Being a builder

Something I forgot while staring at a computer in an office for the last 2.5 years: the joy of working with my hands! (I used to woodcarve quite a bit -- maybe I should take it up again.)

So far at Home & Life, in addition to playing with the kids, Root has taught me some simple construction skills: bricklaying, cement mixing, rendering, and laying pipe. The goal is to build a new kitchen, since the current one is too small and inconveniently placed. The area in the picture below will contain two new sinks and a place to put a larger stove:


We've worked 8 hours a day for the past four days, covered in sweat, dirt, and hundreds of insects while being baked to a crisp by a tropical sun. I wouldn't want this to be my permanent day job by any means, but for a few weeks -- sure! It's been hot, hard, and amazingly worthwhile and fun to work with Root on this project.



After we put the finishing touches on the wall, I experienced a moment that was no less magical for its commonality: the satisfaction of seeing a tangible good come out of my efforts, that the work was well done, and that it will last.

Philosophical aside: I think it's a unique and fundamental human quality to fight inevitabilities like change and death (perhaps unwisely?) by constantly leaving markers of our passage in the world. That's why building this wall was satisfying for me: it felt real (in a way that generating a Word or Excel document is not); I can touch the wall, see it, and smell it, and when I leave, it'll still be here.

I wonder if this is a subtle-yet-important reason why people treasure their children -- in order to know that their lives can have meaning well beyond their brief lifespans, and that the impact of their actions and decisions will stretch out, like a long, thin, steel line, into the distant future -- one that they will be forever remembered by and connected to by virtue of their descendents.

In conclusion, it's now clear to me that I'll need a male heir. The House of Jang must not fall.

btj