PORTLAND HEAT: HOW TO CELEBRATE BREAKING RECORDS

 

 

Last August one of my partners in crime (aka one of my sons) and I worked on inventory inside a few Arizona warehouses in record breaking heat. At least it broke the record for heat outside a sauna.

 

Yesterday’s record breaking heat was about thirty five degrees cooler, which was a nice relief. But it was still hot by Oregon standards set in 2001 according to oregonlive. The kid and I celebrated together by building something new.

 

We broke out the mighty Mag worm drive, the angle squares, portable work bench, and made a fence gate. Before you start with, “Sure, Dave, how hard was that,” the point isn’t the degree of difficulty, but the outcome.

 

 

Every yard with a fence has a gate to get in and out. Maybe two gates. Ordinarily it’s a gate to forget. What’s the big deal with a fence gate? Well nothing, really, until you decide to rebuild one instead of buying a ready made.

 

Next question? What happened to the old gate?

 

Some writers use a gate as a metaphor, a symbol of coming and going. Not this time. It’s a real gate made from scratch by two men with plenty of inner questions, but enough confidence to proceed. One dad and one son later it was a done deal with a big question:

 

“How would you have done this without my help?” said the young man.

 

“I would have done it the hard way,” I answered, which is what you’re supposed to say when you don’t have a real answer. It’s a dad thing. We have answers for everything whether we do or not. IDK isn’t in our vocabulary.

 

Did we really need to replace a damn gate on the hottest day of the year? You tell me:

 

The top was rotten and wired together where screws and nails failed. The hinges had failed. The whole thing was way too flexible. Like falling apart in front of our eyes.

 

 

All the rot, all of the lame fixes, all gone with a new gate and hinges. Doing it on the hottest day of the year was a bonus.

 

Now the metaphor part:

 

Parents start out with a new baby and can’t wait until they learn to walk and talk. Then they complain about running after kids and answering all the questions. Kids have questions? If you have to ask …?

 

The gates of perception between parents and kids swings both ways. As old men age, young men see opportunity to either push them aside, or support them in hard tasks.

 

Effective leadership in any capacity seeks a balance. Old man says, “Let’s do this.” Young man says, “Yes, let me help.”

 

When this happens the old man must stop any ‘my way of the highway’ stuff, and young man needs to see his geezer dad as more than an object of pity. This is where the breakdown happens. If cooperation is a goal, and it should be, engage in the give and take of building together.

 

Gather materials, measure and cut, then assemble. Did you measure for the hinge bolts that add extra width? Bring enough bolts and screws?

 

When you finish and stand back to admire the finished project, no matter what it is, be extra thankful. A dad needs to be thankful for able bodied kids; kids need to be thankful they can tolerate the sort of view they might end up living.

 

If parents don’t answer kid questions, they find their own answers. If kids don’t ask questions, what are they thinking?

 

On this hottest day of the year everything was cool.