Some of you may know that I have been a lifelong Minnesota Vikings fan. This relationship has brought both joy and sadness over the years. And it has, of necessity, built character … as regularly recurring soul-crushing events have a tendency to do.
Sadly, once again my scrappy over-achieving team has, as the country song says so well: “done stomped on my heart, and squashed that sucker flat.”
What is a person to do, but go into the woodshop and lose myself in the process? And if a long, graceful curl exiting from my 07 bench plane reminds me of a kick that sweeps just left of the goal post … well, I’ve already mentioned the character building concept.
So, for all those other sports fans suffering through the year, add an eighth stage of dealing with grief: building stuff.
Rob Johnstone, Woodworker’s Journal
