April 28 – “It has character”

I think I'm pretty close to finishing another project.  It's one of those that I will never be completely satisfied with, so I determined to move on to the next step whether I liked it or not.  We have a little kid's rocking chair that survived Hurricane Ike relatively unscathed.  Actually we have four little kid's rocking chairs that have spent much of their careers in the attic.  I asked Chris where we got this particular one.  She didn't remember.   Now that's amazing.   Awhile back one of the rockers on this one broke off.  I tried to throw it away then, but Chris looked at me with those beautiful, sparkly eyes.  She said to me in her most seductive female-girl-language, "I wish we didn't have to just throw it away."  Which, of course translates into guy language as "Do whatever you can do to fix the thing."  So of course I sawed up a two by four and somehow shaped it into a rocker.  It didn't look all that nice, but it was functional.  For years the chair existed with that one pine rocker and the rest of the antique whatever wood the rest of it was.  It looked like one of those Pirate movie guys with a stump for a leg.    So this project involved sanding off the old stain and applying some of the new stuff we discovered that Chris really likes.  The stain removal process was easy up to a point.  That point was when it came to the crevices between slats and into places where legs connected.  I used my drill attachment and my dremel, but the best approach proved to be old fashioned hand cranked sandpaper.  And the sanding uncovered another structural problem.  Actually it wasn't structural.  Each of the legs narrowed to a rounded top.  On one of the legs that top had, at some unknown point in the past, broken off and been reapplied with glue.  It made for some jagged edges when I got beneath the layers of stain and paint.  The top of the other leg had also broken off.  It was gone.  I managed to get the first one glued back on, but I had to hand-carve something to fit the second.  That took three days.  So much for an easy weekend project.  But once I got that piece carved and glued on and sanded level with the rest of the leg, I was finally able to start staining.  That's what I finished yesterday.  Well, all but the underside of the rockers and a few places under the seat.  I can't decide if it would be beneficial to seal those areas or not.  The finished project as it stands looks a lot different than it did when I began.  It's not breathtakingly beautiful.  In fact it still … has character.  I guess that's like saying your blind date has a great personality.  But Cailyn has been waiting patiently to sit in "my chair."  So somebody likes it.  And there's just something to be said for things you have had a personal hand in.  It doesn't matter that they are ugly or uneven or pieced together.  In the grand scheme of things – the big picture – it is still a rocking chair.  It has a purpose.  And I helped get it there.  Feels good.   Colossians 1:16-17 says, "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."   Father, I'm glad you created.  That goes without saying.  I'm stunned at the purpose behind it.  So that we could love you.  Wow.  Amen.