Off Topic

Since today is a rest day (my calves feel better after a full day of icing, thankyouverymuch!), I thought I'd share a slightly off topic story with you. It has been a relevatory day in a lot of different ways.

My father, Robert Keniston, is one of my heroes for this race. He has been gone since July of 2007, but I still feel his gentle presence all around me.

My dad was a carpenter. An avid woodworker. He built many pieces of furniture for our house, built our back deck and shed, and had set up quite a comprehensive woodworking shop in the basement. When he passed away, we were at a loss as to what to do with the large power tools he had amassed. We let it go for a while.

When we decided to renovate the house, these large, cumbersome tools (5'x3' table saw, radial arm saw, router, miter saw) became an issue, as they were occupying valuable real estate. We were hemming and hawing and not sure what to do - carpentry was what DEFINED my father, and to sell or give away these items would be to lose a very tangible remnant of him.

But this week we sucked it up. I put an ad on craigslist for the four large tools. Within three minutes we had four inquiries. Within twelve hours, three of the four items were negotiated and spoken for by one buyer, Danny. We had some trepidation about the process - craigslist has gotten some pretty negative attention lately, and we'd never dealt with an online sale before.

Danny came tonight with his father-in-law, Gene, to pick up the tools. I met him in the driveway, and we started chatting. Danny is renovating the second floor of his home. He spoke glowingly of all the things he had planned. He was supremely polite and wonderful and funny. I couldn't figure out why Danny wouldn't get out of his truck until Gene got out of HIS truck and came over and got Danny's wheelchair out of the back of the truck.

There was a momentary flash of awkwardness - both Mom and I were thinking, "how is he going to get down the basement steps to see the tools?"

We needn't have worried. After Gene had gotten him down the basement steps, he proceeded to masterfully take apart the table saw from his wheelchair, and Gene & my fiance carried it upstairs.

We threw in the cabinets that Dad had built for the miter saw and router for free. Plus extra blades and tripod rollers to feed wood into the table saw.

As they drove away, Mom and I looked at each other, and I was not surprised at all that both of us were a little misty eyed. Part of Dad was gone, but we were both thinking, "here's a good man, who is going to use Dad's tools to build his family's home."

It's exactly what Dad would have wanted. And I totally think Dad set it up.

Because that's just how superstitious I am. Sometimes I can't see my hand in front of my face, but I sure do know when Dad works his gentle magic.