Today is the Day to make a Memory

Last night I was sharing a story with a friend. It is a story I have told over and over in the last 30-plus years but one I have not related here. In 1979 or 1980 my dad and I cut down an oak tree. I wish I could tell you more about the tree, but I really don’t remember. What I vividly remember is loading the logs onto a trailer pulled by my family red belly ford tractor and hauling the tree to the sawmill. The sawmill was run by an old man, Mr. Tuttle, who walked with the benefit of a cane.

I can not recall how many days we worked with Mr. Tuttle, it may have only been one but we worked. It was hard manual labor. However, when we were done we had a stack of beautiful oak lumber. And an idea for what I wanted it to become. Being a teenager, I had no concept of time and wanted to hurry the process and begin to build right away. However, my older and wiser father said we should stack the wood and let it air dry.

It was a test of my patience. I sketched and drew. I talked about my project and anxiously checked on the wood and its progress. Until one day when my dad told me it was time – Time to take the wood to be kiln-dried. Again my patience we tested.

After what seemed an eternity, we were ready to begin building. We took my idea and my sketch and turned it in to a cabinet. If you visit my house today, it sits prominently in my living room. I’d like to say that my original drawings still exist. And perhaps they do in some random box or among some childhood papers. Nonetheless, I am relatively certain the cabinet we fashioned from the wood reflects my original idea.

You would think I might have learned a lesson in patience from this adventure. But I did not.

What I always thought I learned from this project was the ability to take an idea and add in hard work to create a finished product. But today, looking back, I know the real lesson I learned is that you can never over-estimate how important the time you spend with someone will be.

I believe I love the cabinet, but the reality is that I love the memory of building it with my dad. What memories are you making today? And who are you making them with?