-- Pam Brown
When I saw that the theme for this week's Day2Day project was 'D is for...', my very first thought was 'Daddy'. I guess that as young children learning the alphabet, that is one of the first associations we're taught to make - especially if there isn't a dog in the house. Then when I was looking for an appropriate quote for the week, the one I've chosen just leapt out at me. I love the idea of it - that dads are just regular guys to everyone except for those who love him as only their children can. What's really great about that is that I don't think it matters how old you get, or even how wise to the ways of the world you become - your dad is still a larger-than-life figure in your mind. At least, I hope that is true for everyone! I know it is for me!
While I don't remember Daddy doing much singing or story-telling, he was (and is) certainly my hero, and I think of him as an adventurer. He was also a guy who could fix most anything! Well, maybe not car stuff or electrical stuff, but most anything else. He was a great problem-solver and was used to working on a shoestring budget, so he didn't run off to the hardware store every time he started a project. As much as he liked to fix things, he liked to build things even more. In his garage workshop was Daddy's pride and joy - a Shopsmith 'Greenie'. In case you're not familiar with this incredible wood-working tool, it's a five-in-one tool - a table saw, a lathe, a drill press, a sander, and a borer - and it's also got a router (not a computer gadget!) and a shaper. With this tool, the knowledge how to use it, and some wood, you can make most anything!
From the time I was about 10 years old, my room was adjacent to the workshop, so every Saturday morning (EARLY!), I woke up to the sound of the Shopsmith - sawing, sanding, shaping - and to the smell of fresh sawdust. I can't go into the lumber section of any home improvement store without being transported back to my childhood and without shedding a tear or two. Daddy always wore one of those one-piece work coveralls when he was working around the house - I still have two of them, because I just can't bear to part with them, even though he last wore them 26 years ago. It's how I picture Daddy, even though he was most often in a suit at work or at church.
I still have a few things that Daddy made for me - a couple of dressers and a bookshelf, at least - but he was great at seeing a need for a specific piece of furniture and making exactly what I needed - even if I didn't know I needed it! When I was in college, he made me a bookcase that would fit in my small dorm room and that had a special place for my stereo. I think my daughter still has it. He made a little corner table for David and Kim when they were little, and then a bookcase designed especially for their books - I still have it. I have another tall, skinny bookcase that he made for my teenage bedroom, which fit in a narrow spot and was just right.
When Rex and I moved into our house in Asheville, when Kim was just six weeks old, it was the first time that we'd had a garage. Daddy knew we would need good storage there, so he went to Lowe's and came home with all he needed to build two full walls of floor-to-ceiling shelves and a full-sized workbench, ostensibly for Rex but really for Daddy and me. Every time he came to visit us, I knew that I'd better have a LONG Honey-do list for him or else he would find things that needed to be done anyway. I remember one time when I didn't have enough for him to do, I looked outside to find him single-handedly building a treehouse for David.
I shouldn't have been surprised about the treehouse, since our yard (in the house I grew up in) was the one where all of the neighborhood kids played. In addition to our treehouse (which had a green fiberglass roof AND a fireman's pole), a bag swing with a three-tiered platform (for jumping off), and a roller coaster (made of wood). And before that, when we were little, we had a swing set and seesaw that he made. When I decided to run hurdles when I was in the 7th grade, Daddy made me a set of regulation-sized wooden hurdles that we set up in the front yard. He set them up so that I had to run slightly uphill, which sure made it easier to win races on flat tracks.
I miss my dad a lot, for many, many reasons, but I really miss having my own personal Mr. Fix-it. I have some of his tools - his hammer is my favorite one - and I am forever grateful that he taught me how to use them. I love it that my kids counted on me to do the drilling and the fixing, and I hope I taught them how to make at least a few repairs. When you grow up with someone who never hired a 'handyman' but you marry someone who is not handy, you learn what a blessing it was to have had a dad who could fix things.
Daddy's handy ways are only part of the story, but this blog is long enough for today. Sometimes I just start writing without knowing what's going to come out! So here's to you and your dad, who I hope is your hero, too - have a wonderful week and let me know what some of your special 'D' words are.
Jan
No comments:
Post a Comment