Have you had your 15 minutes of fame yet?
Four-year-old David Dechert has.
The Surrey boy is pictured on the Jan. 16 issue of the Canadian stamp waving the red-and-white flag and sporting an authentic parka.
David's adoptive mother Christine Dechert said she couldn't be more excited.
While the family's permanent residence is in Surrey, Dechert is a physician and works part time in Nunavut.
About a year and a half ago, while she was working in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, she heard that Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean was coming through the airport.
"We went to the airport with a bunch of the nurses to watch," Dechert said.
David was two when Jean visited.
"There was a photographer there who was taking large amounts of pictures of David," she said. "To me, I'm his mom, so I think he's really gorgeous, so I figure everyone else does too."
David was wearing a parka that she borrowed from a friend, made by a local seamstress, Leocadia Emingak. After the event, the photographer asked for David's name and Dechert asked who he was working for. He said he was a Canadian Press photographer.
For several weeks, she hoped she would spot the picture somewhere, but didn't come across anything. But nine months later, after she had given up hope that the photo would materialize somewhere, she was contacted to get consent to use a photo of David on a Canadian stamp.
"The only people who I know have been on stamps are presidents, or they're dead. So to have my son on a stamp is so cool. I've never heard of that happening to anyone."
But David doesn't share her excitement.
"He doesn't have any real understanding of what it is. He thinks a stamp is a thing you stamp in books."
Dechert figures that when David gets older his excitement will grow.
"I bought about $100 worth of the stamps and souvenir sheets, so when he's grown up I can give him a whole bunch. This has to last him his whole life. This might be the high point of his life - his 15 minutes of fame. It'll be all downhill from here," she said with a chuckle.
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