Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year, and UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare Annual Enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th.
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Vanguard Marketing Corporation distributor. This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories. And we tell stories about everything here on this show, from the arts to sports and from business to history and everything in between, including your story.
Send them to ouramericanstories.com. They're some of our favorites. And today we have a story from where we live, right here in Oxford, Mississippi, and it's a small town, a small college town, home of Ole Miss, about an hour south of Memphis. Steve Thomas has lived in our town for over 30 years. Today, he's here to share with us his story.
Take it away, Faith. Steve Thomas is a magician and balloon making expert. He goes to the local farmers market and events here in town to make balloons for people.
He's our own personal small town celebrity. Steve has always loved magic, but his path to full time magician and balloon artist didn't start until his 40s. Steve has had several jobs throughout his career. He started off in radio, where he worked for over 20 years. After his time in radio came to an end, he went to work for FedEx and became a dangerous goods specialist. He worked at FedEx for 14 years until one day something happened.
Just over a decade ago, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. I was at work one night and I picked up a one pound box and turned around and set it down and my shoulder popped. And that was all she wrote for the shoulder. So I ended up having really extensive four different procedures on my right shoulder. And when I got done with that, I had a little tremor and the doctor eventually figured out what it was.
And of course, FedEx said, if you can't come back to work at 100 percent, don't come back at all. There's several different ways that you can manifest the condition. It's basically your body doesn't produce enough dopamine or produces too much dopamine or your dopamine receptors.
The things that take it in after it's produced don't work correctly or the synapses that go from the muscles to the brain don't work correctly because of the lack of that. So it's just a long process of trying to figure out what medicine to give you, whether you need more dopamine, whether you need the receptors worked on. And now they're talking about brain surgery. And, you know, I mean, I have the best brain in the world, but I only get one.
And I don't want them to go digging around in there and hook the wrong voltage battery up. It's progressive. But like my doctor said, I've had three or four doctors because they move off. They're all neuromotor specialists. And they'll tell you Parkinson's doesn't kill you.
They don't die from Parkinson's. I mean, you may lose the use of an arm or a leg or get tremors and mine's unilateral. It's in the left side of my brain, which means it affects the right side of my body. About 80 percent of us in my arm, 20 percent of my leg, occasionally a little flutter in my eye.
But if you meet me and watch me work, chances are, if I'm not moving or doing anything, I'll have a hand in my pocket. That's to kind of hide that little tremor thing that goes on. But it gets to a lot of people, you know.
Oh, my father was diagnosed at one point in his late years with what they thought was Parkinson's. And he cried. You know, I don't see the purpose in crying.
It's non-productive. Steve was not always so relaxed in his response to life. I've always, well, you've got to realize when I was a kid, I was a ball of nerves. I had an ulcer when I was like six. You know, a peptic ulcer just from worrying and stress. I learned early on, worrying doesn't change anything.
It's not going to change the outcome of anything. Just do what you're going to do and be who you're going to be. A bleeding ulcer will do that for you. When they start talking about, you've got to take this medicine as long as you have it. You know, that was a long time ago, I'm sure. It may not have even been what the doctor said it was. But you just can't let it get to you. I mean, if you're going to spend your day that would be an otherwise good day worrying about how tomorrow is going to be, then you just screwed up today. I guess I can talk about Parkinson's patients because I am one.
You know, relax. I mean, I know people who've had Parkinson's two years and they can't get up out of a wheelchair. And I, you know, mine is minimal.
My progression is very minimal. If it hadn't been for the results of a DAT scan, I don't think the doctor would even admit that I had it. But it showed up. You know, they inject you with some radioactive stuff and then stick you in a CAT scan machine. After he was diagnosed with Parkinson's, he left FedEx and returned to something he was familiar with, magic. I have actually been doing magic and entertaining people for 44 years now. And when I was a kid, I did shows, did my first show when I was nine. It was a paid thing. I remember my buddy and I performed together and we told her it was five dollars and she gave us each five dollars.
