½ Time

If you know me much at all, you know that I'm more a thinker than feeler. Of course, I have emotions (deep down), but they are invariably driven by using the past, to draw conclusions and find patterns moving toward a desired future state. So I present a few vignettes of current life, somewhat connected and even loosely woodworking, though there will be no cut lists or joinery diagrams.

The Dartboard

Owen, living with his mom these days, texted me asking to borrow a drill to help a friend hang a dartboard in a plaster wall. I gladly dropped a few helpful items off next time I was in town. When he returned the tools, he wanted to show me something. He had bought a small tool box and some simple tools to be better prepared to handle such a situation in the future. Of course, proud to see him taking an interest in such things, I quickly filled his tote with duplicates and other tools lying around the shop that might fill some holes in his budding tool collection (like his own drill.) Now, with the experience of being "handy" he was taking more interest in what many of the tools that have always been at hand, really did. 

It reminded me of my own tool mentors along the way. Dad, gifting me a small set of sockets & wrenches when I had my first car, and some others later when I moved out of "drop by and borrow some tools" range. I remember being touched when two draftsmen in my cubicle bought me my first cordless drill as a wedding gift, to equip me for what would come my way, so that oil changes and picture hangings wouldn't be prevented by lack of tools. 

Men often get accused of being poor gift givers, but based on my experience, I've found most to be quite generous in helping to get a young person get the tools they need, when they're ready for them. (ask me sometime about the tool shower we threw for a cousin prior to his marriage.)

The Kitchen

When I bought my first house, like most, it needed work. Part of that was lightly remodeling the Kitchen. One thing I found was the window sill was rotted out. I headed off to dad's to grab a 2x4 and cut a couple of notches in it to fit in the window and be done. I remember looking at my father as some sort of wizard as he walked me through selecting a weather durable timber, matching the thickness, taper, contour and edge profile to match the one that came out. It was mesmerizing, and opened my eyes to really look at the work I was doing, not to simply get it done, but to do it properly.

I was reminded of this on a recent project for my Daughter's new apartment in an old house that has a tiny kitchen with literally 2ft² of counter space. She needed some additional work surfaces, and called in Dad for some assistance. There were the typical constraints with apartments (no attaching to walls) and old houses (sloping floors, radiators, maneuvering up cramped stairs.) I can't speak for her, but perhaps installing something that fit the need above the bare bones solution, has a similar effect in gaining pride in getting your place "Just Wright"

The Patriarchs

From youth, I skip ahead to a ripe old age to two exceptionally mighty men passing in the same week at the age of 92 this February. These men never met each other and often I may feel I barely knew either, yet each gave a ¼ of my genes. These two men lived rich, full lives touching all those around them. They will be missed, but their passing is not merely sadness, their memories serve as high praise for the lives that they lived.

Freeman was a man I only had the privilege of meeting once early in 2020. Through the wonders of technology, and the perseverance of my mother, she was able to connect with her father, changing the closing punctuation in her life away from just a question mark. What I do know of Freeman is that he was a kind hearted man, and that shows in the kindness of his offspring. Not just my mother (whom I know) but in the warmth that we have been drawn into his family by his son and my "new" cousins. While new to me, they have immediately felt familiar with many common interests; trees, convertibles, spoon carving, dump trucks, simplicity, home building, making music (even if it skipped me), engineering, stick chairs. Perhaps these are common to many families, but still I saw the legacy that Freeman has left, and it's one I can support and hope to be a part of.

Maron (my dad's dad) contrastingly was a fixture in my life, always around, yet I must admit not much more known by me. My family is large and when I would go to visit, there's always many cousins of my own age to play with, so I take the blame for not getting to know him as well as I should. Also, from the shear effort required to raise all those kids, must've wore out Grandpa. I swear most of my memories are of him asleep in his chair, one shoe off, watching or listening to a Cubs game. That isn't meant that he wasn't involved I can certainly also remember him taking pictures and teaching us to jump rope, play jacks and hopscotch, but almost always a troop of us rugrats.

In our family we often do things the uncommon way, intentionally or otherwise. Having little kids in your 40's (Guilty, and I have an aunt my age) Dads and uncles starting to working with their kids as second careers, things like that. So it fits right in that Gpa Maron would become a prolific woodworker well after his sons and even grandsons had taken up the hobby. In the last 14-15yrs After he retired he finally had a minute to himself and he artistically designed and made vintage cars from scraps, over 400 unique ones, keeping track of where each one went in little notebook.

The Introspective Conclusion

Despite my current age, I still often feel unprepared, youthful and like I'm still the "new guy" in many situations. Still, I find in more and more situations, I'm the one with the skills and experience needed to step in and solve the problems. I suppose this means that I've moved around to a new position in the circle of life. If the long lives of my patriarchs serve one lesson to me, it's that at 46 I've now reached the ½ way point (At least I can hope)

Time to rally and make the most of the second half.