I am a Builder’s Daughter

This was one thing my dad always had with him when he went off to work. It’s called a folding rule or a zig zag rule. He was a general contractor who built some fabulous homes around our city. He was described as ‘the builder’s builder’. The first time I heard that, I was very young. What in the world did that mean? My mom quietly explained it to me in a sort of whisper. To this day, I have no idea why she thought she had to whisper it. I guess, in her ‘always be humble’ head, she didn’t want anything to even hint that she would be so uncouth as to brag. ‘Uncouth’-that was another word she threw around a little bit when trying in vain to tame down her brood of five.

When the custom home market plummeted in the 60’s, my dad, very humbly, traipsed out into a big muddy field where a construction trailer had been set up for one of the first of many apartment complexes that were beginning to circle Indianapolis as the new Interstate 465 loop was being completed. He walked out to talk to an old high school friend who had gone into the apartment development business when my dad chose custom home building.  Well, the apartment business was hopping and he was just the guy his friend needed to run multiple projects around the city. With two of his five kids getting ready for college, this opportunity came just in the nick of time.He was a natural. He knew how to deal with contractors firmly, yet with a good dose of humor.

My mom always said it was the pressure of the job that killed him, but his early death at 48 was more likely the combination of adult onset diabetes, not being in the best physical shape (sorry, golfers did not work out back then), and a lot of stress thinking about getting all five of the kids through college. The job heaped on a good deal of pressure, as well. I was only fourteen.

Out of all of his personal stuff that I very gingerly sifted through, that folding rule had as much meaning attached to it as anything. My brothers ended up with some rings, a watch, golf clubs, but I felt like I got the best of all of it. It was real, practical, still useable and it reminded me so much of him.

One of my brothers later followed in his footsteps and became a custom home builder here. He also built some pretty fantastic homes, mostly during the mass suburban expansion beginning in the mid 1980’s. Unfortunately, he also went through a financial recession that took down the housing market, and he also died suddenly, way too young. I’d like to think it was their lifestyles rather than the job, or heredity. But my point here is that designing, building, constructing and making is in my DNA. I’m lumping those all together as one character trait. It could be a sweeping generalization, but I think if you are a person who builds up, that quality pretty much covers lots of ground and is really a versatile tool. I love the idea of building, rather than destroying. Am I reading too much into this? Maybe.

Fast forward-I use and teach some pretty great tools in my upholstery classes, but there’s so much more I can be teaching you all if everyone is up to speed on even the basic power tools.  I’ve just decided to go ahead and to it. I’m creating a livestream mini workshop, as well as an online version. I’m here to help all of you out who never got to take Shop Class. What a gyp, right?! Now is OUR time.

Check out the Classes tab above to see what’s coming up. I hope you’ll be brave enough to dip your toe into the wild world of power tools and learn from a woman who knows how to teach women in a kind and patient way.  No mansplaining here.