Innovation

I'm sure I've mentioned it on here before, but my father is a very intelligent man.

Even when I was a dipshit teenager, I still could acknowledge that he is a very intelligent man.

He's also an educated man, often times a self educated man.  And I think that may be one of his greatest gifts to me.

See, when my father is curious about something (say, how something is made, or why something is done a certain way) he goes to great lengths to find out all he can about it.  This often includes learning how to make that particular thing and, almost as often results in him making a working version of that thing.

This is one of the things I've tried to pick up from him over the years.

You could say he taught it to me by example.


So, so far this year I've been doing a lot of work with copper because I got curious about it.

Last year I got curious about bow hunting and learning Japanese.

A few years back I got curious about mixing drinks, cooking, and plating food (and as a result I've managed to impress a couple of friends).   I spent months learning and doing these things.  And I can still remember most of them.

But my father, he's spent years doing things like this (Often improving on the methods and construction of various projects along the way...) 

In many ways he is a good match for my mother, in that he innovates and she perfects.

Recently they've become interested in ceramics and pottery (among other things).  And it's really fun to see them working together on projects.

At times I can almost imagine what they must have been like before having children, and I sometimes wish I could have known them at that time.

And tonight, with some of the health problems They've had recently, and some of the issues with their care providers,  I find myself thinking about just how much knowledge is going to leave the world when they die. 

And I find myself regretting the fact that, no matter how I try, I will never get to know them as well as I would like to.