Well, we thought we'd hit a gold mine if you get paid twice as much as you're expecting. So I did that for a while and then I packed away all the magic when I got into the radio thing because that, you know, I was up at three o'clock every morning. And after I got married or met my I was after I met my wife, I was at my father's house and I went in his storage shed and there's all this magic stuff. I thought, well, why don't I start using some of this? So it went from, you know, liquor store cardboard box full of magic stuff to I have a thousand square feet in my house now. That's nothing but magic. Everything on the walls, you know, everything decorating all the books, 12 bookcases full of magic books. And somewhere along in there while I was entertaining it, because I did 12 years at Pizza Hut restaurants for kids night.
Somewhere in there, I decided to get balloon art because they wanted something more conducive to littler kids. So I started doing that probably 15, 16 years ago. And you've been listening to Steve Thomas and he's our local celebrity, the magician, the guy who shows up at the parties, entertains the kids. Everybody knows him in town, struck with Parkinson, a tough disease. He said, I didn't see the purpose in crying.
It's non-productive. And he knew a lot about the kind of person who worries himself to death because he was that person when he was younger. More of Steve Thomas's life here on Our American Stories. Folks, if you love the great American stories we tell and love America like we do, we're asking you to become a part of the Our American Stories family. If you agree that America is a good and great country, please make a donation. A monthly gift of $17.76 is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters. Go to OurAmericanStories.com now and go to the donate button and help us keep the great American stories coming.
That's OurAmericanStories.com. Hey, you guys, this is Tori and Jenny with the 90210MG podcast. We have such a special episode brought to you by NerdTech ODT. We recorded it at I Heart Radio's 10th Poll event, Wango Tango. Did you know that NerdTech ODT Remediatant 75mg can help migraine sufferers still attend such an exciting event like Wango Tango?
It's true. I had one that night and I took my NerdTech ODT and I was present and had an amazing time. Here's a little glimpse of our conversation with some of our closest friends. This episode was brought to you by NerdTech ODT Remediatant 75mg. Life with migraine attacks can mean missing out on big moments with friends and family.
But thankfully, NerdTech ODT Remediatant 75mg is the only medication that is proven to treat a migraine attack and prevent episodic migraines in adults. So, lively events like Wango Tango don't have to be missed. Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year, and UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare Annual Enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th. If you're working past age 65, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage.
It can seem confusing, but it doesn't have to be. Visit UHCmedicarehealthplans.com to learn more. UnitedHealthcare.
Helping people live healthier lives. I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop, but for small business insurance, I need my State Farm agent. They make sure my business stays piping hot, and I stay cool and confident. See, they're small business owners too, so they know how to help you best. State Farm is in your corner and on it. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
Call your local State Farm agent for a quote today. And we return to our American stories and to Steve Thomas' story, our local magician and balloon art expert. Let's return to faith and continue this story. When Steve was young, he had to read a lot of books in order to learn about magic. You would go to the library and you'd check out whatever magic book you could find, and you'd absorb everything in that. And after you've covered all the magic books, even back then, there wasn't much to do, especially here. There's a magic shop in Memphis. My parents would take me there occasionally, and I would learn a couple things from one of the guys working there. And work on those. Now I have kids who come over to my house for magic tutoring and magic lessons.
I guess what comes around goes around. I'm glad to see some kids getting into magic. Steve performs for all ages, but he has his favorites. You know, there's nothing better than a birthday party for like a 50-year-old lady, and everybody's having a good time. And you can just do things, because with people that age, you don't have to worry about comprehension. Whereas if you have a group of 50 kids, and there's some 3 and 4 and 5-year-olds in there, there's a little comprehension issue. You have to gear things toward the younger audience. And, you know, I do that.
I live just to make kids smile and laugh. Throughout his magic career, Steve's son and daughter have played roles in some of his shows. There are many times he's taken a show on the road, which provided some great quality time for Steve and his son.
