The Slide I Didn’t Get to Share

(the thing that scares cynicism)

The last few weeks, I’ve been working and speaking while traveling. Some people can do this really well. I sit by folks all the time on airplanes who look like they are *actually* doing *actual* work. As much as I’d like to be one of those people, I am far too distractible.

Even so, it’s been a busy and productive season. I had grand plans to sit down today and share a big, beautiful rundown of life lately.

And I tried.

But I was in Hawaii with a few thousand entrepreneurs from around the world. I returned home with wonderful new friends, new ideas, and new sunburns.

Then on to Texas, where a group of amazing educators brought my book The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination to life in an unforgettable two-day future agent training event!

Then to Michigan, where Kristi and I spent the last week in schools and libraries for nine storytimes, an emotional final walkthrough of our gallery exhibition before it closes, and an event with tons of inspiring artists, educators, and dreamers.

I’m now back at my desk with many emails requiring a response. A manuscript in need of some edits. An illustration deadline. But also… a heart full of gratitude and awe and lots of other feelings that don’t even have names yet.

So here’s the thing:

I’m still in the middle of it.

Still sorting it all out. Still waking up thinking about conversations that feel like they cracked something open inside me. Still figuring out how to talk about what just happened.

So instead of pretending I'm ready to wrap it all up with a nice, tidy bow…

I’m just going to show you one thing.

I’d like to share with you a slide from my keynote presentation that I really meant to end my talk with, but ran out of time and didn’t.

At the Curiosity In Action conference last weekend, I gave a new talk.

Brand new. Fresh out of the oven. Butter still melting on top.

It went well, but I got all caught up in the moment.

Here’s a photo of me caught up in the moment:

I started looking into faces instead of looking at the clock.
Started feeling the enormity of it all …. this shared thing we’re doing, trying to stay tender in a world that can feel sharp-edged and loud.

And...
I ran out of time.

I didn’t share my last slide.

I just skipped to the ending.

And it’s the VERY thing that kept me excited to make things and do things and bring people together! It’s the very sentence that has fueled so much of this recent journey. It’s why I wanted to give the talk in the first place. But I ran out of time to share it. Arg.

SO NOW IT IS MAKING ITS WORLD PREMIERE!

It was supposed to be one of the last things I said before I wrapped the whole talk up with:

“So let’s go do a lot of that.”

Here it is. Handwritten, simple, the thing I didn’t get to say out loud:

“Nothing terrifies cynicism more than a person who still believes in beauty.”

I still believe.
More now than ever.
Even when it feels like it would be smarter, safer, easier to stop.

I still believe in wonder.
I still believe in kindness.
I still believe in goofy storytimes and art shows nobody asked for and new friends who feel like old ones.

I still believe beauty matters.

Not polished, photoshopped, optimized-for-algorithms or worried-what-others-might-think beauty.

The real kind.
The quiet way a stranger smiles at you when you’re both lost.
The way a kid holds your hand without thinking about it.
The way a group of people sit together and decide, without saying it, that we're all going to try.

That kind of beauty. The kind of beauty I’m seeing everywhere I go. The kind of beauty so many of you remind me is possible.

I’ll share more stories soon.

But for now:
Thank you for being the kind of people who terrify cynicism simply by showing up and still believing.

1. Signed books and other fun gear available here.

2. Now booking events for Fall/Winter 2025.

3. Someone has uploaded several old issues of Disney Adventures and I really wish someone had told me this sooner. They are here in case you also needed to know.