Aaron, the Carpenter

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I think I have mentioned Aaron's woodwork before, but I have not let on to the full extent of what Aaron was capable of when it came to building things.

Aaron's Mom had her fall open house at her store tonight. I remember going to it last year with Aaron and Aaron Jr. We showed up around the time it started to deliver some furniture to the store. That is where he sold his furniture. He was blessed with such an amazing talent, I wanted to share some photos of just a few of the pieces he made. This doesn't even make a dent in the number of pieces of furniture he ever built.


Aaron built so many pieces of furniture, but there are a few pieces that stick out in my mind as some of my favorites. The red hutch on the left is one of them.


Everything in this photo is stuff he made.


I was always so excited to have a daughter so that Aaron could build her a bed like this.






Another one of my favorite pieces, the black hutch on the right.




More favorites.








These are both on my favorites list. The red piece on the left was always one that I wanted so badly. Everytime Aaron and I would deliver furniture to the store, I would always check to see if it was still there. When it sold, I was so sad. I always planned to have him make me one when we could afford to have him make us one. I hope whoever bought it realizes what a treasure they have. In fact, anyone who ever bought one of Aaron's pieces of furniture now has a treasure. They are all treasures to me.




I don't have a photo of it, but the month that Aaron passed away, he and I delivered a long sofa table to his Mom and Dad's house. She was going to keep that one. As we carried it in, I remember thinking that it was my favorite sofa table that he had ever made. He had another one just like it in the works in his shop. It is still sitting in his shop... unfinished... in the same spot that he had it.




The month that Aaron Jr. was born, Aaron made two coffee tables. He brought them both in the house and he wanted us to use them for a little while and then I was supposed to decide which one I liked better and we would keep that one and sell the other one. This square one above is the one that we decided to sell, so you can imagine how amazing the other one was. It is in our living room. It is a round coffee table that is one of the most amazing pieces in my opinion. It looks plain enough, but Aaron put so much work into it. He rounded the wood and everything. I love it.


Both favorites. The green piece on the left is one of the few pieces that I helped with. Aaron was in a bind one night and had several large pieces that needed to be done that night. So, I went out and offered my assistance. Aaron usually didn't take me up on my offer, but this time, he did. So, the black part of the hutch, I painted that. It is a very small portion of the piece, but everytime I saw that piece from then on, I always felt a little more of a connection to it because I helped with it.


I wish I had a photo of Aaron with more of his pieces of furniture, but I don't. Believe it or not, even though I am obsessed with taking photos, THIS is the ONLY photo I ever took of Aaron with one of his pieces of furniture. The reason for it is because he and I always planned to make a catalog of all of his pieces, so of course we needed the furniture to be alone in the photo. This time, I happened to just insist on taking a photo of him with this piece when we delivered it. We took photos of pretty much EVERYTHING he ever built.

These photos only show the tiniest portion of furniture that Aaron built. His friend, Rob, used to help him with the business until he and his family left for dental school. In his career building furniture, Aaron built hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pieces. They were all amazing. He always took such great care to make sure everything was perfect before delivering any piece of furniture.

I always loved delivering the furniture with him. Once his friend moved away, it was me that helped Aaron load the furniture into the truck and then helped him unload it. There were times when I would look at a piece of furniture and think in my mind, 'there is NO way I am going to be able to carry that.' I usually wouldn't say it out loud. I always wanted to prove that I could do whatever he needed me to do. Sometimes, my hand would feel like it was about to fall off and I didn't think I could go one more step, but I would push through it so that Aaron didn't have to do it alone. I LOVED helping him with it, it meant we got to spend more time together when I could help him get things done.

Aaron worked exhausting hours when he worked on furniture. He would set a deadline for himself and if he wasn't done, he would stay up ALL night long to get it done. I usually tried to stay up waiting for him. I know he got tired of my phone calls to his cell phone out in the shop when I would ask AGAIN when he might be coming in. He always tried to get me to go to sleep, but it was so hard going to sleep when I was so worried about him getting injured on any of the power tools. I couldn't sleep restfully until he was beside me.

This is one reason it is so hard for me to go to bed at a decent hour now. I would wait up for him no matter what. I couldn't rest peacefully unless he was next to me, so I would wait up so that I could sleep better knowing he was safe and getting some rest. Now that he is gone, it is just so hard going to sleep until I am completely exhausted. Even now, 9 months later... the hours that I go to bed are shocking, even to me. It isn't on purpose though...

Building furniture was a talent of Aaron's, but it was also his career for most of our marriage. It was hard for him at times. He worked alone and it was hard on his body. I can't express in words how grateful I am to him for all that he did for our family. Many days, I would deliver his lunch out to the shop because he wanted to just keep working. Lucky for us, he usually took the time to come in for dinner. There were even many nights when I would take Aaron Jr. out to the shop to kiss Daddy good night because Aaron would still be working in the shop. Aaron Jr. loved going out to Daddy's shop and still loves going out there with me. He remembers his Daddy being there.

Here is a memory that is so precious to me. The kitchen window where I do dishes is straight across from the windows of the shop. At night, when Aaron would be out working, the lights in the shop would be on and I would be able to watch him work from the kitchen window. I can't even express to you how much I enjoyed being able to watch him without him knowing. He never knew. We never made eye contact when I would watch him, he would be concentrating so hard on what he was doing. I loved watching him. Now, when I am in the kitchen and I look out that window, I feel an emptiness. He is not there. I would give anything to look out that window and see him in his shop.

Aaron's wood shop is still pretty much how he left it. There is a special order hutch that he was working on even the day before he passed away. The first time I went into the shop after he died, it was the most difficult place for me to be. I couldn't hold back the emotions. I took one look at that unfinished hutch and I just lost it. It is still sitting there, unfinished, in the same spot. There are several unfinished pieces of furniture in the shop still. The shop is now the place I go to in order to feel the closest to Aaron. Besides the house, it is the place where he spent most of his time when he was here. I love going out and just looking around and sitting in his chair out there. There is so much of Aaron there, I can't go in the shop without a flood of tears. I feel him there... every time.

With all of my heart... I love you, Aaron...

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Some of you have asked where his Mom's store is. It is called Secret Haven and it is in Fruit Heights, UT. There are still some pieces in her store, but they are no longer for sale. Now that Aaron is gone, we are holding on to everything that is left with everything we've got. It is a great store though. SO many memories of delivering furniture with Aaron there.