Better late than never…maybe
Saturday, E and I went down to the street fair, and happened upon a couple of friends of hours manning a booth there. One of the couple is a furniture maker. She makes cabinets and chests and benches in distressed wild colors. I admire her skills immensely. She will tell you she makes furniture, but in my mind, she is a cabinetmaker, just like my A. So is my sister-in-law. Funny that so many of them should come into my life.
We chatted awhile, and then walked away, and as we did, E asked me, “Did you see that curio cabinet behind D?” I couldn’t remember it, so I backtracked, poked my nose back into the booth. I had seen it, and it was lovely. I rejoined E and said as much, and he said, “I was thinking it would go in your office, for all your knick-knacks.”
I hadn’t actually been in the market for a curio cabinet at that moment, but as soon as he said it, I thought it was a brilliant plan. So back we went, and I bought it. She gave me a nice “friends and family” discount, too. It’s sitting here to my left as I write, and it’s beautiful. I love it.
As we walked away (the second time), we discussed the cabinet. Yeah, I probably could’ve gotten by cheaper somewhere else, but what I would’ve found at a furniture store would’ve been much more conventional and less interesting, and I’d rather give my money to my friends when I can.
And there was another reason. It bothers me a great deal that I never had a piece of furniture made by A. The only thing I ever had that he worked on in a woodworking capacity for me was a violin bridge, and that I lost to a violin tech due to my own lack of foresight. He was going to make me some guitar hooks once, but he was always swamped with paying business, and I could hardly expect him to take time out from paying customers to make these little things for me. He felt bad when I told him, after several months of waiting, that I’d bought some; he felt like he’d disappointed me. I told him I understood, and the paying customers had to come first; he had to eat.
I had seriously considered actually commissioning a piece from him, so that I would be a paying customer, but I was always afraid I couldn’t afford him, and didn’t want to insult him or embarrass myself by having to back out after he’d given the bid. He was quite good, and I thought he deserved top dollar for his work, even if I couldn’t afford it. And then there was the fact that I didn’t want him to feel obligated to work on my little project (and he would’ve, or felt guilty if he didn’t work on it) instead of a well-paying full kitchen or some such. So I never asked, and figured that eventually there’d be time.
There is never time. We always think there will be, but there isn’t. If there’s something you want/need/desire, go after it now, because tomorrow may never come.
I didn’t want to make that mistake again with a friend of mine. No, it is not a cabinet A made, but he certainly was on my mind when I decided to buy it. I think he’d be pleased that I supported a one-woman shop, in any case. That’s what I tell myself.