Happy Birthday Rachel

By Shamus Posted Saturday Jan 17, 2015

Filed under: Personal 30 comments

A little over eight years ago we had this gut-wrenching day, where I wasn’t sure if my eight-year-old daughter would make it to adulthood. Well, today she turned 17 and she’s just fine.

She’s shy and so I don’t want to post a picture of her. So here is something she drew today:

rachel_drawing.jpg

Addendum: I feel old. Also, my wife was 17 when we met. So this age feels a little weird.

 


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30 thoughts on “Happy Birthday Rachel

  1. Cinebeast says:

    So glad to hear your daughter’s A-OK. Also, that’s a great drawing there. I’m in Intermediate Drawing and I can tell you, that’s beyond what most of my class can produce.

  2. Mephane says:

    Happy birthday, Rachel.

    The drawing is wonderful, too.

    :)

  3. TehShrike says:

    I’m so happy for you. Congratulations on raising someone, it sounds crazy. I hope my wife and I can do as well as you.

  4. Ranneko says:

    Happy birthday Rachel. Well done on the drawing and on reaching 17!

  5. RCN says:

    Happy Birthday Rachel.

    Wow, I did not know that. I’ve only started following you here about the time you finished doing Stolen Pixels. Well, a year after that, actually, when I discovered DM of the Rings and found out “Hey! This is the same guy who did Stolen Pixels!” It didn’t help that for about a year I thought your website didn’t exist anymore because of some bizarre permission issues that didn’t allow me to access the site from my IP.

    I had had a similar near-death situation when I was 9 years old. I was visiting my mother’s side of the family on the northern side of my country, when my family did a little trip to a village that pretty much belongs to that part of my family. There I got, I kid you not, Radiation Poisoning. Apparently the US extracted a lot of Uranium from the sand of the region in the 50s and 60s (something it did without my government knowing there was uranium there, but I digress), and to this day there’s traces of Uranium in the water there. The people there seems to be naturally resistant, or I’m just naturally susceptible to radiation poisoning, but the thing is I spent 4 days at a hospital vomiting anything that was put in my stomach. From meat to even water.

    Everyone always told me I was going to be fine, of course. It was only in my teens that I realized just how close I was to meet the reaper back then. And of course, to this day I flat out refuse to go back to that village whenever I go north.

    I don’t know. People tell me that sharing similar experiences allow people to cope with bad experiences. So here. Live long and prosper, Rachel. And try to avoid drinking the water if you’re ever in the Northeastern corner of Brazil.

  6. Otters34 says:

    Happy birthday, Ms. Young. Keep up the good hair, that little extra added detail in the weight and line of the strands makes a world of difference.

    1. Sorites says:

      Great. Great! Now I’m thinking about TressFX again.

      I’m gonna go drink myself to death.

  7. Kreek says:

    mildly uninteresting facts about the Kreek and Birthdays

    a few days ago was my birthday (Jan 13 to be exact)
    i turned 30
    i am now half my mothers age
    i am a wizard
    conclusion: i fail at life

    Other: Happy Birthday to Rachel
    Good Luck to Shamus :)

  8. Tychoxi says:

    Damn, she has talent.

  9. Steve C says:

    Happy Birthday Rachel! You have talent.

  10. Paul Spooner says:

    Happy Birthday Rachel! It turns out that you share a birthday with my best friend. Many happy returns.

    Where can we see more of your art?

  11. Good Christ, that hair is amazing!

  12. MadHiro says:

    Bad ass.

  13. Galad says:

    Happy Birthday, Rachel. Wishing you many more birthdays and beautiful drawings in the future :)

  14. Shamus, that was then ans this or now, or was now, I mean… *sigh* time is so elusive, here is a clip from Spaceballs The Movie.

  15. Duoae says:

    Congratulations, Rachel! That is a really cool, well-done drawing.

    Congratulations to you and your wife as well, Shamus. :)

  16. CraigM says:

    Time for celebration! Happy birthday.

    My wife and I celebrated our sons first birthday yesterday too, so I’m certain that it’ll feel like a blink of an eye and he’ll be 17 too.

  17. somniorum says:

    Happy birthday, and, wow, that is really well done picture!

    May all your foes be stampeded by piglets.

  18. topazwolf says:

    Happy belated Birthday Rachel. As an artist with a metric ton of experience, let me just say you have a great deal of talent. I hope you enjoyed your day yesterday, and will enjoy it today!

  19. silver Harloe says:

    For your birthday, I give to you some of my envy, which you have earned for your artistic talent.

  20. neolith says:

    Happy Birthday Rachel!
    The drawing is really good. Proper flow of the hair is not an easy thing to pull off. Will we get to see more drawings?

  21. Cyranor says:

    Happy Birthday Rachel. Beautiful Drawing.

  22. Helios Apollo says:

    That’s an *amazing* picture. She has real talent and I hope she cultivates it for the rest of her (long) life.

  23. Cuthalion says:

    Hope she had a happy birthday! Drawing is cool.

  24. BitFever says:

    As someone who likes to draw I love seeing people develop talent at it. Happy birthday to Rachel and I think more awesome art should be posted on this site (nothing wrong with a proud parent show boating a little)

  25. Mumbles says:

    Everything you’ve told me about Rachel has made me believe she’s a smart and wonderful girl. I hope she had a nice birthday! 17 is such a weird age to be alive, but there’s so many good things on the horizon.

  26. Bubble181 says:

    Happy birthday to Rachel, as others have said, that drawing is pretty great.
    Also, happy unbirthday to the rest of the Young family. Because, who likes feeling left out on a holiday? :)

  27. Sambucus Nigra says:

    That is a great drawing.

  28. purf says:

    Happy Birthday, Rachel!

    And yes, this is a very nice drawing indeed! (My daughter – as of yesterday – has started to make circles for eyes, instead of poking points on the paper.)

  29. Phantos says:

    I have been drawing for 22 years, and I don’t think I’ll ever draw hair that awesome.

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