Hold What Ya Got

I don't know if it's because I haven't got a whole lot of attention for detail, or because the alcohol I imbibed during early adolescence burned them away, but I don't have a whole host of childhood memories like some people do.  I don't really have any scarring memories that would lead me to block anything out, it's just that I don't have many detailed memories.  Maybe that's normal.  Thoughts?  Feel free to comment.

However, I do remember working in the family cabinet shop during my summers and on afternoons after school.  Early on, I followed my grandfather around as he built corner cupboards and teal leaf tables for customers.  My first steady placement at the shop was the spray room, where raw wood is dressed with paints and stains and clear coats that make it shimmer.  I spent so much time in the spray room, the smell of fresh laquer smells like home, and it makes me think of the loud squealing country songs that were always playing, the ones that I know all of the words to.  When I wasn't standing in the spray room, feverishly sealer-sanding cabinets to a smooth finish, I was out on the main floor of the shop, heaving thick pieces of Cherry, Poplar, and Oak up to the rafters where we stored all of the rough cut wood.  On other days, I would help to sand cabinets, plane boards, or some days, if I was really lucky, I would go out on the road with installers, and I would get to put the finished products into their places in houses, hoisted with screws and shims and brackets.

Oftentimes, when I was holding the weight of a cabinet, or a door that was being set, or later, when I would walk the purlins of a barn roof to steady a truss or ibeam that would be nailed in place, someone would yell, "Hold what ya got!"  This simple phrase was important but so simple.  Hold what ya got.  Don't bear more weight than is necessary, but maintain the weight that's needed to get the job done.  When a plumb was placed on a door, for instance, and when I had the door lifted to the necessary location, I just needed to hold what I had, no more, no less.

Harry Lee Stover, Granddad

I often hear this phrase in my mind, a vestige from days of hard work throughout childhood, and a message that means something more to me now than it ever did before.  It's a value that we often forget.  Just to be, in balance with that around us, nothing more or less.  Always do what is necessary to maintain balance, but don't bear more weight, or overcompensate.  Simply, hold what ya got.  The rest will fall into place.