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Days in the Lives of Jethro Gibbs and Family

Chapter 26  Drawing up plans

Sitting in my workshop starting a new project is always exciting.  Lining up all of my measuring tools and sketching my plan gets my head to spinning with all of the possibilities.  For so many years I have done this and now it’s like second nature to me. I remember the first time that I worked with my father in his workshop.  First it was exciting just to spend time with my dad and second, I was learning something new and something that my dad was teaching me. It may sound strange but sometimes I can still hear him tell me just how to hold the chisel or just how hard to push the plane.

On a chair next to me is my son, Richard, and I wonder if he feels as I did when I worked with my father in his workshop.  I love how attentive Richard is when we work together. He asks so many questions and is so eager to learn and then there are times when he just watches me as if amazed at the things that I can do.  He did once tell me that he thought that I was the wiser man there is and creating something out of wood is the coolest thing.  After that I had this silly grin on my face for days whenever I thought of that conversation.

Today we are working on two separate items.  Richard already learned how to put his thoughts to the blueprint and now we are finishing our plans.  At only six years old he impresses me on his skills but I am not surprised when I remember who his mother is.  My Margie also learns new things quickly and she has taught the twins the same skills since their birth, or better yet, before their birth. Even before they were born she was reading, singing, and theorizing to them.  She would have my blueprints and read off the designs to them. She said that they would be born knowing how to design.  She would read books to them and sing to them in various languages and she would have me to talk to them in different languages also.  But the time in my workshop is all about Richard and me. Nicole works with me sometimes too but Richard is steadfast in his wanting to know everything that I know about woodworking.  So caught up in my thoughts I don’t hear Richard talking.

“Daddy I don’t know what to do next.  Will you help me?”

“Of course Richard now what are you trying to do?”

“I want the piece to look like this so how do I draw this section, as a hinge, a curve or what?”

Looking at Richard’s design thus far I see that he needs to make a slight adjustment.  Instead of doing it for him I explain to him why the change will make a better piece and have him to make the correction.  He looks at his drawing and I can see him thinking about it and soon he shakes his head and smiles.  That’s his sign that he understands.  He makes the change on his drawing and continues until he completes his blueprint and is ready to choose his tools.  We both set out the tools that we will use and then hear Margie calling us to dinner.  We make out way upstairs to the bathroom across from the door leading to the basement and we wash up.  

Dinner is already spread out on the dining room table.  Nicole helped cook the meal.  She’s learning a new dish today and we are here to rate her efforts.  Both of the children take turns cooking and they both work with me in the woodshop, Richard more than Nicole.  We bless the food and start eating.  To my surprise it is good and I tell Nicole that.  She smiles and thanks me.  She looks at her brother for his comment but he is too busy stuffing his mouth that he can’t talk.  She takes that as his seal of approval because if he didn’t like what she cooked he would have told her by now.

Once dinner is done Richard and I clean up the kitchen. There’s not much to do because Margie cleans up as she cooks.  She doesn’t like to leave a lot of things to wash once we eat.  So with the dishes clean and put away we meet in the living room for our reading session.  Today is Richard’s turn to read his book.  We sit and listen.  Richard sits in my lap and reads and Nicole sits in Margie’s lap and looks on.  With reading time over the twins go upstairs to prepare for their baths and bed.  

With just a few moments before we have to go upstairs Margie and I sit and hold each other.

“Jethro you are a great father to our son.  It warms my heart to see how much he adores you and looks up to you. That is not to say that you are not a great father to our daughter also but your care of our son is special to me.  Girls are usually special to their dads and boys are supposed to be a chip off the old block but you allow Richard to be himself and still he gravitates to do things that you like to do.  Thank you my love.”

“No thanks needed Margie.  I love Richard and it pleases me so that he likes something that I like.  Yes Nicole is ‘my little girl’ but they both hold special places in my heart.  I just want to have a good relationship with our children.  We both know that when they reach their teenage years they might not feel the same so I will enjoy it while I can.”

“So shall we both Jethro, so shall we both.  We’d better get up there and help them get ready for bed. I can imagine how the bathrooms look now.”

When we arrive at their bathrooms, Margie with Nicole, and I with Richard, we are surprised to see that the floor is dry and they are clean, dressed for bed and brushing their teeth.  We follow them to their rooms to get them settled in bed. Margie takes down Nicole’s hair from the ponytail that she wears and braids it for the night.  We kiss them goodnight and then head back downstairs.

Sitting at the dining room table I work on a file and have a beer. I don’t usually drink in front of the children.  On the sofa Margie is doing one of her favorite things, reading a book. This is just another quiet night in the Gibbs household.