Firm Foundations

I've mentioned before that my daddy was a builder. He built houses his whole adult life. He was what I would call a master. He was a perfectionist when it came to something he was going to sell to someone else, I always thought it was kind of funny that he never got around to finishing the inside of our bathroom closet. You know how the old saying goes, "the cobblers children have no shoes". He was just too busy or maybe he just left that one element incomplete for some reason I never heard. I saw many of the houses he built because he would build a house a year at Lake Martin on the weekends then sell it once it was finished. He usually had a buyer before it was done but he would make sure we finished out the summer swimming and skiing and riding in the boat. I wish I'd paid more attention to his skill and knowledge when it came to building. Since I was a girl he never thought to pass along the tools of the trade.
One thing I did learn about the building world from my dad was the importance of a good foundation. I watched him many times dig the footing for these homes with a pick ax and a shovel. He would lay out this elaborate string system with two-by-fours at the corners. Then he would start digging. He never needed to go to a gym, he built massive arms doing this kind of work. It seemed like such hard work just to cover it all up with concrete and then wood. I asked him why he did all that and he told me that a house is only as good as it's foundation. His favorite was the "slab". That's when you poured a concrete sub-floor and built right on top of it. His second choice was a crawl space but he only did that if the lot was impossible to get flat. I remember going with him to look at property for possible house sights. If the land was hilly he often kept on going but if it had at least the potential to be flat he walked it off. He would measure the property with is steps a yard at a time. I was usually waiting in the boat or the truck doing what little girls do, day dreaming, playing with dolls, or picking weeds on the edge of the potential house spot, sometimes if it wasn't too thick with briers he'd let me follow along after him. I couldn't rattle on like I was prone to do though because he was measuring, counting steps. He could imagine a house on a lake front lot like it was already there...I have to think I got some of my imagination from him.
When the lot was purchased he'd start his work, clearing, burning then digging. It would take him a while to get all the digging done but he did it all by himself. He'd lay the brick help the men from the concrete company smooth out the slab and he'd really be off and running. It was amazing to me to watch the progress. He'd usually take about a year to complete his projects but that was working only on the weekends. It bothered me that he never went to church, but I'd hear him whistling hymms from time to time and he loved Hank Williams song "I Saw the Light", he'd sing that one out loud. I felt like his work was a kind of praise to God. He would not have fit in at any of the churches I knew of anyway.
I remember the one time he attended our church. It was a Sunday night and my beloved was getting ordained to preach. Daddy actually came and sat right up front with the family. I waited for the roof to fall but it didn't. He wasn't a church goer that but that was between him and the Lord. He built a firm foundation into my life by being committed to something he loved, his work and his family. Although it was sometimes a point of contention between he and my mom it was something he had to do. He drew his identity from it. He never made the living he deserved, he usually sold the houses far under market value but he put me through college without a single student loan, made sure my mama drove a decent car, had a nice home and plenty of anything we needed. There aren't many men like him left, now dads are more involved in sports and other activities their children are interested in...I'm glad about that for the most part. Dads need to be there for their kids, and kids certainly need fathers in today's world even more than when I was a young. Work is a means to an end...at least in my case it was a good example for life. Do something you love, do it well and start with a good foundation.