A Most Uncivilized Adventure: A Father's Tradition

The father-son relationship is an interesting thing. I can't say I truly know what it's all about, because... well... I'm not a son. Nor am I a father. Quite the contrary, actually. However, I'd like to believe that I'm an observant sort of person, woman as I may be, and I have come to observe that the father-son relationship is an interesting thing.

So there.

My husband, D, has this hammer. We call it "Daddy's Hammer", which is, in all actuality weird, because I call D "Daddy" but we're not referring to D when we talk about "Daddy's Hammer" at all. We're referring to Edmund Kay Cherry, D's father.

Clear as mud?

Good.

See, "Kay" Cherry passed away on February 28th, 2003, just 5 short months after I lost my own dear padre'. And Kay left all sorts of wonderful legacies for D and his brothers. Many have found their way into D's personality, including but definitely not limited to: D's love for ingenuity, his knack for building things from the ground up, and his respect for hard work and earning what you're given. Some of Kay's heirlooms, however, are physical... like "Daddy's Hammer".

This is D's work trailer. It's a beautiful thing.

This is D's workbench. It's a beautiful thing.

Above the workbench hangs two semi-identical hammers. How can two things be semi-identical, you ask?

I'll show you...

"Daddy's Hammer"... a sturdy Craftsman Hammer from ages ago...

D's Hammer... a sturdy Craftsman Hammer from January 2010. But it's not just any Craftsman Hammer. It's an identical match to Daddy's Hammer. Oh my heart.

I hardly believed him when D told me he found Daddy's Hammer in Sears. Daddy's Hammer is D's favorite, for obvious reasons. But it won't last forever. I don't think.