A Mechanic's Son...

I'm no stranger to an automobile repair shop. I frequented the garage where my dad worked from a very early age. The aroma of metal, rubber, grease, gasoline, and antifreeze, were just a day in the life of my summer vacation and the occasional day of hooky from school. And, it didn't matter how old I got, I still felt like something special when Daddy said, "Hop in that car and give it some gas!" Among the 5,243,871 questions I'm sure I asked as an inquisitive youth (I know because my daughter is just like me), I learned very little about being a mechanic, but I learned a lot about life. 

Remember those questions I that assailed my dad's ears? Well, one that I distinctly remember stays with me to this day. My dad had a huge toolbox and a ton of tools (and I don't just mean that it seemed that way as a kid). I remember being in awe as I opened and closed all kinds of drawers and cabinets and flaps, all the shiny silver tools: sockets, wrenches, hammers, screwdrivers, and air tools. It was amazing. However, the drawers that really caught my attention were on the bottom right of his largest toolbox. When I opened those drawers I didn't see new shiny tools like the other drawers; I saw wrenches bent out of shape, some tools that appeared to be welded together, and a host of other mangled tools. Yep! You guessed it, the inquisitive kid asked, "Daddy, why do you have this drawer of torn up tools?" "Well," he said, "those are tools are from times when I needed to work on a car, but I didn't have the right tools, so I had to make a tool for the job." "Why don't you just throw it away, Dad?" "I could probably throw a lot of those away because I may never need them again, but I've got plenty of room to keep them, and if I do ever need them, I know where to find them." That one conversation has resonated with me so many times as an adult. In life there are a lot of rules and set ways of doing things much like those standard shiny tools, but sometimes you have to find new ways or build new tools. The new ways may only work once, or they may be that perfect tool in your toolbox.

Being a mechanic's son taught me how to keep others in mind. "Daddy, why do you wash your hands so much when you're just going to get them dirty again?" He responded, "Well, I don't like my car to be dirty and have grease spots on it, so I figure they probably don't either." My father could have easily just left his hands and clothes dirty, and he could have not taken the time to put down seat covers in every car he repaired, after all, it was his job to simply fix the car. Be that as it may, he considered others and taught me a lesson I'll never forget.

Probably the most valuable lesson I learned from my mechanic father is that can't buy time or take the place of doing good work. I'll never forget the time someone brought their car in to the garage along with a car part the customer intended for my dad to use. The man insisted he install the part on the car. Dad told the customer, "If I put that part on that car, you'll be back in here next week because that part is for a different car, and it will probably fall out from under the hood before you drive 100 miles." The man then pulled out a $50 bill to sweeten the deal. Me, being maybe 10 at the time, had no clue what the part was, so I just listed to the conversation. Dad told the guy, "I appreciate your money, but I can't waste my time working doing something I know won't work and have you tell someone that I was the one that did the work." He then walked away and pulled another car to his garage bay and continued working. Money is a necessary part of life, but quality work and time are valuable and shouldn't be taken for granted. 

I am not a mechanic, but I will always be a mechanic's son, raised on grease and steel.