[2003] There is in my living room an odd-sized cubby, a setback in the wall that is 14 inches deep at one end and 22 inches deep at the other. For years, I had wanted to have a sideboard made to would exactly fit, and on a not-entirely-sober, music-listening evening a few years ago, Heather and I measured the space - every possible length, width and depth - and sketched out a design.

We gave it to her father, Neil, who is a master woodworker and a few months later, he showed up at my door with this.

We held our collective breath while sliding the sideboard into the cubby hoping against hope that Heather and I had not been too far gone that night when we measured. As you can see, we did just fine and Neil did even better in creating this.

But the best part of the story is this: Neil also restores old cars. His pride and joy is an old Chevy pickup truck which was manufactured with a wooden bed. He replaced the warped and worn wood during the restoration, but set it aside – you never know when you might need some scraps of wood.

After some planning and finishing, he used the old wood to make the backing and some of the dividers in my sideboard and so…

Parts of my sideboard and I were born in the same year as Neil antique pickup – 1941.

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