Being allowed to draw pictures all day and not get into trouble is something I wouldn't have even dared to imagine as a lad who spent his entire school career drawing doodles in the margins of his notebooks. Nowadays I still have to pinch myself to realize it's not a dream. So I never really take for granted my good fortune, but sometimes Fortune smiles upon us in unexpected ways. In this case an assignment that any lettering artist would do larceny for.

When creative director John Korpics inquired about a possible cover, I just listened carefully, used all my strength to avoid making wisecracks and didn't start jumping up and down and screaming till I was off the phone. I might have revealed some of my glee by getting rough sketches in the very next day, but I spoke of this job to know one, fearing I might jinx it away.

In the next week and a half, together we crafted something that became a reality and has special significance for me. My father collected copies of all my magazine covers and made certain that each and every visitor to our house got a tour. He never approved of my behavior in school as evidenced by an eighth grade report card which was crumpled up into a ball before it was signed, but I know this Fortune cover would have ended up on top of the pile and in the gleam in my dad's eye.