Over the last five years or so, I’ve brought a bowl into work to put on my desk to hold candy.  When I get tired of looking at it, or if I make another bowl that looks better, I’ll bring a the new one in and swap it out for the old one.  I’ve had a secretary for the last three years or so named Barbara, and each time I’ve swapped out a bowl, I’ve had to walk past Barbara’s desk.  Each time she comments on the bowl, offers encouragement or praise, and tells me how good the latest project is.  (She could be lying the biggest lies ever lied, but I have to be honest, it always makes me smile.)  After the first few, she started dropping subtle hints that she’d like to have a bowl.  Nothing pushy, just kinda tossing out the idea in the same way people say they’d like to help children or that they hope it doesn’t rain.

When I brought in a bowl for a co-worker, made from a white oak tree they had given me from their back yard, her eyes lit up and the subtle hints became more pronounced.  When I brought in a bowl for a different co-worker, who had given me some cherry from their back yard, Barbara was beaming with praise.  She was looking at the two bowls  like a kid in the lunch room, drooling over the huge stack of extra cookies your mother put in your lunchbox, thinking there were surely enough to share.  Over time, as my skills increased and I became more experimental in how I finished the projects, all subtlety was dropped and the direct assault started.  “That would look good on my dining room table”.  “I’d take that one if you’re not going to do anything with it”.  “Are you ever going to make me a bowl”?  You get the gist.  I made her a paperclip holder made from resin and rubber bands, which she keeps on her desk and uses daily, but that only seemed to strengthen her resolve to get a bowl large enough to sit on her table to hold glass balls, Christmas ornaments, the eyes of her enemies, or whatever else she wants to put in it.  I figured someday I’d make her something, but to be honest, there are a gazillion other projects littering my thoughts that always seem to come first.

With all the changes at work, Barbara is electing to take a voluntary severance package and will be retiring in a couple of months.  Based on the countdown she keeps prominently displayed on a whiteboard next to her desk, time is running out.  As of this writing, there are only 9 more Mondays until she’s gone.  Guess it’s now or never.  Below is the final project that I think I’m going to give to her.  It’s made from a piece of pine that was given to me from our former Director.  Since I’ve already made a pine bowl with the cosmic coloring on the outside, I decided to do something to make the pine look less “pine like” on the inside.  I hit it with a blowtorch, just to bring out the grain pattern.  Hopefully, she’ll like this well enough to smile up until her last day working and appreciate it after it takes up residency on her dining room table.  Hopefully, it won’t spark a request for a matching set or worse, a pair of candlestick holders to set on each side of it.

Thank you, Barb, I appreciate your support over the years, the kind words, and your encouragement for my little hobby.  I hope your retirement is long, healthy, and happy!