Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Jokester

They were tiny hulls, hand-carved with small masts and yards—little clippers, frigates, and schooners. My father-in-law, the Cap’n, laughed and said they were toys. My first wife smiled adoringly at her father. Only my mother-in-law picked one up, held it under the light, and smiled encouragingly. But she said nothing. She never disagreed with her husband on nautical matters.

Then the Cap’n laughed, tossed the tiny hull back to me, and told me that it was a joke of an idea, and I should get serious about my carving.

Years later, a lady stopped by my booth at a boat show and told me she wanted a carving of her husband’s boat, an Eltro 19. I agreed to try the commission. When I got home from the show, I spent time thinking about how to proceed. My eyes settled on the one remaining little hull on the shelf. My mind started cogitating, and eventually I decided that a simple relief carving of the boat would do. It was the first of many boat and ship portraits.

I had hung on to the crude little hull not because it was a great carving, it wasn’t. But because it held the germ of an idea. It just took a nice lady looking for a birthday present to make the idea come into focus.

Definitely not a joke. Not all ideas spring full-blown from our minds; some have to develop slowly until they are ready.