Skip to main content

Wrench Monkey

It's no secret that my dad works on cars. He was doing it long before I was born. And most of my life he's been doing it as a profession. As a result of this, I ended up spending a lot of time in the shop as well (sometimes whether I wanted to or not.)

Starting pretty young, my dad would pay me to be out in the shop working on vehicles. It was a good thing thing for a pre-teen boy. It instilled hard work in my early years. As the years went on, I continued to spend more time in the shop. Sometimes it was for customer cars, my problem cars, family cars, or even just to keep my dad company. Some of our projects would last until 2 or 3 in the morning - when I'd then go to bed leaving my dad to continue to work! He is a great example of sticking through with something until it's finished - and finished right!

I realized as I got into my 20's, that in the shop was a time when my dad and I could easily talk about things. I have the ability to be pretty introverted and wouldn't always share "personal things" with my family. But in the shop my dad and I often had deep, bonding conversations -- while still turning a wrench.

Some of those times when I'd be helping my dad, I'd be the tool-fetcher. (It's a pain to have to get out from underneath a car every time you need a tool, and undoubtedly every time you lay down, you'll realize you forgot another one.) Well the shop can get to be pretty disorganized, especially when juggling multiple projects. So fetching tools often required great dexterity as if I was navigating my own Olympic obstacle course.

This video gave me that memory blast. (Bet you guys didn't know I could write a post that wasn't laced with snarky remarks! -oh dangit, did I just blow it?)
Thanks for being a good father!

Comments

  1. I think if I had to go through all of that just to get a screwdriver, it might be time to stop working on cars.....or start charging a lot more!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My reality check

Remember how in my last few posts I talked about how we were teaching Channing to put himself back to sleep by letting him cry it out?  Since Channing has been sick for over a week that has all gone down the drain....  The poor kid is so congested all the time.  When we wakes up at night he usually will not take his binky and fall back asleep.  Instead he needs his nose suctioned, which usually requires Justin holding Channing's head still or it's impossible.  And lately he will not go back to sleep at all until he's fed again.  Last night it was every 3 hours.  I don't know if it's because his throat hurts or he just wants to be held.  Whatever the reason, nights have been a little rough around here.  Oh, and his naps during the day have been pretty bad.  Crying a lot before falling asleep and then only sleeping for 20 or 30 minutes.  Motherhood is definitely a 24/7 job.  With no lunch breaks.  And get this!  Channin...

Happy Halloween!

I wanted to do a quick Halloween post so I won't ever forget how adorable Channing was.  He was a scarecrow this Halloween.  We used a pair of his overalls and I sewed on a few patches of material and then we stuffed his pockets with straw.  The paint on the nose thing didn't work so well...he rubbed it off the first time around.  Our ward did a trunk-or-treat in the parking lot.  Channing was a little skeptical about it all when we first started.  But he quickly got the hang of walking up to people, grabbing candy, and putting it in his bucket.  Someone gave him a sucker and he immediately had to have it!  At least he's easy to please!  Such a friendly scarecrow...had to say bye to the trick-or-treaters as they left.

Ooooh crap

   Merry Christmas! It's December 12th and beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!  The tree is decorated and we are slowly adding presents underneath it.  What's new with the Hamilton crew? Well let me tell ya.  Justin is starting a new job as St Alphonsus's webmaster next Monday.  Which means I can kiss my daytime freedom goodbye.  Since February Justin has been working at home with a start up company called RealResultsOnline.  So if I had both kids down for a nap I could easily leave the house to go grocery shopping or whatever.  Now I'm heading back to the reality of being a stay at home mom.  Anyways...I'm sure I'll survive.  Because what choice do I have?!  We'll miss you Justin....  Especially Channing.  That kid loves peeking in on Justin during the day and getting in lots of daddy play time.  But we think this new job will give us better opportunities for the future.  So yes, I gotta suck it up!...