I wanted to be an architect
Not once did I say that I wanted to be a firefighter, pilot, or a superhero. These were some of the common careers at a young age. Legos is what I spent most of my time playing. Hours would quickly go by every afternoon and night as soon as I got off the school bus. If I could eat dinner in my room while putting together bricks, brick-by-brick, to make up a city or a home I would. But, my Mom would not allow that. Dinner time was family time. I loved Lego time.
Then came these miniature sets of property with accompanying vehicles called Micro Machines. As I did with Legos, I would get down on the carpet floor and try my best to be eye level with everything — as if I was there. There was a problem with these Micro Machines though. I didn’t feel the properties were real enough. Not how they looked, but the properties themselves. There was no Wal-mart, but there was a Wal-mart down the road in my small town. This didn’t make sense to me. I wanted to create these properties. All I had was college-ruled notebook paper that I’d sometimes peel off the rough, gross spiral edge of the paper, some markers, and a ruler. Many sheets of paper were used and I would later have “realistic” properities that were designed around the same cars from Micro Machines. I loved drawing these.
Years went by as I continued to play with Legos and Micro Machines.
One evening I noticed this grid paper my Dad was drawing on. I asked what he was working on. He was drawing a system for work. He later would draw floor plans and elevations for a future home he’s always wanted to design. Many more evenings would go by and soon these drawings made their way to the computer on an app called AutoCAD. These drawings were quickly becoming blueprints for builders to use. Randomly, I asked for a piece of this graph paper. I wanted to learn how to draw a floor plan. I found myself browsing house plan and architecture magazines just like my Dad.
“Randomly, I asked for a piece of this graph paper.”
Many months would go by with my Dad drawing, erasing, and tinkering on the AutoCAD program. We went out to see the piece of land he bought to place our future home. All we could do at that point was imagine. And my Dad was trying to connect imagination with reality. He was designing a home that he liked and thought would be suitable for both the family and the area.
My dad was an architect during this time. Construction workers began breaking ground on the house my Dad designed. It was all becoming real. What my Dad once drew on a piece of graph paper was now becoming real. People with families were building our home and this land and area would be forever changed. This was all very rewarding to me.
Thanks for the piece of graph paper, Dad.
