Savouring Memories
11:17 pm
I lost my maternal grandfather when I was 7 years old. During more than two decades that have passed since, my memory of him has become rather
distorted and vague. Undeniably, we cannot arrest time and forever withhold in
our minds all the things experienced. Whether this is for good or for worse, I
am in no positon to tell.
However, after an embarrassingly long time, today I visited my grandparents’
family house. Strangely, never before have I noticed the memories stored
within. Perhaps I was too young, too disinterested, too distracted. But I am
glad to have finally opened my senses to the stories preserved behind the stone
walls of their home. Today I have discovered nearly a century of my family
history that's been stored in wood all this time. Yes, in wood.
You see, my grandpa used to be a carpenter, a husband,
and a father of seven. The country life at the time was more than difficult, but
the family somehow managed to live through. If he were still alive, grandpa would
currently be counting 22 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Now that is truly admirable, don't you think?
Anyway, as a carpenter, despite his poor health,
grandpa single-handedly and with only a scarce selection of tools made all the
wooden items in their family house. These included doors, cabinets,
chandeliers, wall panels, tables, chairs, dishes, decorations, frames, and even some
musical instruments. What makes this even more fascinating is the fact that every
single piece is still in its place, looking almost exactly the same as the day it was created, although somewhat dusty. And if you disregard several modern appliances and family photographs,
the place seems as if time had stopped there at the point the last wooden item was brought in.
When the cognition of the hard-work and dedication put
into making this house a warm home for nine struck me today, there was nothing
else to do but to take out my camera and perpetuate the lifetime achievement of
such a remarkable man. It also made me think about how overall underappreciated
our ancestors are, and how much there is to learn about them at any instance. So
I felt the urge to share the story with everyone.
Below are several photos of the Museum of Wood I took today. I hope you'll like grandpa's carpentry work and eye for detail!
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