things people do

For the three years I've known P., he's been working on this secretary that he saw in an American woodworking magazine. It is a style that originates in Pennsylvania. He finished it a little over a week ago and I went down to pay homage.



Now a thing exists that did not exist before. It took about 800 hours to make, so he tells me.

I try to recall those moments that started me on projects that have consumed years of my life. Typically, they have resulted from some clerical error, misunderstanding, or accident.

It helps to remember this especially as I try to make something myself, which inevitably prompts no small concern about doing it right or well. This is a false feeing of responsibility that is a by-product on working on something for a long time. And it is always accompanied by a necessary amnesia regarding the arbitrary beginnings of such a project. If I always kept in mind how subject I am to things that I do not intend, my projects may never get done. But if I completely forget this fact, they most certainly will never reach their conclusion.