Everywhere from furthest north I've been is New London, Missouri, furthest south is New Orleans, and any state in between there. I'm getting kind of old, and I'm not big on that, you know, two-weeks-away-from-home thing. But we used to do library shows every summer. We would book two weeks, and every day we would have two shows in two different towns. And my son and I would load up all our stuff, and we'd go out, go to the town, get a hotel room, go set up the stuff at the library, go have dinner, go home, go back to the hotel, go to sleep, get up the next day, do the show, move on to the next town. Some of our best times and some of the most interesting conversations we've ever had. Yeah, because my son could come up with some lines that would crack you up.
He's a hilarious human being. Some of our funniest moments were in New Orleans, when I distinctly remember he was 11. And I scheduled a meeting with a friend of mine who also does balloons, and he's a clown, and he's goofy. So we're in this little hole in the wall, like, five-table bar, middle of the day, and we start doing balloons.
There's a big pile of balloons on the table, and this drunk blonde girl comes up and says, Oh, do you two do balloons? And I looked at my friend, and he looked at me, and we just shook our heads. So we made some balloons for her, and she gave us a bunch of money.
And my son's sitting there being real quiet. So she came time for her to leave, and she walked up and she gave us some more money. And she had a basketball pick sheet, and I don't know the first thing about sports. I know football's the one that's pointy on the ends. That's the only thing I know. But she came up and she said, I need somebody to help me with this basketball pick sheet.
Can you help me in? My buddy Joe, he didn't know anything about it. I didn't know anything about it. I said, here's your man right here, pointing at my son. He's 11. So he BS'd her along with the best of them. And she gave him some money, and she said, my son's 11.
She's college. She said, well, I don't know how I can ever thank you. And he looked there square in the eye, and he said, how about you give me your phone number? And I was speechless, and that's very rare for me to be speechless. I said, boy, what did you say? You are 11 years old.
He said, can't hurt to ask. After living in Oxford for so many years and doing magic and balloon art for parties throughout that time, Steve is widely recognized. I met Steve at the coffee shop on the square here in town. If you go there often enough, you'll begin to see a lot of the same people. And there are always kids in there. They're always coming up to the table talking to me. And they're always waving at me from across the room.
And I think that's great. I love making friends, and I've seen these kids grow up. I get parents who come up to me and say, oh, yeah, you did my birthday party when I was five. This is my little girl. She's seven.
We want to see if you can come do her party. So along with making me feel really old, it makes me feel good that they remember who I am and what I do. Some people who are children's entertainers talk about, oh, the kids are so bad.
The kids are so bad. What do you do to keep the kids in line while you're doing shows? What are some of your techniques?
Well, my technique is I'm six foot three and I weigh 265 pounds. And I've developed this little goatee that has a purpose, makes you look a little more grown up. I have an earring in each ear, which I guess makes the kids think you're not like a normal, you're not like dad.
So they tend to act right. Of course, before our conversation was over, I had to ask Steve to make a balloon for me. He carries balloons with him all the time. And of course I carry balloons with me. What do we have here? Let's see what happens. Oh, perfect.
Perfect. And if you ever see me in the coffee shop, who bought a bag of balloons, I'm trying to cheer up a kid who looks like he's having a bad day. That's another thing that most people don't realize is people see me do balloons and I mouth inflate. Most people don't because it takes a lot of lung power to blow up one of these balloons. And I have apnea. I sleep with a breathing machine every night. Well, in one of my pulmonologist meetings or appointments, I asked. I told the doctor what I do. And he's like, well, let's test you out. We tested out my lung capacity and I have almost double the lung capacity and lung strength from doing this.
So you take the green one and you twist it and you twist it and you twist it. I could give you a ballooning lesson. Next time I see you in the coffee shop, I'll bring out a bag of balloons.
It looks less creepy if somebody's sitting there with you doing it. And, you know, there are a lot of people who are fantastic with balloons. I have friends all over the world who can make life sized motorcycles. And that's great. But that takes like three days.
I would rather make something quick and easy. And I think my entertainment value comes more in the interaction between me and the child or the parents than it does. The fact that your balloon looks exactly like, you know, Ronald Reagan or whoever, whatever you're trying to make.
Then you take the heart, stretch the heart, tweak the heart. And people watch me do balloons a lot of times. They'll carry on a conversation the same time I'm doing it.
