happy father\’s day (belated)

i didn\’t necessarily see a lot of my dad growing up. he wasn\’t a deadbeat or anything; far from it. he worked the second shift (2:30 – 10:30) at the local corrugated paper plant, meaning i was in bed by the time he got home. during the week, the most i probably saw him was the five-minute car ride from our house to school. i\’m not resentful, not in any way. his back-breaking labor allowed me to go to a expensive college, and has allowed me to have a job where i make money while sitting, vs. sweating, like he does.

so i\’m not sure if it\’s genetic, or just lack of a chance to pass these skills along, but, somehow, i missed out on getting all of his handyman-like skills. dad changes his own oil; i break a fingernail calling the auto shop to get my oil changed. dad uses his cordless drill enough to wear it out on a regular basis; mine typically lives under a pile of books in the basement. dad owns a table saw, scroll saw, jig saw, and band saw; i have, well, zero saws.

when sara and i decided to order a put-it-together-yourself playset for the backyard, then, it only made sense to ask my dad to come up and help me put it together. ironically (or maybe not), it was delivered the week before father\’s day, so the \’rents came up last weekend and dad and i got to work. while not necessarily heavy labor, i sure was tired out on monday morning. we made a pretty good team, him and me– albeit with him doing a lot of the work and me doing a lot of the support. that\’s fine, though; this was easily the biggest home project i\’d undertaken, and he handles stuff like this every weekend or so. anyway, after sixteen or so hours of effort, the playset was up and there was much rejoicing from the little people in my house. a job well done, and a job that would be about 10% finished at this point had my dad not been there to help out.

i certainly did inherit quite a few qualities from my father. a love of bill cosby. an affection towards dogs. an ability to do crossword puzzles. and frustration with anyone who would have the gall to pass me on the highway. so what if i would need to call in a contractor to build me a birdhouse? my less-than-stellar handyman skills made it necessary for me and my dad to spend a lot of quality time together this past weekend, chances that don\’t happen all that much anymore. so it\’s not so bad.

happy father\’s day, dad.