I was laying in bed the other day, thinking about time. If I lived to be the same age as my father, I'd have 30 years left. That's what I think about, sometimes, when I am in bed; left in my own thoughts as Cyndi sleeps beside me. If my dad lived to be the same age as his father, he would still be alive. You can't compare things like that, but people naturally do. As my grandmother gets closer to 90 (next month), she keeps mentioning her father. He lived to be 94 or 96. I can't remember which. She can live to be 100+. You never know.
I have also remembered some of the things Frederic and I used to do together. One of them was go to Home Depot on the first Saturday of the month. They offer a hands-on project every month. The kids get an orange smock and everything. When they complete their project, they also get a pin. We haven't gone in a couple of years. Today would have been that day. The first time we went, I was so frustrated. I'm not handy. Ask any of the people who have done work around my house. I guess it's easier for me to write a check than it is for me to learn how to pound a hammer. The first time we went to Home Depot to build a project, Frederic was almost five. I had just started grad school at Northwestern, and I had my first essay due. I wasn't sure what I was going to write about until we got home from that frustrating experience.
Join me, will you, as I go back in time. It was January 11, 2005, and I wrote the following words (with slight modifications for rewrites):
How to Build a Schooner on a Saturday Morning with Your Son at Home Depot
You and your son arrive at the store, having no idea what you will build. You are just happy to have some 1:1 time with him. When you used to work from home the first three years of his life, you were taken for granted. Time seemed endless. Now that your company has moved into a building close to O’Hare, they give you a cube and you spend most of your day there.
There are two different projects to choose from: a wagon or a space shuttle. Your son is set on building a Schooner because he likes everything to be big and complex. The ship meets his expectations. This makes you uneasy. You are not good at crafts and not good with a hammer. Two summers ago, your friend, Eric, asked you to help him lay hardwood floors in his family room and you spent the afternoon bending nails instead of inserting them.
“How about the Pencil Caddy?” you ask.
“Nope,” he says, “I want that one. It looks cool!”
You ask he clerk for the Schooner Kit and a fresh orange Home Depot smock. You are not able to find the Sharpie to put your son’s name on the smock, but since you know who he is, move on.
Home Depot has five large “workbenches” situated next to the lumber section at the front of the store. Each workbench is basically several horses underneath a very large piece of plywood. There are supplies available: hammer, paper tape measure, wood glue. Some of the supplies are neatly placed in a tool caddy, while others are left unapologetically strewn about. Guests are expected to share space with strangers. You pick the spot farthest away from everybody else and begin.
There are 16 steps to the “How to Build Your Schooner” instruction sheet, and there are 13 pieces in the package: Base (Boat Hull), Cabin, Rear Cabin, 2 Masts (Long Dowels), Prow (Short Dowel), 2 Sails, 3 Finishing Nails, 2 Screw Eye, 24” Cord. You will also need Fine Sandpaper, Safety Goggles, Wood Glue, Hammer, Scissors, Pencil & Ruler. The assembly is as follows:
- Sand wood pieces smooth with the wood grain. There is no sandpaper on the workbench or in the tool caddy, so you have your son follow you back up to the craft leader and look through her cart for some. There is not any on the cart either. You get irritated by this.
- Using ruler and pencil, mark top base 2” from the front end and 1” from each side. You look around the workbench for a pencil. A large man with brown hair and thick plastic glasses who completed the wagon cart with his daughter, hands you a black mechanical pencil. Take a deep breath. Even though you are not certain where to place the marks with your pencil, your son won’t mind if you make a mistake. He is there with you and doesn’t care what the ship looks like. You place marks with your pencil where you think they should be and get frustrated because you are not sure if they are in the right spots. You think about starting over. That is not the lesson you want to teach your son. You scan the instructions for further assistance, and find the diagram on the bottom left of the page that shows you where to mark the pencil. You have, in fact, put the marks in the right spot.
- Start nails into the cabin piece. You skip this step and regret it at Step 5.
- Glue cabin to base on the pencil lines. The yellow Elmer’s Wood Glue bottle is full and it is on the workbench to your right. Your son grabs it and puts too much on the wood piece. You place the piece in the spot where you put the (correct) pencil lines and the glue spurts out the sides of the wood when you press it down. There are no paper towels on the bench so you use the plastic bag that contained the Schooner. Your fingers get sticky from the excess glue and the bag is wet. Soon you will realize that Step 3 was important.
