Saying "Thank You"

   “Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” —Voltaire

 I have been thinking a lot lately about how we learn to do the things we know how to do. And, how about much we owe to people who have taught us the skills we have along the way.  One of my kids (well, he's 26, but he's still MY kid) has been doing a lot of repair work for people this summer, on old tractors, bulldozers, etc. and at the same time, working on remodeling his house, while waiting for his last semester of nursing school to begin next week.  While this really isn't anything new for him, the fact that his work is being talked about and his name passed on to others who call him based upon someone else's recommendations, and the fact that he's been in pretty high demand lately is kind of cool. Cool enough, and he's been busy enough, swamped actually, that I have started really thinking about it - how does he know how to DO this stuff? He talks to me about engine repair, and any time he ever talks about anything under the hood of a vehicle, or the inner workings of some machine, my eyes glaze over. I'm not kidding when I say I can barely find the place to check the oil (I never ever do) or replace my own windshield washer fluid (only if I have to, after driving with slush thrown on my windows a time too many). I do not know a carburetor from a spark plug. He does. How? I can think of a few things - yes, he did go to school for diesel mechanics for two years, and I know he learned there. But he already knew a ton before he went. He went to BOCES. I am guessing he learned some there. So formal schooling helps. But before that. When he was a very little kid, and we would all go to the library, my other three borrowed story books, either to read on their own or if they were higher level, for me to read to them. Not my 3rd-born. His favorite book at the library to take out, time and time and time again, as a pretty young kid, definitely beginning when he was too young to even read, was a thick, hardcover book on lawnmower repair. I initially remember telling him no, but eventually gave up. Did he learn things from the detailed diagrams even before he could really read? I don't know but he loved that book. It went to bed with him many nights. And others that were similar, books like How Things Work, and other nonfiction books about cars, etc. He never really did enjoy fiction. Most of all, though, I think the way he learned soooo much of what he knows, and in the best, most enjoyable way possible for him, was from our next door neighbor, Scott.  As my #3 was growing up, he spent most of his time in the next door neighbor's garage, getting his hands (and usually all the rest of him as well) dirty. I don't know what all went on in there, but I imagine that when he was at his youngest, he probably did no more than hand Scott tools he asked for, and messed around. I know that as he grew, Scott did explain things and teach him things. #3 ate it up. The patience of that man was incredible - my kid is not the only kid he has taken under his mechanical wings to teach, by far. He has taught and influenced many, many neighborhood kids, and so many of them have him to thank for their knowledge and learning. I guess he was born with the predisposition for an interest in motorized things, but all of those things, (including also the junkyard our front yard became as he would drag things home to take apart, put back together) contributed to how he can now efficiently and expertly take apart a bulldozer, diagnose it and fix it, or know what is wrong with someone's tractor or swap out engine blocks from one truck to another, or any of the other million things he knows that I don't. He's also incredibly smart at a million other things - not JUST mechanics, but my post really wasn't meant to be about him, per se, rather, about how we learn. 

I was sewing a lot during the initial period of isolation. I made a zillion masks, and my sister made some as well, and we both talked about our mom teaching us to sew. The funny thing is, my mom was not, when I was growing up, a fantabulous seamstress. She could follow a pattern (something that still frustrates me to this day) and she made a few things, nightgowns for Christmas, especially, that I remember, but it's not like she made all her own wardrobe or spent a lot of time at her machine (though my sister may have different memories, since we are 12 years apart in age). But I DO remember her teaching me about the machine, how to thread it, how to use the foot pedal, about tension and fabric thickness, many things that have stayed with me. I also used to spend countless hours at my neighbor's house, learning to hand sew by playing with fabric scraps from garbage bags full upstairs. She would let us use whatever scraps we wanted from those bags to make doll clothes, baby quilts, bean bags, or any other thing we could imagine. And I did take home ec in 7th grade, where poor Mrs. Babbitt, I"m SURE, thought I was a hopeless case after I sewed the two sleeves of my 4 piece shirt (front, back, sleeve, sleeve - NOT HARD, Laurie!) shut, or upside down or whatever they were. I'm SURE I did learn from her, but I think I must have learned far more after that age, in order to still be sewing today. I did also have to watch a few short YouTube videos to address specific problems that arose when I switched machines mid-mask making, so technology has been helpful to learning too?

I raise chickens. THAT was a steep learning curve for me, never having had them growing up. I had NO idea what to do, or what they needed. Everything I needed to know about chickens I learned from a great guy, a friend's dad,  who had his own, and who seemed to enjoy passing along the love of chicken-keeping to me. He EVEN passed along my first chicken and rooster pair!  I read a lot, but mostly, anytime I had questions, I would message him to ask and he would answer, and I would learn. I owe him nearly everything I know about raising chickens. I have a lot of other interests as well - a million of them. I love to bake, and read, and do crafts, and I'm obsessed with dogs and dog care, and I love sled dogs and mushing, and gardening, and canning and art and writing and teaching and and and and......

I LOVE learning new things. I tried (and failed, but WILL try again) sourdough bread baking. I also tried cookie decorating. Wasn't great my first time, but my last-born daughter helped me attempt to learn that .At least enough that I understand the process and would be willing to try again.  I also bought a book that was recommended. I canned dilly beans for the first time (I think they are gross, but #3 loves them, and I had an excess of green beans in the garden, so... why not). I had a mid-canning crisis in terms of what constituted the head of the dill weed I was suppose to use - but... and here's what I guess I'm getting at this whole time - I reached out and asked someone I knew would know the answer to my question. (She's the same one who helped with my foray into sourdough  - and didn't laugh at me when I had a million questions to begin with. Maybe she rolled her eyes, I don't know. She's a couple of miles away from me...)

Everything important, all the MOST IMPORTANT THINGS, I have learned, I have learned from people who have been willing to teach me. I owe a lot of my knowledge, most of it in fact I would bet, to other people. I owe so much to my teachers themselves as I was growing up, and college teachers who helped me learn to write better, art teachers who although they could not pass along their own innate talent, did help me learn about perspective and color choices, friends who have helped along the way in my various journeys and pathways of life.  I have become a better person because of those I have asked for help, and those who have responded. My life is certainly far richer because of all the others who have taught me, and who continue to teach me, along the way. Thank you doesn't seem like much, but it's a start. Who taught you? Where did you learn the things you do best?  I bet we all have a million people to thank for where we are and the skills and joys and abilities we have.