The Stool

If you're anything like me, you've found some extra time on your hands now that you're staying at home.

Perhaps you're exercising more, tackling a cluttered garage or learning a second language (hats off to you!). I tidied my pantry last week and when I needed a step stool to reach the top shelf, I grabbed my favorite stool and after finishing the task did something I've wanted to do for some time, which is tell the story of the stool's origin.

As a young technical recruiter, one of the first people I put to work was a CAD designer named Bill. He successfully finished that first assignment and I found him another assignment, and then another. We spoke every week when I hand-delivered his paycheck. We had lunch together many times and it was through these interactions that I got to know the man outside the resume. He was married with 2 young children. He loved his wood shop, he was taking classes at night to further his education and teaching his girls to ride their bikes. Not a meeting went by that he didn’t ask after my parents. I was a 22 year old college graduate with neither professional nor life experience so he seemed wise in the ways I wasn’t. In hindsight he was quite likely much younger than I am now.

A couple of years after meeting Bill I was preparing for a transfer to a new city and before I left, Bill presented me with a gift; a handmade step stool that he made in his wood shop. It was beautifully crafted and heavy, with keen attention to detail; sanded, stained and sealed to a mirror shine. He thanked me for working with him and told me to be safe in the way that my dad would have done. The stool he gave me has come with me to 2 apartments, 8 houses, 3 states and 2 countries. It has helped my children reach the sink to brush their teeth, served as a decorative stand to hold my plants, helped my family hang more than a few Christmas ornaments and yes, reach the top shelf of my pantry. It’s as sturdy today as it was the day he presented it. I remember being slightly embarrassed when he gave it to me and attempting an awkward hug goodbye that didn’t properly convey how I felt. I’m sure I wrote him a thank you note but it took a long time to recognize the real blessings in his gift.

I’m fortunate to have met and worked with many Bills since then but he was the first in what has become a long and rewarding career. I learned early that relationships are everything, that there is friendship in unlikely places with unlikely people, that there is joy in giving and receiving unexpected gifts at unexpected times. Many of these things I do without thinking but others I do because I remember how Bill made me feel. I’m grateful to have met him so very early in my career. He gave a young recruiter a chance and the early confidence it built has stayed with me all the days since. We haven’t spoken in many years but I like to picture him retired in his wood shop, maybe a grandfather by now. I cherish this stool. It has, literally and figuratively, given me a step up. I’ve been striving to pay Bill’s generosity forward ever since. I think he would be proud.