Friday, August 13, 2010

A Dream Come True

My father has had many grandiose life long dreams.  He is an artist after all.

The one that his three kids talk about and roll our eyes about is the one where we all work together as a family...either making jewelry, working on the land, selling baked goods, a family commune/dynasty of sorts.   It's a running joke amongst us kids.

Now I don't know about 'yalls family...but mine...we got some communication issues.  And control issues and power issues and difference of opinion issues and obligation/resentment issues.  Each of us thinks we should be in charge.  But clearly...it should always be me charge.

We are a lovely family...but working together...not so much.

As we have gotten older and wiser though,  things been gettin' easier.  (I don't know where all the bad grammar is coming from...please don't let it scare you away...I am sure it won't last forever.)

So after many decades...(My dad will be 65 this month, my brother 43, Nava...well she won't let me say, but it has a 0 and four 1's added together...that's all I'm gonna disclose this time.  And me, I am at the ripe ole' age of 35...someone get me a Lark.) we finally had ourselves a commune day...we finally were all together, four generations...being productive.

Miracles never cease to occur.

We worked together on my dad's property, he is getting ready to put in a football field size organic garden.  We also worked on the shed...he needed a new one, the old one housed some rats that were bigger than Luna...it had to go.


The blue shed on the left was torn down.








This is my grandpa...Grandpa Padilla.  He is 83.  He is the architect of the new shed.  He drew some beautiful plans on the back of an old 60's hippie poster with swirls and naked ladies.  I never got around to taking pictures of those plans or the poster..dang it!




My dad and my grandpa...not known for working together well...did just fine.




They actually worked well together...beautifully some might say.




Fourth generation bad communicators.




Maybe he needs glasses.




Now this is my dad...and for us to see him using power tools...it's just so odd.  He is an artist and during my entire youth...I don't ever remember him using power tools.  He was way to bohemian for that.  I guess there is a first time for everything.




Another father-son combo...disfunctional communication carries on.




See my grandpa in the back...he is amazing for 83!




This is my brother (The one who backed me up on the Bigfoot sighting.) and my brother in law Trent, Nava's husband. He was smart...gloves.




The walls going up.  There's Grandpa Padilla in the corner.




Uncle Mountain scaring the kids with under pit sweat...and relishing every minute.




Marcus using tools...I could commit to having another baby with this man when he uses tools.  Maybe that is why he chose a desk job.




The boys...Kai and my nephew Hayden getting the hang of things.




These were used somewhere in the process...don't ask me where...I bet Marcus knows.




This is the site of the future garden in question.  Most of us worked on the shed or somewhere else.  The work done out in this field...has been done and continues to be done by this man.




Farmer Trent...still the gloves.

Sadly, the rest of the family continues to work on the shed and the garden while we are stuck here in Oregon, eating blueberries and enjoying temperate weather.

But for one day...if never again...a dream came true for someone I love.  And that makes me happy. 
 I think it made him happy too.

It has been a hard won battle over the years to get to this point as a family. We have lost a few along the way, and we have gained a few too.  We have laughed and cried, yelled and fought.  

It ain't easy being a family.  

So love the ones you share blood with...you have them for a reason.  

Celebrate your family...even if they fail to see that you are always right.








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