Michael Binkley Thanks His Father

For the third year in a row, the month of July is when we have turned to renovations. This time around, Michelle and I are updating our guest bathroom and we have just finished grouting the tile surrounding the tub and shower. I don’t think our new design will make it to Houzz, but it will certainly be a huge improvement over what the room used to look like.

On the first day of my 53rd trip around the sun, and as Michelle and I are doing this renovation, I am reminded of and ever so thankful for a valuable lesson I was taught many years ago. I learned from my father the joy of working with my hands and the satisfaction of accomplishing a project that came from my own blood and sweat.

When I was a young boy, I would spend many a weekend afternoon with my dad in his woodworking shop in the basement of our home. He taught me how to use a myriad of tools and I made toys and models of things from wood. He instilled an enthusiasm in me such that I even snuck into the shop on weekday afternoons when he was still at work, probably against his rules. As I grew older, my father’s lessons progressed to those of basic skills of construction, which were fortified by shop classes in high school.

These lessons were the building blocks not only for my abilities to look after my home, but they also laid the foundation for my future as an artist. When my calling came to become a stone sculptor, I already had the confidence in using my hands thanks to the foundation I got in my father’s workshop. I merely had to learn how to make them use a new set of tools.

Thank you, Dad for teaching me the joy of working with my hands and showing me the satisfaction I can get from putting in a hard day using them.