Fragility

The world has really pointed out how fragile we are as human beings these last few weeks.  My mother-in-law spent several days in the hospital because she was dehydrated.  Think about that.  Hospitalized because she was low on water. What is so amazing to me is that this happened while she lives in a facility where she should be cared for by qualified personnel.  I attended a funeral yesterday for the wife of a friend of mine from Rotary.  Chemotherapy drugs damaged her system so badly it was run over by normal bacteria living in our bodies.  As my sister said, medicine has reached a point where chemotherapy is so good we forget the knife-edge that people walk who are going through.  Amen sister.

Then I was talking to someone about how many people turn one hundred years old each day.  I’m not sure if this is correct or not, but I was told that Al Roker from Good Morning America had been forced to quit announcing those celebrations because we had reached a point where there were just too many of them.  Isn’t that a fascinating dichotomy?  There are more people turning one hundred than ever before, but the very medicine that helps people to get there can be the most deadly thing anyone ever faces.  Wow.

So, what does this have to do with the Toybox? Or woodworking? 

Several years ago, I used the following quote to end my Christmas letter, “The purpose of life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave with a well-preserved body, but rather to slide in sideways, completely used up, yelling and screaming, wow-what a ride!”-Author Unknown. 

This is what woodworking and spending time at the Toybox do for me.  This has been a long and not overly uplifting week and I said to someone this morning that I needed to re-boot, to take some time and get back to a better place and be ready for next week.   Woodworking helps me re-boot, and fight the fragility that comes on over time.

I have to find a way to shed things that happen to me throughout any given week and prepare for the next one.  Those times in my life when I didn’t have a shop were the times I felt the most fragile, like there was no reserve for me to reach down into and find the strength to do it all over again.  Years ago, when I was deciding what to do with my life, I considered two options: teaching Industrial Arts or going to business school. A very wise person counseled me to leave something I loved for my life outside of work.  This has been tremendous advice as woodworking/working in the shop has always given me an anchor to help steady the course in turbulent times.

It is my sincere hope that you have something have something like this in your life and that you recognize it for what it is.  Life is fragile and fleeting and having an activity that helps us handle it is important.  For those of you who are woodworkers, share your projects, successes, and failures here so we can join in your excitement.  On the other hand, if your passion is cooking, find a woodworker and you will probably find someone who appreciates your creations.  If you can’t, give me a call, I will help.  If you have other hobbies or activities that will send you sliding in sideways, share those here as well. I look forward to sharing the ride with you!

OK, something kind of exciting.  In two weeks I am going to begin creating a tool that I will use in the shop.  I have never taken on a project like this and can’t wait to get started and share the process with you. Check back with me then for pictures and progress.