- Finish nailing cabin to base. Your son wants to do this. Ever since you walked into the store, you have heard the happy annoying sound of boys and girls pounding away at their crafts. Since you skipped Step 3, it is hard to start the nails on the piece of wood because the glue is not dry yet and the piece wants to shift. Your son does not argue when you insist on starting the nails. He takes pleasure in finishing what you started. Make sure to hold the piece of wood while your son hammers the nails down. Don’t worry he doesn’t hit your fingers—yet. Once the nails have secured the two pieces of wood together, you notice that the pencil lines are still visible. Don’t try to erase them. That will make the glue and lines smear and the eraser on the pencil unusable. You might want to consider painting the ship on another day so it looks like the display version. At this point, you start using phrases like, “we make a great team” and “you are so good with that hammer.” Your son uses phrases like, “Yeah, Dad. Don’t we work great together?” and “I like being alone with just Daddy. A guy’s day out.” You think that you have never seen your son so happy to be with you. You are encouraged to continue.
- Make a pencil mark 1” from back of cabin. No issues here. You have done this once before and can be considered an expert, especially in the eyes of your son.
- Glue rear cabin at pencil mark. Your son puts too much glue on the wood again. You make a mental note to either bring a rag with you next time or ask the craft leader to supply paper towels.
- Nail rear cabin to base near hole for screw eye. Don’t just read the word “nail.” They do not literally mean put a nail into the rear cabin to the base, which is what you have your son do. As he does, he hits your finger with the hammer. Your face turns red as you groan through clinched teeth, “Sonofa—“, cutting yourself off. He apologizes. Luckily it doesn’t hurt that much. To make him feel better, you perform the trick where you pretend he has chopped your thumb off and reveal to him a thumb-less left hand shouting, “See what you did with the hammer!” He laughs as he pulls your thumb out from the palm of your hand and rolls his eyes at you. You shake your hand through his head, successfully mess up his hair and move on. At this point, you think about stopping again to ask for another package. Don’t. Even though the glue is starting to dry, the nail barely sets into the wood and you are able to pull the rear cabin off the base and pull the nail out without incident. The nail comes out bent, but you do not need it again. It was only supposed to be used to score the wood and then be discarded. Press the rear cabin firmly to the base without applying new glue.
- Twist screw eye into hole on rear cabin. Even though you have never known your son to use a screw eye, he picks it up from the table without direction and slowly screws it into the wood. Your son takes joy in accomplishing this task all on his own. You will too. With that small action, your son has shown you what it means to have craft competency.
- Squeeze a dot of glue into the cabin holes. Your son does not know what a “dot” of glue is and since the bottle is so big, his small hands need to squeeze extra hard to get some out. There is too much, but by Step 10, you are used to the “glue situation.”
- Glue a mast into each hole. Make sure each mast stands straight up with the slot pointing to the Schooner front. One of the masts goes in with ease and no glue comes up from the sides. The other mast does not want to fit. You now realize the purpose of the missing sandpaper. You begin to turn the mast as if it is a screw and it gradually finds its place. You need to use the pencil to make sure the two masts are level. This takes two attempts.
- Glue unattached end of prow into the front hole on Schooner. This should really read, “Squeeze a dot of glue into the front hole and then glue the unattached end of prow…”
- Slide sail onto each mast. There is a diagram on the page that shows how to properly attach the sails. The diagram shows three half circles connected together on a stick. The white flimsy piece of thick glossy paper they use for the sail does not resemble three half circles. It is flat and has holes in it. You walk with your son to the display models and take a look at the store’s completed version. The picture is not three dimensional so it cannot show the wooden stick sliding through the holes in the paper. It all makes sense.
- Tie one end of the cord onto screw eye. Even though you stink at making knots, you have gone this far without using that as an excuse to ask for help. This is the best knot you have ever purposely made in your life.
- Pull cord from screw eye from across mast slots and through the prow slot. As hard as Step 15 sounds, you smile when it goes according to plan. You are almost done.
- Knot cord under the prow. As a new knot expert, this final step seems too easy as you step back and review your work. Your son’s smile is as big and as genuine as yours. You are now both Schooner makers.
You gather your things and bring your completed craft to the leader for inspection, stamp of approval and receipt of the Home Depot Schooner Pin. The leader notices your son’s name is not on the smock and asks him to spell his name (which he does phonetically). She tells you that her husband’s name is the same, with the same spelling. You are invited to return the following month (first Saturday of every month) and feel encouraged to do so.
For this moment, you are your son’s hero. He asks if it is okay if he can hold your hand as you walk through the store, carrying his new ship in the other, not wanting to let go. You will want to hold on to his hand also, forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment