The Emmys On My Table

On a table in the middle of my living room, there are five Emmys, each with an engraved band that includes my name and the team and production for which I won it. Though I suppose that the Emmys are in my sightline most of the time when I am home, I don't think about them that often, much as it happens with anything you see regularly--you see it so much that after a while, you don't really see it at all.
 
Yet, every so often, because someone has mentioned them, or because I am dusting the table where they sit, I think about where they came from, about how it was that I went from a kid in the suburbs watching the Emmys on TV to a college graduate working on a TV show to a person with five Emmys on a table. I think about the teams with whom I worked, the people from which are now scattered all over. I think about the long production days and the stressful control room situations and those times when we knew we were doing something really special. I think about the moments in time that the statues represent, moments that, some days, feel very far away.
 
You would think that those five statues would be my calling card, the prop-slash-resume line that opens doors and smooths the roads ahead. But while I am opening the doors and walking the roads, the statues are pretty much just sitting on the table. Does it matter that I have them? Sure. They are a reminder of people I know, and of the strength of collaboration, and of the feeling of doing work well and being recognized for the result. They are a reminder--and I can often use that reminder--of the fact that where I've been does matter, and of the fact that each thing I do now, whether Emmy-eligible or not, matters too.
 
There may never be another Emmy added to the five on the table--you never quite know where life will take you. The five may remain just moments in time, reminders of days and jobs past. And while they may not be a calling card, they can still be a reminder card. I was--and still am--a creative and curious Editor. I was--and still am--a passionate AD and Director. And whether there's a sixth Emmy or not, I look forward to many more years of working with teams and on projects that matter. Because that's what those Emmys on my table are really all about.