'toll collector', I was unsure if I'd ever get back to drawing anything ever again.

Mom used to enjoy some of my cartoons and comic drawings, and hoped that someday my talent would earn me some money... but it never came to be.

Within a fortnight after her passing, I got up enough nerve to draw something - anything - during lulls in my toll booth. It began as a simple line drawing of my bobcat 'fursona' resting on a blanket at the beach. (This was easier to do, since I live within thirty minutes of the Atlantic Ocean.) I added a few 'props' (a picnic basket, a seashell, sunscreen, etc.) to complete the ensemble. I used a box of colored pencils to finish the project.

"I wish Mom were alive long enough to see this drawing," I'd thought to myself.

Luckily, this particular drawing has a special place of honor. It's already been framed, and is hanging in the living room of my brother Glenn - who also possesses the cremated ashes of both Mom and Dad (Joaquin Martinez - who died in 1991) - in separate urns - in his bedroom. I think both my parents would've approved...