How you define yourself is such a personal thing and yet it’s something you also want to put on blast. “This is what I like, this is what interests me, this is who I am.” Only, how difficult is it to categorize all those complexities into just one thing? Father, artist, husband, illustrator, son, writer, brother, designer, friend, gamer, CIS gender male, cheese–based snack enthusiast… I’m all of these things but none of them exclusively. This is a real hot button topic that can also both interest and infuriate people and yet all of us across every spectrum of life consider these things and consider them consequential.

Let’s play a game though for just a brief second and pretend you absolutely have to boil all those things down so that you can at the very least point in a general direction to who you identify as and so you can write a manageable blog post. That’s why today I want to briefly highlight my personal admiration for Jim Henson. Good God, I mean I’ve indirectly and directly credited his influence on my life so many times that I don’t even know which past post would even suffice to make that point. Tomorrow however—Saturday, September 24, 2022—would have been his 86th birthday. Side note: Can someone please tell me if referring to someone’s upcoming birthday in the past tense due to their death is grammatically correct? Maybe strike “writer” from my previous list of defining monikers.

Creatively, Jim is my ultimate true north. His sensibilities and ethos have all strongly influenced my own. When I was younger, I’d say, “If Jim started a religion, I’d convert.” A tongue–in–cheek joke even I wasn’t sure was true or not. But even that way of thinking was inspired by him.

The reality though is that I can’t even express those thoughts into a cohesive post. Not because I lack the ability to convert those feelings to text, but because I honestly don’t even know where I would start. I know someone who can though, and I’ll turn it over to them in just a second. First I want to share how I’ll be celebrating that upcoming 86th birthday.

I’ve teased about it, I’ve shared snippets on social media, but I’ve yet to actually talk about the work I’ve done for Craig Shemin on his newest book, Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson’s First Book. Part of this is because my involvement has evolved over the last few months, part of it is because it’s super gauche to discuss a project before it’s completed, and part of it is because this particular story isn’t quite complete yet. For the purposes of this post however, I’ll be at the Museum of the Moving Image with Craig and lots of other fans for the book’s release. Having been given that chance to be a part of this book has pulled my admiration full circle, and I’d like to believe that if Jim were still here and gearing up for this 86th party, he’d know my name—maybe even speak it out loud—and my Lord, what a euphoric, dopamine–inducing daydream that is!

It’s most likely moot at this point, but not being able to fully layout my thoughts on how to express what Jim did for me, all I can really do—and for the record—is say, “Thank you, Jim. Thank you for inspiring so many of us. You absolutely made this world a much much better place, and we are all so grateful that you did.”

Now while this post is an opportunity to share my thoughts and art that pays tribute to Jim, I have to turn it over to Julia Gaskill (I was going to label her a poet but as I mentioned before, we’re all so many different things and putting just one label on her would be a huge crime). Awhile back, she created an exceptional video entitled An Open Letter from Kermit the Frog to Jim Henson that just floored me. She said everything I wished I could in this post only so much better than I could have ever hoped to, and so, I’m extactic to give her the final word on this.

For more of Julia’s work, you absolutely must follow her on Instagram and Twitter @geekgirlgrownup. Also, if you haven’t ordered it yet, pick up Craig’s new book about Sam and Friends in either soft or hardcover and learn a little bit more about the guy who inspired so much for so many.

Thanks, Jim

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