I was talking to my nephew T the other day.  He actually called to see if Mr. P would meet up with him for Dawn Patrol.  (For those of you who don’t know surf lingo–that means getting up before the crack of dawn to surf.  You know, in case you just have to catch some waves before heading off to work.)  But before I handed off the phone, we chatted about his new acquisition/project/vehicle. 

This is very exciting stuff, of course.  What color to paint it–silver.  Should it have bed liner sprayed on it–yes, but only on the bottom portion making it a two tone job.  Should the hard top come off–he says yes, I say keep it safe and secure.  Will it need a new engine–hopefully not but all fingers and toes are crossed.  Will it be ready for four wheeling by the fall–that’s the hope/dream/idea.

He told me he had been advised by one of his elders to keep a journal of every minute, dollar, part, job, etc. that goes into this vehicle.  There was a long moment of shared laughter followed by comments such as “Yeah, right!”, “Can you imagine?” and other such sentiments. 

This idea of tracking every expenditure of time and money sounds like a sane and responsible one.  However, and this is a big however, we don’t really want to know the exact amount of blood, sweat and tears it takes to get the job done.  There is something to be said for just enjoying the process and giving yourself over to the hard work.  And a little of the magic goes out of it when you convert it to black lines on white pages. 

He has a lot of work ahead of him.  Undoubtedly, his father will spend a lot of time with him on it, even though he has projects of his own.  But the excitement is fresh and real and will carry him along for part of the way.  The rest of it will come from the blood, sweat and tears.  Good luck T!