Tuesday, January 20, 2009

My Parents, They Make Things

My dad retired from his paying job a few years ago and now he works for free. He is a machinist. Every kid gets some sort of perk from their dad's occupation. You know, like the baker who brings home free donuts for his children. Our kids get free medical care from their dad, and sometimes hospital socks that the patient didn't want. (Gee, that's neat.) My perk growing up was that I got to pick cool curly-Q metal shavings out of the bottom of my dad's shoes. They were pretty and shiny. None of my friends had such fun.

And now my son gets perks from grandpa's job. What do you do when your sister breaks the brake lever on your totally cool mountain bike and you find out the only way to replace the part is to order it from back east which will take a mazillion dollars that you don't have? You take it to machinist grandpa and say, "Can you make one of these?"


See the silver handle in the picture below? Papa made it by copying the red handle. He did it during work hours in his shop. If he charged hourly wages I'm sure it would have cost Collin three times as much as the shop back east.





My mom makes things too. Not tacky things like crocheted refrigerator butterflies. Cool things that you would buy at rich people baby shops. Look at this coat she made for Ania for Christmas! It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. She even did the quilting on it.




She also sewed these matching dresses for Mia and Ani. Shiny and lacy and pink. The type of dresses that little princesses wear. Very fitting, since Mia is a princess from a lost world waiting to be discovered. You might want to get her autograph before she's famous.



If you ever see a drop of creativity in me or my kids, please know that we get it from my parents.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

A sweet tribute to amazing, generous, loving people. They are smarter than I will ever be. And now we know where Mia gets her amazing reading ability! Go Gramma and Papa!

Amanda said...

What a cute jacket that Annia has!

Unknown said...

Mia's a Princess? I had no idea! We'll have to introduce her and Avi :)

Anonymous said...

You've got to be kidding me that your Dad made that thing for Collin! If I made one, it would be constructed out of some wire, duct tape, a piece of the pull tab from a pop can, a piece of wood from the back yard, and a Lincoln Log. Mine would work, too, but only for a few hours. He amazes me!