My grandpa died in 1982. He was a carpenter who built many neat things. He also made me read to him whenever I visited. Because I was the oldest of my siblings, I had the longest time with my grandpa. I was nine when he died and my oldest sister was three. You can say that they never really got to know him.
The reason for this post is to express my reasoning in a recent action. You see, I was given one of his sawhorses from his workshop long ago. I treasured it, but never really had a place to store it. It was at my mom's for many years, then my sister's rafters in her garage, and then within the last few of years back with me. I didn't have room for it anywhere. Mostly because I don't have a workshop and I am not a carpenter. It sat in my shed and up to a few weeks ago in my new garage on top of a huge storage shelf.
It would still be sitting there today if I had not needed the space on that shelf for other things. This bumped my grandpa's sawhorse out. I thought hard on what to do with it. For awhile I had no idea, but got inspiration after walking around my house. From my walk I noticed that I had a young virginia creeper growing on the ground. I knew that I wanted to keep it and for it to grow onto something. After putting two and two together I placed my grandpa's sawhorse outside in the elements for the young creeper to crawl up.
I know this will eventually lead to my grandpa's sawhorse slowly disappearing over time, but do I really need my grandpa's old wooden sawhorse to remember my grandpa? The answer is no. This is why I rationalized my recent action of placing it outside my home for the young creeper from virginia to climb up.
My grandpa was great and he is still great!
3 comments:
I have no idea what your grandpa would think, but he ought to be touched that you put as much thought into it as you did.
Agree totally. The struggle on what to/how to hang onto those physical remnants of our past is an eternal struggle. Obviously, if each of us (and our descendants) continued to accumulate and pass on "things," it would soon bury our species.
This is a wonderful homage to your grandpa (mine was a builder of things, as well); and a way to respectfully and gracefully let it return to The Earth over time.
Thanks for the support.
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