One of the many things I started while I was on my nice extended vacation was a set of matched bookshelves. Real bookshelves, made out of real wood, not the prefab kind that the movers keep destroying every PCS. The first one is about half done now. The second one is still in the pre-assembly stage, which means I have cut all the pieces out, but have lots of work to do yet.
As I have journeyed on this little adventure, I have already learned a couple things that apply not only to bookshelves, but to life. Here they are:
1) Measure once twice, cut once! If you don't want a lot of scrap wood in your life (or your garage), you are going to make sure you properly assess before committing. This is something I have said I've learned before, but it is one of those lessons that just keeps getting reinforced.
2) Plan how long you think it will take, then double or triple it. This is good advice for woodworking projects, parenting, trying new restaurants, golfing, and on and on. The applications are endless.
3) Somedays you will not actually make any visible progress. As disappointing as this is, you must persevere or you will end up with: a garage in which you can no longer park your vehicle, hundreds of dollars worth of wasted material, a disappointed spouse/parent/child/co-worker, and less willingness to take the risk and try something new down the road. YOU CAN DO IT!
4) IT WILL NOT BE PERFECT! No matter how hard you try, no matter how precise you think you are being, wood and metal will not join together in perfect harmony. But Life isn't perfect either. Prepare, do your best, but be prepared to have to make some patches or spot repairs, or even invent a brace to try and bring it back into square.
Does anyone else have life lessons to share? Feel free to comment and we can all benefit!
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