Dressed in grey work clothes He laced his tall leather boots Each morning while I watched. A battered van stored all his tools. He grew the sweetest tomatoes Shared with all the neighborhood. Showed me how to water petunias Without digging up the roots. Before the sun rose on a winter's day He shoveled coal into the burner for heat In summer after a full day's work He'd mow the lawn 'til all was neat. He taught me how to write my name And read the funnies aloud He drove me out to see dinosaurs Being jack-hammered from the ground. He told me how boys liked me Though their teasing made me cry. Then he told me stories of his youth How he fell in love with Mom and why. Every Saturday he would carry home A wicker creel filled with trout Once he even took me along A whiny kid who'd sit and pout. Every autumn we hunted pheasants It was an endless trudge for me. He showed me how to shoot the gun Then locked it away and hid the key. Called himself a "broken-down 'lectrician" Yet could point to every house he'd wired He brought glowing lights to half the town Through it all he rarely tired.
👍🏻 I agree a hundred percent. I am so grateful my boy went into the trades - he apprenticed as a union plumber when he was 21 and was NEVER out of work his entire life.
My father was actually taken out of school a month before graduation by an electrician who came in to recruit for his company. Like you son, he never ran out of work for the two companies he worked for. The second one actually backed him up when a boomer turned him in to the union for carrying his tools in his truck. I'll never forget that night, how he paced the floor, wondering what would happen to him. He was a valued employee and his company got him a company truck to drive. He stored his tools in his truck because the garage wasn't secure enough to keep them there. I guess having a company truck was the big deal for the union. Kind of trivial to me. Anyway, when he was 69, his boss called him and said he had to lay off twenty men. If he retired Dad, he only had to lay off 19. Dad was lost for about twenty minutes before he realized his could sleep in on those cold winter days and didn't have to work outside anymore.
I’ve mentioned before that I have two young friends who chose the trades. One learned to be a diesel mechanic, and instead of a bunch of $200 used text books, he has a complete set of Snap On tools that will last him a lifetime.
The other, a young woman, took a two year course in automotive collision repair and refinishing. She is in high demand among all our old local hotrodders to do work they can no longer do.
Both careers are A/I proof, and far less soul sucking than life in a cubicle, with little to show after an 8 hour day.
This tribute brought nostalgic tears to my eyes, Sue. Not because I had a dad like yours, but because I didn't. He sounds like such a good man. And you obviously loved him a lot. I admire so much the man who has a trade, the man who works with his head and his hands. You painted him well.
He was the same working class generation as my mom, and I had to laugh at these two lines, "He told me how boys liked me / Though their teasing made me cry." Here is why: sharronbassano.substack.com/p/yes-i-ate-the-paste
It’s easy to overlook all the tradesmen who make our lives so comfortable. We need more Mike Rowes to celebrate honest people who do honest work.
👍🏻 I agree a hundred percent. I am so grateful my boy went into the trades - he apprenticed as a union plumber when he was 21 and was NEVER out of work his entire life.
My father was actually taken out of school a month before graduation by an electrician who came in to recruit for his company. Like you son, he never ran out of work for the two companies he worked for. The second one actually backed him up when a boomer turned him in to the union for carrying his tools in his truck. I'll never forget that night, how he paced the floor, wondering what would happen to him. He was a valued employee and his company got him a company truck to drive. He stored his tools in his truck because the garage wasn't secure enough to keep them there. I guess having a company truck was the big deal for the union. Kind of trivial to me. Anyway, when he was 69, his boss called him and said he had to lay off twenty men. If he retired Dad, he only had to lay off 19. Dad was lost for about twenty minutes before he realized his could sleep in on those cold winter days and didn't have to work outside anymore.
What a guy! I know I would have liked him. And I know how much you miss him.
I’ve mentioned before that I have two young friends who chose the trades. One learned to be a diesel mechanic, and instead of a bunch of $200 used text books, he has a complete set of Snap On tools that will last him a lifetime.
The other, a young woman, took a two year course in automotive collision repair and refinishing. She is in high demand among all our old local hotrodders to do work they can no longer do.
Both careers are A/I proof, and far less soul sucking than life in a cubicle, with little to show after an 8 hour day.
Ha ha ha . Yes!
This tribute brought nostalgic tears to my eyes, Sue. Not because I had a dad like yours, but because I didn't. He sounds like such a good man. And you obviously loved him a lot. I admire so much the man who has a trade, the man who works with his head and his hands. You painted him well.
He was the same working class generation as my mom, and I had to laugh at these two lines, "He told me how boys liked me / Though their teasing made me cry." Here is why: sharronbassano.substack.com/p/yes-i-ate-the-paste