Mom has told stories about her Dad (Grandpa George) when she was growing up in Plymouth. One of her regrets is that Grandpa George was always gone because he was trying to build his business. Yeah! That is what guys tried to do!
When I graduated from high school, George offered me a summer job as a "sheet metal assistant" at the shop on Division Street. Yep, I was a flunky.
George was never known for his sense of humor. It is kind of interesting because once you got to know him, he had a keen sense of humor and enjoyed "banter". The dead give away to his enjoyment was his eyes. There was a twinkle that came over his eyes when he was involved in joking. They say that the "eyes are the window to the soul".
When I worked as a summer flunky, the two permanent employees ("Little George" and Warren) would take me along to job sites to do all the manual work. We hung a lot of gutters along the rooflines of houses. I was in charge of loading the trucks with all the ladders, compressed gas, solder pots, tool chests and other things before we left the shop. When we got to the job site, I unloaded everything and got the ladders arranged along the houses.
Long lengths of gutter got soldered together by melting alloy medal rods into the seams between the gutters. There was an alleged artform that was required to "sweat" the metal into the seams. Only trained, experienced tradesmen could perform this act. Bullsh--! It was an excuse for the older guys to sit on their ass on the sidewalk soldering while I ran my tail off doing all the heavy work. So I would always beg Grandpa George to let me solder. He would always put me off saying that maybe someday I could solder but not right now. Of course he supported the permanent employees.
I never did get to solder metal. Years later everytime Grandpa George would come to our house (or we'd go to his) I'd chide him for not letting me learn how to solder. If he had taught me to solder, maybe I could have been more successful in life. His eyes would twinkle and he say something like "he knew I couldn't be trusted". Or he say "he knew I wasn't capable of soldering". That banter would occur for 2-3 minutes and would lead to other silliness.
Grandpa George did indeed have a sense of humor. He could be delightful. We connected!
One of my great regrets in life is that I was never allowed to solder. It was so simple but I never got to add the skill to my repertoire. I was scarred for life.
The lesson Grasshoppers is you should help your kids develop their skills especially when they show a keen interest. One skill may be the key to their success. Otherwise you might be condemned to a lifetime of scorn by your own kids (hopefully there is a twinkle in their eyes).
Love,
Dad