and then there were the tools.
Since 1983 when my father died, I have had some of his tools. I got more of them along the way at various times. Dad was a machinist during WWII and then worked on building a house when they settled in Indianapolis. And more than that, I think he just liked tools. I also inherited some of Grandfather's tools and even, we think, some from Great-grandfather. I was a cabinetmaker at the time, and so the tools naturally fell to me. Even when I was doing other things, I still tinkered, moving all those tools, large and small, along with us across the continent.
But now, we are moving to Guyana, storing our goods till we return. Actually, selling or giving away nearly everything first, then storing just the essentials. The big decision for me was the tools. It was easy for me to give up the pots and pans and even the stereo and TV, but the tools were another matter. These were, in a sense, heritage items, passed down for generations in some cases. How could I part with them; what would my siblings think if I discarded Dad's Craftsman table saw?
But over the years I have come to realise that Dad and Grandfather thought of these things as merely tools. A lot of tools have already been disposed of in various ways, but somehow these remaining seem to be more connected to my image of my father. I remember things he built with that table saw; I watched him use it. But wouldn't he say it was just a tool?
Maybe not. I remember the pile of cherry lumber that Dad carted around the country for years. Yes, he made a few things with it. We have a bread board that he and I made from it. But mostly it just sat there. In the end, the moving costs for that pile of wood far exceeded the value of the lumber.
I learned from my father, and I also learned from Data: 'These are just things.' [Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 3, Episode 2] And so I pass them on, not within the family, but to someone who can make use of them. After all, that's what a tool should be -- useful.
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