You're not even watching what you're doing. Anything I make, I can make behind my back or without looking at what I'm doing. And this goes on your arm. I'll save it for you. I won't walk out with it. And, you know, that will put a smile on a teacher's face, a child's face, a mom's face. Doesn't matter.
80 year old lady. I think it's that you can be creative with them. But, you know, if you give a just a round of balloon. And I don't recommend doing this because even I have my limitations. I won't do a balloon for anybody under four because of the whole choking hazard. If I know the child and I know that they're not going to, they're smart enough to not be sticking their fist in their mouth. I'll do a balloon for him. But if you give like a five year old a round balloon, just a round balloon with no picture on it or anything, they'll play with it until it pops. They'll play with it for hours. And I don't know what it is.
Just what do they say? It's a it's a gift. It's a bag of my breath. That's our local magician and balloon art expert, Steve Thomas. And I'm Faith Buchanan for Our American Stories. It's just a bag of my breath.
It's much more than that. Any of us could try this. I've tried 100 times.
In fact, this year I now have a new New Year's resolution. It's to get Steve Thomas to teach me how to do balloons. I live just to make kids smile and laugh, he said.
And I try to cheer up a kid who's having a bad day. A great story about a guy who deals with, well, a really tough and slow and debilitating disease called Parkinson's by ignoring it and just going on about his day, cheerfully making other people's days happier. Steve Thomas's story here on Our American Stories. Hey, you guys, this is Tori and Jenny with the 9021 OMG podcast. We have such a special episode brought to you by NerdTech ODT. We recorded it at I Heart Radio's 10th poll event, Wango Tango. Did you know that NerdTech ODT Remedipant 75 milligrams can help migraine sufferers still attend such an exciting event like Wango Tango?
It's true. I had one that night and I took my NerdTech ODT and I was present and had an amazing time. Here's a little glimpse of our conversation with some of our closest friends. This episode was brought to you by NerdTech ODT Remedipant 75 milligrams. Life with migraine attacks can mean missing out on big moments with friends and family.
But thankfully, NerdTech ODT Remedipant 75 milligrams is the only medication that is proven to treat a migraine attack and prevent episodic migraines in adults. So lively events like Wango Tango don't have to be missed. Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year, and UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare annual enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th. If you're working past age 65, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage.
It can seem confusing, but it doesn't have to be. Visit UHCmedicarehealthplans.com to learn more. UnitedHealthcare, helping people live healthier lives. I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop, but for small business insurance, I need my State Farm agent. They make sure my business stays piping hot, and I stay cool and confident. See, they're small business owners too, so they know how to help you best. State Farm is in your corner and on it. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
Call your local State Farm agent for a quote today. This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show, including your stories. Send them to OurAmericanStories.com.
That's OurAmericanStories.com. They're some of our favorites. Known as Canada's Hockey Dad, Walter Gretzky died at the age of 82. His death prompted an avalanche of tributes for an approachable, authentic person who nurtured the unsurpassed hockey talents of his son, Wayne Gretzky, on the family's famed backyard rink in Brantford, Ontario.
Walter suffered a serious brain aneurysm, which robbed him of much of his memory in 2007. That includes many of Wayne's biggest moments. The 60 year old NHL legend turned American citizen delivered remarks at the St. Mark's Anglican Church in Brantford shortly after laying his father to rest. Wayne stepped up to the podium in front of family, seated in the pews and reminisced about his father's life.
Here's Wayne Gretzky. Thank you. And obviously, with the pandemic that we've had, it's been horrible for everyone throughout the world, Canada, North America. I really want to tell everyone that my dad and my sister and our family were so conscious of it that COVID had nothing to do with the passing of my father. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, he sustained a bad hip injury.
And as you just said earlier, we thought weeks ago that the end was here. He has tremendous amount of faith, faith like I've never seen. But he had a love for life and he didn't want to leave. And we were 21 days sitting with him and just enjoying life and we got a chance and opportunity to tell stories. Our grandchildren have never seen my dad after his brain aneurysm. And we were telling them all, you're thankful that you didn't know him before his brain aneurysm because he was a lot tougher.
