My parents moved out of the house 11 years ago and from the moment they left I was PISSED that they forgot to take the address plaque that Dad had made with his very first router, in his very first wood shop, on his homemade work bench. For at least the last 7 years I have driven by the old homestead and talked to them about how I was gonna sneak there in the night and steal that sign from the carport because it had that much of a meaning to me. I even had my husband convinced that he should steal it FOR me!
This is the gift I gave my parents this year for Christmas...
Yeah! I am 32 with 2 kids and I stole this! No I didn't! I did NOT steal this sign but...
About a week ago I decided that this was the year I would get this sign. I went to my Dad's workshop and picked through to find a decent piece of wood. He didn't know what I was doing but of course asked me so I told him I was making an address plaque for our home to give to Jon this Christmas. Oh that started all kinds of trouble..."Why do you need it to be that long? Your address is TWO NUMBERS!" But, he cut it the size I wanted and gave me a beautiful piece of wormy maple to use.
Together, Jon and I stained the wood, polyurethaned the wood and screwed in the numbers as well as the chain it would hang from. My husband thought I was crazy but knew how much it meant to me, which is why he helped me out. I took the beautiful brand new plaque and drove over to the old house. I had decided that I was going to ask for it and all they could do was say NO right? I knocked on the front door and waited. A man came out the side door (we used the side door when we lived there too :) ) I offered my handshake and introduced myself and my "speech" went something like this,
"Hi, My name is Amy Durham and this is actually my childhood home. My parents bought it when I was 7 and left when I was in my early 20's. My brother actually planted that tree from an arbor day sapling 20 years ago (Vanna White gesture to the tree.) The reason I am here is because, this home was our first home and the first place my Dad could have a wood shop. His original workbench is the one that is still in the basement. One of the first things he made was the address plaque for this house (another Vanna move here.) I was hoping that this year I could give him that plaque for Christmas. (well timed pause here) So, I made a brand new one (showed him the plaque) and was hoping that we could trade them out?"
I had a good feeling at this point and then (toothless) Jeff says, "Well this is actually my parent's house and my Mom just had Cancer surgery, let me go in and ask my Dad."
OMG! Did I just push my way into this family's biz at one of the hardest times of their lives? I am such an A-Hole!
Jeff comes back outside, hops up on his parent's trunk of their car and says, "Shh don't tell him I am on the car" and reaches for the sign. We exchange, he hangs the new one and doesn't even check to see it is straight (it is not). We spoke for a few moments about the house and the tree and that he is hoping to put a new roof on for his parents (who are in their 70's) this spring. I think back to when Dad and I put on the "new roof" which was when I was 9 years old...yup it's about time. I shook his hand. I thanked him very much. I told him that although this was probably the weirdest thing that ever happened to him (I am sure it is not) that it made my entire holiday and I could never thank him enough...and went on my way.
BEST Christmas EVER! Mom is going to hang it above the archway between the living room and the kitchen and it will stay there until FOREVER. Thank you to kind strangers and kind hearts.
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