globetrotter
Stylish Dinosaur
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2004
- Messages
- 20,341
- Reaction score
- 423
having an interesting week - tomorrow my wife is going in for a scheduled C-section, she is now carrying two girls who appear to be healthy and more than 7 pounds each.
I have been getting the house ready, and have my mother in law and my father staying with us, to help out. Don't even want to get started about the hell that is living in close proximity to my mother in law.....
I have been having a very good week with my father, though. we have been doing a lot of handy projects - the type of thing I would usually have somebody come in and do - putting together furnature, putting up shelves, hanging pictures, etc (ok, not exactly building a wooden boat without nails, but more my speed).
for the past few years, I was slightly upset that my dad never really taught me how to do a lot of this stuff, when he is pretty good at it himself. this week, I started to think about it a little more, and focus my memories. the fact is, I was never interested in learning how to work with my hands as a kid. my father built most of the furnature in our house that wasn't antique, and did a lot of odd stuff with his hands - fixing the car, etc. sure, he might have been more pushy about getting me to help him and learn, but I never experessed interest, he never pushed. I am sure that I must have been a little obnoxious about not wanting to learn to do stuff that I hoped to be able to pay somebody to do later in life. the one really great expereince we had with this was when my father, brother and I built a house togethe, when I was 14. this, also, cemented my feeling that I ddin't want to do much in the way of building - the house, although sound and still standing happily 25 years later, always had little problems: leaks, uneven doorframes, etc. but, for ***** sake, it was built by a white collar worker and two teenagers. I was always overly critical about that house.
anyway, here's the punchline - my father and I ahve been working side by side this week, preparing stuff for the next generation. my son, in his bod the builder belt and hat has been watching us carefully. my dad has been teaching me things that I should have paid attecntion to 30 years ago. all in all it has been a great week for bonding.
I have been getting the house ready, and have my mother in law and my father staying with us, to help out. Don't even want to get started about the hell that is living in close proximity to my mother in law.....
I have been having a very good week with my father, though. we have been doing a lot of handy projects - the type of thing I would usually have somebody come in and do - putting together furnature, putting up shelves, hanging pictures, etc (ok, not exactly building a wooden boat without nails, but more my speed).
for the past few years, I was slightly upset that my dad never really taught me how to do a lot of this stuff, when he is pretty good at it himself. this week, I started to think about it a little more, and focus my memories. the fact is, I was never interested in learning how to work with my hands as a kid. my father built most of the furnature in our house that wasn't antique, and did a lot of odd stuff with his hands - fixing the car, etc. sure, he might have been more pushy about getting me to help him and learn, but I never experessed interest, he never pushed. I am sure that I must have been a little obnoxious about not wanting to learn to do stuff that I hoped to be able to pay somebody to do later in life. the one really great expereince we had with this was when my father, brother and I built a house togethe, when I was 14. this, also, cemented my feeling that I ddin't want to do much in the way of building - the house, although sound and still standing happily 25 years later, always had little problems: leaks, uneven doorframes, etc. but, for ***** sake, it was built by a white collar worker and two teenagers. I was always overly critical about that house.
anyway, here's the punchline - my father and I ahve been working side by side this week, preparing stuff for the next generation. my son, in his bod the builder belt and hat has been watching us carefully. my dad has been teaching me things that I should have paid attecntion to 30 years ago. all in all it has been a great week for bonding.
