“Serving overseas as a small-town boy from America is intense, stressful and humorous! Enjoy a light-hearted story with me from our last 20 years overseas!” – Matt
ENCYCLOPEDIA CLOCK
Whenever going on trips, it is always important to not under pack nor over pack. However, sometimes it is a good thing when you realize you did not ever need to use things you packed, like an umbrella or raincoat – and encyclopedias might be another thing.
I remember growing up with a couple sets of encyclopedias in our house. My dad sold encyclopedias for two or three hot summers when starting his teaching career. In 2003, when the library was selling a new set of Encyclopedia Americana from the year 2000 at a giveaway price, I bought the 30 volumes and 60 pounds of information. We had friends coming to visit the following months, so they happily offered to bring them to us.
The internet was still getting started where we lived overseas and those encyclopedias were much used in the first years that we had them. But the internet came on strong, and our sons would much rather click keys on a computer to get information. I told my sons not to trust Wikipedia that had 12 year olds editing topics and to go to a reliable source like my encyclopedias, but it didn’t work. I even found myself starting to click keys for information too. After a decade of scorn from my family asking, “When are we getting rid of those encyclopedias that not even you use?” they found their real use.
I have an older friend named Lyle who worked as an engineer for Motorola and in retirement developed an amazing woodworking shop. He built furniture to sell and gave the profits to non-profit organizations. In talking together one day when back in Indiana on furlough, we developed the idea of a grandfather clock project. He would get the mechanical parts and build the pieces of the case from 100-year-old Black Walnut timbers he had in his wife’s family’s barn in Ohio. I would pack and transport the pieces to our home overseas, and then fine sand it, build it, stain it, mount the mechanics, and get the glass for it.
I was not worried about my tools equipment to pull it off and finding the right glass. We live in a small apartment and have no garage, work bench nor equipment. However, living overseas teaches you how to work with little and plan on the go. My workbench became the floor and when I needed an elevated bench, I lined chairs up in a row, which worked for a long thin project like this clock.
Joining the clock case and its corners well became what seemed like an insurmountable task. I then had a flash resourceful thinking and remembered my 60 pounds of faithful encyclopedias … and tie down straps from our vehicle. With straps and the weight of encyclopedias, I was able to build a tight clock case with tight corners. My family laughed as they saw the encyclopedias being used over the course of a week.
The encyclopedias actually served a key role in bringing the clock project to completion, but maybe did not justify the need to bring 30 heavy volumes overseas.
Something similar ever happen to you? Contact me and let me hear your story!
mattsmishaps@gmail.com Matt’s Mishaps, PO BOX 114, Grabill, IN 46741
