10/19/2025
8 Years ago-I am not typically a nostalgic person. I tend to be a look forward type of person. Normally there are so many ideas in my head & items I want to accomplish, why look backward? However, these photo memories caught my attention.
8 years ago I had a crazy idea. My wife & I had always wanted a nice dining room table. Our first house didn’t have room for a big dining room table. But, we were moving to a new house soon. Crazy Idea: I could build us a big dining room table. The idea stuck w/me, I couldn’t shake it. Even crazier Could I do it w/o my wife knowing?
A guy I worked w/offered to lend me some tools. My job had a room in some warehouse space they said I could use off hours. I researched where to buy good quality hardwood. I spent countless hours researching, youtubing (thats a word right?), asking anyone who had any experience.
I had no idea what I was doing. I had barely used woodworking tools before. I was working w/concepts I barely understood to slowly work these stubborn planks of wood into what I pictured in my mind. It was not perfect by any definition. There were bumps, bruises & pitfalls along the way. (like the entire table falling off the saw horses & the end breaking off). But somewhere along that process I fell in love.
I fell in love with working with my hands, the challenge of the material, w/the planning & preparation. I fell in love w/seeing the stack of heavy lumber transforming into what I saw in my mind’s eye. I even fell in love w/waking up early. Going into work in the wee hours of the morning so I could work on it before working my real job. While it took way longer than I had hoped (2.5mo of scraping together whatever hours I could to work on it). I finally finished it & surprised my wife for Christmas that year.
8 years later, this table sits in our dining room. It has been the rallying location for family dinners, game nights, tough conversations, & countless arts & crafts. I still love the challenge, the planning, the ex*****on &the transformation. There are still bumps & bruises & splinters, but for the last 2.5 years it is my only job & I am grateful to be able to do it.