Growing up, I was generally not allowed to interact with my parents. Unless I was home alone, I was expected to stay either in my bedroom if I was on restriction, or I could go into the garage if I was not on restriction. I spent a lot of time listening to music and reading. In the garage, my stepdad had a lot of really nice woodworking tools that were handed down to him by his father. My step dad never used them, and I was not allowed to touch them. Of course, being a child with no supervision who was told to stay in the garage, I spent a lot of time looking at the tools, but I dared not try them out. (As an aside, because I can safely say this here, some of the time in that garage was spent under the influence of alcohol from the age of about 12 and up, so it's probably a good thing that I was too afraid to try the tools out.)
Flash forward to now, I'm 36, and after making several recent, much needed repairs to our house, I've finally gotten the courage to try out some woodworking tools. Yesterday morning, my toddler son woke us up around 4:50, and though he eventually went back to sleep, I could not. I decided to check out craig's list, and I found that 1 block away, someone was having a tool sale that started at 9 am. I went over, and I scored a lot of tools for only $55. I spent the day cleaning out our garage, which was a huge mess, and setting up a little area for me to call my own. As I cleaned the very dirty tools I had just acquired, and dreamed about what I might be able to make with them, I felt so ridiculously happy. I felt like I was righting some of the wrongs of my childhood. Of course, I can't undo the years of neglect & emotional abuse and their effects, but I can set up some tools that I'm allowed to use whenever I like, and which I will teach my son to use if he is interested as he grows up. And that makes me happy.
Flash forward to now, I'm 36, and after making several recent, much needed repairs to our house, I've finally gotten the courage to try out some woodworking tools. Yesterday morning, my toddler son woke us up around 4:50, and though he eventually went back to sleep, I could not. I decided to check out craig's list, and I found that 1 block away, someone was having a tool sale that started at 9 am. I went over, and I scored a lot of tools for only $55. I spent the day cleaning out our garage, which was a huge mess, and setting up a little area for me to call my own. As I cleaned the very dirty tools I had just acquired, and dreamed about what I might be able to make with them, I felt so ridiculously happy. I felt like I was righting some of the wrongs of my childhood. Of course, I can't undo the years of neglect & emotional abuse and their effects, but I can set up some tools that I'm allowed to use whenever I like, and which I will teach my son to use if he is interested as he grows up. And that makes me happy.
