Now that George is out of school and I’m not playing
teacher or tutor to him, I have some time on my hands. Truth be told, this is one of the only times
in the eight years since I had Clayton that I have had this much time. Clayton was sick with his kidney disease and
a few other things when he was little, then he got cancer, then his back, then
we physically built our house ourselves and immediately after we moved in,
George started school. This feels like
the first good chance I have had to breathe and relax a little. But since I don’t like being too idle, I am
taking this rare opportunity to do something that while it is for my family, is
also very much for me; my vintage booth.
I have a booth in a local antique mall that I have had for the past
couple of years. It has been something
that was filled with items people donated to help Clayton’s medical fund.
Over the past couple years, it has functioned in that way
and been perfect because I could leave and do what I needed to do with Clayton
and not think twice about it. Since this model works so well with my life with Clayton, I always
wanted to do more with it. I have
been hoarding ideas and things for projects I have wanted to do for years and I
am finally getting to them. I have all kinds
of things I want to do with the booth to provide a small income for my family
for fun things and medical bills, but also for my soul. I LOVE working on projects like this. It relaxes me and I get so much enjoyment
from it. So I have been super excited to
have the time to finally customize my booth and make it my style and start to
craft my own inventory, which is my ultimate goal. Baby steps though.
This past week I have added a burlap backdrop, fabric
covered wall, board and batten treatment and now I am adding a decorative
weathered tin roof! I looked on craigslist
and didn’t see the rusty corrugated style tin I was looking for. And then I realized that weathered tin is
exactly the sort of thing my Paw Paw would have in his enormous old barn. So after talking to my grandmother she told
me to come look around and see if I could find any. I hadn’t been in his barn since he
passed. Not many people have. It was emotional because that barn is my Paw
Paw in every way. I spent so much time
in that barn growing up with my cousin Adam trying to tinker around with Paw
Paw. I have so many fun memories of
being in there and I always loved it. My
favorite days were the ones when he had the huge double doors flung open and we
would go in and out playing here and there munching on kumquats and satsumas.
His barn is a treasure trove of things from burn barrels to hammers and
absolutely EVERYTHING in between. He was definitely a collector of things... but in an organized way.
At
some point, the family will go through it.
And while I certainly can’t speak for anyone else, I can say that for me
the idea of messing with anything is hard.
It has to be done, but it is hard.
It still feels like his and the idea of dismantling his system of stuff
is just…tough. His personality covers
every square inch of that barn. It’s why
I knew he might have the rusted old tin I was looking for. This is exactly the kind of project I would
have turned to him for help with had he been here. :(
After not finding any tin in the barn, I went to go look
around back where I remembered him having some stuff when I was a kid...yes there was a decent chance it would still be there. As I started to round the end of the barn
where there is a carport, I saw it; against the outside wall was my rusted
tin. I started doing the
hyperventilating crying thing. I knew
Paw Paw would have it and he did. Even
when he is no longer here, he managed to help me out. As George stared at me wondering what he
should do, I finally caught my breath. I
had not missed my Paw Paw that intensely since he passed. I know, I know…I’m
sure I sound like a goof to some people.
Now that I have my tin, George made the supports and I am
staining, painting and weathering those, then we have to cut the tin and hopefully by the
end of the week it will be hung.
Progress! I'll post pictures once it is.
While the last couple of years, the booth has been a hodge-podge
of donated items and even some of mine and my mom’ things, I am trying to sell
off the old and craft the new. Moving
forward I only want to fill the booth with handcrafted items (by myself or George),
vintage finds or repurposed items; all of which need to be my personal
style. I think I will have more success
with the booth by filling it with things I love that I would want to buy
myself. So I’m excited for a little extra
income (I hope) and lots of crafting in my future. It will take a little time for the booth to
fully evolve but the process has started which is a win!
No comments:
Post a Comment