One of my fondest memories of childhood was building something alongside my Dad. He was extremely handy, had this great collection of tools, and was always fixing up things around our house.
When I was six, I was too young to actually help my Dad. But I watched him work and watched him sweat, and knew that I wanted to be just like him. So one day when my Dad was at work, I found a bunch of scrap cardboard and decided to build a fort and attach it to our fence. I “borrowed” some of my Dad’s tools and proceeded to bang dozens of nails into the cardboard and all the way through the fence, which by the way was also the neighbor’s fence. When my Dad got home and saw those huge nails sticking through the fence into the neighbor’s yard, he probably wasn’t very happy. But I don’t remember him yelling at me. What I remember is how he showed me his collection of glass baby food jars, all organized with different types of nails and screws, and how each one had a different purpose.
Those times spent working with my Dad were some of the best times in my life. He taught, I learned, and we bonded over being able to create things together. I always wanted my sons to have that same experience, so I often asked them to help me build things around our house. In fact, I am still doing that!
This weekend, I volunteered to construct a large wooden Gazebo at my daughter’s house. After the parts were delivered (and instead of paying a contractor $800), I figured with a little help I could do it for her for free. What I didn’t think about was that both of my sons-in-law were out of town, and my oldest son had moved to Spokane, WA. But that’s okay, I still had my youngest son and my 80-year-old Father-in-law in town. They were both actually excited to help out and showed up both days to give me a hand.
It took us a while to unpack the 75 wooden pieces needed, along with the 524 assorted nuts, bolts, lag screws, washers, and fittings. At one point when one of the large boxes was almost empty, I tripped and splatted face first into the cardboard box on the ground. My son thought that was pretty funny, but don’t worry, I got him back for laughing at me by making him carry all the heavy stuff. The three of us worked really hard all-day Saturday and half of Sunday and guess what.. we only got the Gazebo halfway done! What’s that saying, “Things always take longer than you figure”. They sure do, but it sure was fun!
And that got me thinking… Getting together with other people to fix something, build something, or somehow make something better, usually creates a wonderful bonding experience for people, bringing more joy into the world. And I have to think that this is a period of time in our history when it would be really great if we could all just bring a little more joy to the world!
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