So it's been a tough time. I want to thank everyone in the community who dropped off food, who dropped off sandwiches. They knew we were all there for 21 days. My sister was a champ.
She was beside him each and every minute of the day. The grandkids were wonderful. My dad and mom I know are so proud. So I thought I would tell a couple of stories. I didn't know, I spent the last four nights talking with my wife Janet thinking what I was going to say.
And like I usually do, I try to just kind of wing it and speak from my heart. So years ago, as everyone knows, my dad was such a huge sports fan and hockey guy. And we were playing in a hockey tournament outside of Toronto. And my dad was so proud of the fact we were going to play against better teams than little towns in this area. And on a Friday night we were going to the tournament and my mom said to him, Walter, we're going to have this baby this weekend. And he said, it's okay, you can wait until we get back.
So Brent was born on the Saturday. We went to this tournament in Whitby, Ontario. We played against good teams like Burlington, Oshawa, Hamilton, Toronto, Marlies, Nationals.
We won the tournament. We got in the car and we weren't sure if the car could get us back from Oshawa to Brantford. So we finally got back and the next day mom came home with Brent. People were coming by, families, friends, sisters.
Congratulations on the baby. And every single person would say to my dad, Walter, I can't believe you missed the birth of your son. So our next door neighbor, Mary Rosetto, came over. She was the last person to come over. She said, Walter, I can't believe you missed the birth of Brent. And when she walked out the door, he was so mad.
He stood up and he grabbed the trophy and he goes, yes, but we got the trophy. So as time goes on, he was so nice to all the grandchildren. Every grandchild loved him, close to each and every one of them. They understood how important he was, not only to our family, but to the culture of Canada. He came here, his family is an immigrant.
They came here because they wanted a better life. I don't think I've ever met a prouder Canadian than my dad. And all my five children are American, born in the United States. And I always tell them, you should be as proud of the United States as your grandfather is of Canada.
Because that's how much he loves the country. So I always tell my kids, you know, there's nothing better in life than family. So my dad would come every year to our summer house. My son, Ty, Trevor, Tristan, they had a hockey school and dad would come out.
He'd go to the rink, sign autographs like he always does. And we were playing golf one day and he's picking up golf balls. And I'm like, we have all these golf balls, what are all these golf balls for? And finally the next day, Ty, Trevor, Tristan, my friend Mike and Tom, they're in the fairway, they're in the rough, they're grabbing all these balls. And I finally grab them and I said, you guys got to stop grabbing golf balls.
And they're like, what do you mean? Your dad wants them for the kids. I said, I know he wants them for the kids, but I got to sign them for the kids. So I take my dad to the airport at 5 a.m. Sure enough, we get to the airport and there's these two big bags. And my brother Glenn, he runs out of the car. He's going to get a cup of coffee and my dad goes, you'll sign these for the kids, right? I'm like, oh my God.
So there I was signing for hours. But that's how he was. He was a remarkable man who loved life, loved family. We'd be a way better world if there were so many more people like my dad. Very special, we're all hurting, this is a tough time. I'm so proud of the fact that so many people have reached out and given him such great tributes because he deserves it.
He has a heart of gold and just wonderful. And you've been listening to Wayne Gretzky eulogizing his father. And by the way, though, he suffered tremendous memory loss due to that brain aneurysm. The father did remember many accounts of his own personal faith. And we have a couple of quotes from you. In our family, Walter once said, we're all Christians and we all help each other. It's do unto others as you would like done unto yourself. Walter also said in 2013 that one morning during his rehabilitation, he woke up and couldn't stop singing All of Amazing Grace. And that will be all the verses.
It drove my therapist nuts, he said. For my sister and three brothers, dad was our team captain, Wayne said. He guided, protected and led our family every day, every step of the way.
And by the way, we would love to hear your stories about your father, your mother. And we love eulogies. I mean, not that we love that there's a death, but there inevitably is for all of us. And the eulogy is a summary of a life written by people closest to the person that's departed. And so if you have a great eulogy in mind from a family member or someone else, our favorite here on this show.
