Another kind of kindergarten

This has been an educational week for me as construction assistant.  I love learning new things--especially when the teacher is patient and encouraging, as Mike is.

I definitely have what the Buddhists call "Beginner's Mind" as I wield a heavy battery-operated screw driver, learn to start the hole by holding on to the smooth top part of the screw (after you moisten it with saliva!) and then pushing down hard on the top of the drill as it spins the screw into the wood.

We painted the refrigerator in a tinted yellow appliance enamel--two coats which took two days each to dry due to the humidity.  Then Mike clear-coated it with spray.  I watched as he passed the spray over the entire surface in lines all going in one direction, then the other.  Left to my own devices, I would have made random swirls.

I now know how soffits, facia boards, and jack trusses are made.   Could I make one?  Not on your life! but knowing the difference and seeing how the parts fit together makes me feel smart.

There's a Zen saying: "The way you do anything is the way you do everything."  In all things, I am random, Mike is systematic.  I start one thing and wander off to do another; he stays doggedly on the one thing until it's finished.

He knows what all good teachers know: Praise goes a lot further than criticism if you want your students to learn. "Perfect, Babe!" he says every time I try a new thing, even if it's not.

I watched as he lifted the heavy jack truss to the top of the bed and wall he'd just finished yesterday--which will hide the winch and chain he installed at the top.  I couldn't imagine one man lifting such an incredibly heavy piece alone without its crashing down on top of both our heads, but he did it.  (I proposed wandering down the street and finding a strong man to help him, but he declined my offer.) Today he will finish the by cutting old tin to cover it, installing eye ball lights, and building the soffit.

As an educator, my comfort zone is language.  I savor the different effects a writer can achieve by building different kinds of sentences.  Yet I've always looked at built things as a novice does, not understanding the structures that make them work.  Whether I could single-handedly build a simple bird house or not, I will--after this three-week course in construction--be an avid appreciator of all that goes into making beautiful things out of wood and metal.