At the crack of dawn, no, it was earlier than that, it had to be. Dressed and in the truck in 15 minutes, the roads were pitch black, the windows down, Frank Sinatra on tape blasting through the stereo. It was a 30-minute ride to "the shop," and by the time we got there, the sun still had not shown.
I would open the cover to the electric panel and flick the shop lights on. My father would go up to his office, and I would head out into the 10,000 sq. ft shop all the way to the back corner where the glue-up department was. A large work table, perhaps the size of 3 billiard tables, was loaded with numerous woodwork pieces in large steel C-clamps and bar clamps. I would loosen all the clamps; this took every bit of muscle I had as they were frequently tightened by grown men who seemed to often forget about psi relative to clamping wood together - or they were just having a laugh knowing I was going to be wrangling with these the next day. Back on the racks, the clamps would go, and off I was to scraping glue from the surfaces of all these pieces. This process would take a good hour, sometimes more, and within 10 minutes, I was drenched in sweat from head to toe. My father never let himself be outworked; it was not an option for me either. A young man needs good hard work, and I am so fortunate to not have been robbed of that.
At 12-13 years old, waking up at the crack of dawn and riding to work with my father was the best part of my day. It was an adventure! I felt like I was Robin to Batman, on a mission, beating the world around me by working as hard as I could. It gave me pride, taught me about the value of hard work, it also gave me durability and strength. More than any of these things, though, working with my father gave me a skill that I am able to use in my own life to make a living, build things with my own hands. I have been blessed to use all of these things to start a business, NJS Wood Furniture, continue a tradition, have fun while doing so and working hard with both pride and humility. As for the adventure part..... that is what the motorcycle is for.
Comentarios