And I think there are two. Swen Nader, a player who had played for John Wooden, wrote a poem for coach. Swen was a poet, a great ballplayer, but a poet.
And it was spectacular. And then my favorite, my personal favorite was Jack Nicholas eulogizing Arnold Palmer and telling the world what made Arnold special. So if you have those stories, eulogies, if you have a recording, be still my heart. Send it our way.
Send it to our American stories dot com. Wayne Gretzky eulogizes his father and one can tell there was great love there. And when you have a father's love and a mother's love, you're privileged. And when you don't. Well, enough said.
When Gretzky's eulogy of his father here on our American stories. Seventy five milligrams can help migraine sufferers still attend such an exciting event like Wango Tango. It's true. I had one that night and I took my nerd tech O.D.T.
and I was present and had an amazing time. Here's a little glimpse of our conversation with some of our closest friends. This episode was brought to you by nerd tech O.D.T. Remedia pants. Seventy five milligrams. Life with migraine attacks can mean missing out on big moments with friends and family. But thankfully, nerd tech O.D.T.
Remedia pants. Seventy five milligrams is the only medication that is proven to treat a migraine attack and prevent episodic migraines in adults. So lively events like Wango Tango don't have to be missed. Soon, millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year. And UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices for those eligible. Medicare annual enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th. If you're working past age 65, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage.
It can seem confusing, but it doesn't have to be. Visit UHC Medicare health plans dot com to learn more. UnitedHealthcare.
Helping people live healthier lives. I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop. But for small business insurance, I need my State Farm agent. They make sure my business stays piping hot and I stay cool and confident. See, they're small business owners, too, so they know how to help you best. State Farm is in your corner and on it. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
Call your local State Farm agent for a quote today. And we return to our American stories. Up next, a story from our regular contributor, Dennis Peterson. Today, Dennis shares with us the story of something his father did called make and do.
Here's Dennis. It surely had something to do with his having grown up on a farm and during the Great Depression, but Daddy expressed few desires for things and he seldom made impulse purchases. He bought only what he needed. If he needed it but couldn't buy it, he made it or did without. He was always looking for the better deal on what few things he did buy. Daddy hated debt.
He had built his own house on his own land. The only debt he incurred was for the drilling of a well on his property, something that he was unable to do himself. He paid his brother-in-law, my Uncle Dylan, $10 a month until the total was paid off, and he never owed anyone a dime after that. Rather, Daddy saved money.
Actually, it was probably Mother who saved it, but Daddy certainly was behind her efforts, never fighting against her on it. I recall that every time the Knoxville News Sentinel raised its subscription rate, Daddy threatened to stop the paper, but Mother always found some way to trim the household budget, usually through getting better buys on her grocery purchases, and saved enough to pay the higher rate and keep getting the paper. For years, home delivery of the seven-day subscription was only 50 cents a week, but if Daddy needed something, he saved for it, not making the purchase until he had the cash in hand to pay for it. That's what he did when buying a car or truck.
He saved and saved over a long time. Then, when he was approaching the amount needed for the purchase, he began shopping around for the best deal. When he thought he had located the vehicle he wanted, he sat down with the salesman and stated his terms.
90 days, same as cash. If the dealer wouldn't accept those simple terms, Daddy simply got up and walked out. That's how he bought every car and truck he ever owned. Daddy was not tempted to exceed the top amount he had determined to spend by any dealer add-ons, options, or extra features or enticements. He wanted no luxury features, no radio or air conditioning when those features were optional. He did get them when they became standard. His trucks never had radios. They were work trucks. No wide, white sidewalls, if it was extra. No fancy hubcaps or wheels.
