Tough

I write a lot of posts about mistakes and strange decisions my dad has made in his life, but he happens to be one of the most resilient, self sacrificing and tough men I have ever known.
Dad began to loose his eye sight when he was about 20 when he first noticed a line in his vision. Over 40 years the line has grown in size to where he has lost all color and central vision. When you see him "looking" at you, it is usually with his peripheral vision, giving the distinct impression he is looking past you. Dad drove until he couldn't pass the eye exam at the DMV then forged Dr's notes until he felt he was unsafe to drive. Never to be held back he has ridden a bike to work, DI, and home depot whenever he needs something. He has bus schedules memorized and is on a first name basis with every worker at DI, Checker, Auto zone, Home depot, Lowes, Johnstone Supply and every wrecking yard from Santiquin to North Lehi. It is very rare when he asks for help and when he does it is because he has tried and just couldn't get it right. I often visit the wood shop to find he has used almost all of my tools including my table saw and chop saw,where he measures something and sets up the saw by "feel". Dad never gives up even if it takes him hours to complete a task.
Dad took an aptitude test in high school and they told him he should become and Engineer. To which he stated, to me, one day " I could look at anything and figure out how to make it better" but later relented and said "I couldn't take the math". Dad found mom and dropped out of BYU 1 semester shy of his bachelors degree... he never went back. I laugh about my childhood because of all the crazy things we went through because we were poor but dad was always working some angle to try to earn more money for our family. I think part of the reason he was so grumpy when we were younger was every time he earned any money we would add another mouth to feed, which would require another scheme to earn more money. Dad sacrificed his 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's to us, trying to get us a decent start in life.
recently I was working with Dad on a railroad tie wall were we were drilling holes through the ties and driving re-bar into the holes. I was trying to work fast because sometimes dad will slow you down trying to help. I was busy drilling holes when I heard the Tap... Tap... of the 5 pound sledge hammer driving a piece of re-bar into the tie. Dad would place his thumb over the top of the re-bar and then tap the hammer on the top to find the center. Dad would then take a bigger swing and about 50% of the time would hit the re-bar and the other 50% would hit his hand. I always let him do what ever he wants to try so I went back to my drilling, when I heard a tap of the hammer then dad say "Crap!" then he pulled his arm into his chest and began to make his customary farting noise with his mouth. I have heard the farting noise a hundred times and I think it usually takes the place of him cussing. I asked "you OK?'. He gathered himself together and said "yes". He picked up the 5 pound sledge and started to hammer again when I saw the blood streaming down the re-bar and pooling on the wooden tie. "I don't think you are OK, let me see your hand" I said. Dad presented his hamburgered Dad had pinched his thumb between the top of the re-bar and the 5# hammer causing a through and through gash that needed stitches. "You probably need to go to the hospital to get that fixed" I said. "No" he said "lets get to work."
I wrapped his thumb and he went back to trying to driving re-bar into the railroad ties.
No excuses, hard work and resiliency= tough.