When I was a toddler, I walked through framed walls, carried hammers and tape measures, and played with chalk lines. I played with the chalk lines so much I got in trouble for it, but that's a story for another day. My daddy would set nails in a scrap board and let me beat them in with the hammer.
When I was 3-4 years old, he carried me up a ladder, sat me on a roof, and told me "You sit right there, and do not move. I'll be right back." He went down the ladder and carried up bundles of shingles on his back and I watched him shingle a roof that day. I even got to help snap that wonderful chalk line! When I was 9, he taught me to read a tape measure down to a 1/32 of an inch.
When I was 10, I volunteered to help a teacher fix a curtain bracket that needed a nail hammered only to have a male classmate (who worked with his dad on houses) yell, "Wendy, you don't know how to swing a hammer!" Then I showed that classmate with the rhythm I had learned beside my daddy! I still smile about the look on his face! When I was 14, I loved the smell of lumber and realized my father made people's dreams come true because he built their custom homes.
When I was 16, I started dating a guy he later put to work part time with him. Clint picked up things from him he still uses today.
Little by little, Clint and I have handed all of those experiences to our own children.
Emily and Hannah enjoyed their time on a roof with Clint last week!