No more chrome than was standard. And those were the days before most of the cars were made of plastic. Daddy saved more than money, though. He seldom threw anything away. We might need it someday, he would offer as a reason for hanging on to something. Many a time when I had nothing to do when I went to work with him, or on rainy or cold days when we could not work, he had me pull nails from scaffold boards that had been nailed together. After I removed them, he instructed me to straighten them and store them in a large coffee can or jelly jar or old wooden box. He might need to reuse them later. He also had a similar collection of old assorted sizes of screws, bolts, nuts, washers, and rubber gaskets. Then, when a need arose for one of those items, it would be available. He wouldn't have to run to the hardware store to buy one. He would, however, spend an hour or so searching through endless cans and boxes and other kinds of containers until he found the right item for his current need. This was all part of what he called making do.
But to make do, you had to have a ready supply of material and tools to make do with. That's why he saved, not just money, but everything. But I was impatient. I couldn't understand Daddy's thinking. Daddy, I sometimes tried to reason with him, you save all these nuts and bolts and washers and screws to save money.
But then you'll spend an hour or more hunting through the whole collection trying to find the right one. Don't you know that time is money? He couldn't see it that way.
I'd resigned myself to his never changing. The problem was that it was often my time, too. The place where Daddy's making do concerned me most was on the job site.
He sometimes improvised in ways that clearly were unsafe to himself, me, and other workers. For example, when I was so young that I could carry a maximum of only three bricks at a time, I was working with Daddy on a house that on the upper end was one story tall, but on the lower end was three stories. The pile of used bricks that had been dumped on the upper end meant that I had to transfer them as needed on the scaffold all the way to the other end of the house. Daddy rigged a two by ten walk board running from the brick pile to the uppermost scaffold. I was to carry my three bricks up that board and along the scaffold walkway to the other end of the house. My problem was that with both of my hands on the bricks, I had no way of balancing myself on the walk board.
I would fall off. Listening to my complaint, Daddy conceded and agreed to put a handrail on one side of the walk board. That sounded to me like a safer solution to the problem. But after he added the rail and I tried it out, I discovered that the rail made the walk space on the board even narrower, forcing me to walk toward one side of the board. Daddy insisted, however, that it was safe. I tried to make it work and promptly fell off the side without the rail and into the pile of bricks below.
Daddy's make and do once just about did him in, too. He was working high on the scaffold in the gable end of a house. He used two walk boards nailed together with sixteen penny nails to span the central part of the scaffold. Is that safe? I asked with genuine concern. Of course it's safe, he responded, sounding a bit hurt by my doubts.
I built it, didn't I? He walked across it once and then recrossed it, bouncing up and down on it a little to demonstrate his point. Over the course of the day, however, his repeated walking and bouncing across the gap caused the nails to begin working loose. Near the end of the day, the board suddenly separated as Daddy walked across them and down he fell, about twenty feet. into a wheelbarrow of freshly mixed mortar.
Other than a skinned shin and a bruised ego, he was uninjured. But what would have been the result of that fall had that barrow of mortar not been there to cushion the fall? On another occasion, when Daddy made do, he nearly burned our house down. We had been having some trouble with our water heater not being able to meet the demands of a family of six. One Saturday, we asked Daddy to look at it and see what the problem was. Upon examining it, he determined that one element had burned out. But he thought that he could jury-rig it so that it would still produce heat. I don't understand electrical appliances enough to know exactly what he did, but I think he somehow bypassed something and rewired some other thing. And it worked. Problem solved.
Or so we thought. On Monday afternoon, we drove into the garage when we got home from work, and for some odd reason, I happened to look toward the opposite side of the garage, where our water heater was. I saw one side of it blackened from bottom to top. My eyes followed the direction of the rising soot stain to the ceiling joist. They were charred, and the insulation between the joists was blackened.
Fortunately, the fire caused the circuit breaker to do its job, cutting off the power and preventing further damage. That's what can come from make-and-do. But Daddy remained a make-do man all his life.
And a great work, as always, by Monty Montgomery, and a special thanks to Dennis Peterson. And you can go to dennislpeterson.com to hear more of his stories, the upsides and the downsides of having a make-and-do kind of dad or mom or anyone around you. And I've had enough of them around me in my life, and sometimes they're a joy, and sometimes they'll kill you.
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Whisper: medium.en / 2023-02-16 04:33:27 / 2023-02-16 04:50:36 / 17
