As a young child I was severely mentally abused, constantly told I was stupid and worthless and I believed it. On the other hand I rebelled against those thoughts and became proud and arrogant and secretly rebellious. FOr example in later life I got an ear ring in my left ear, knowing my dad would hate it. My father was brought to a come to God meeting when he was about 45 and changed his ways, in later life we had a good relationship and at about 50 years old I was able to totally forgive him. This scenario plays into my whole life though; in seventh grade I knew I wanted to work with wood my whole life, I was pretty good at it. When I began reading about though I thought it was too complex for me; wood movement, all the different species to get to know, building stuff in a way that it would last, etc. I never gave up though; I kept reading, studying the likes of James Krenov, Frank Klausz, and George Nakashima, along with the books by David Pye, Shaker furniture had a big influence on me, etc, I never gave up. While my work today does not match up in any way to the iconic stature of these pillars in the woodworking community my work is admired by many and people love to get something I built. That really makes me feel good about myself and I have to think about how far I have come.
I started building stuff for my workbench a while back, I built the hickory cabinet, the cherry shelving, and the last project now finishes my trifecta of woods I love, a walnut tool box. While I was building the toolbox I used the same machine setups to build two small jewelry boxes that I gave to two ladies at work. It was a fun project, lining the jewelry boxes with velvet was pretty easy, and the women love the little boxes. The trays in all of the boxes life out to reveal storage underneath.
I started building stuff for my workbench a while back, I built the hickory cabinet, the cherry shelving, and the last project now finishes my trifecta of woods I love, a walnut tool box. While I was building the toolbox I used the same machine setups to build two small jewelry boxes that I gave to two ladies at work. It was a fun project, lining the jewelry boxes with velvet was pretty easy, and the women love the little boxes. The trays in all of the boxes life out to reveal storage underneath.
must have been awful, but I’m pleased you found it in your heart to forgive him 
that’s very brave of you to do that!
