I remember tagging along with my father to a hardware store back in the days before big box home improvement centers. My senses came alive on those Saturday morning adventures. The smell of lumber and oil permeated the ambiance of the place. Instead of plastic boxes holding nails and screws there were open bins of all kinds of fasteners that one might purchase one at a time or in bulk. There were tools lining the walls and strange machines that fascinated me as I tagged along behind my daddy who seemed to know exactly what he needed for his current project. Of course just as he did with everything, he instructed me on the importance of finding the right tools for each job. 

I loved those places. They were usually much darker than the stores of today. They looked as though they had always been there like a shrine to the art and science of building. They were peopled by taciturn men with rough hewn hands who nodded to one another but moved on quickly in their quest to get back to whatever projects were planned for the day. It was a very different kind of shopping excursion than going with my father to a bookstore. He and the other men were on missions to accomplish tasks. There was a quiet bustle about the place that spoke to the business of getting things done. Conversations were quick and to the point with a few nods speaking volumes. 

To this day I get a kick out of walking through a hardware store, particularly if it is mostly like the ones of long ago. I tend to find them and gravitate toward them on our camping trips in small towns where Lowe’s and Home Depot have yet to come. The people working inside them seem to know all about what to do in any situation. They are able to instantly find whatever we may need. It feels as though they were born and raised inside those little stores cutting their teeth on sawdust and nails. 

We have an Ace Hardware store near where I live that comes mighty close to being like the stores of old. The aisles are wider and the lighting is much improved but there are still rows and rows of bins holding treasures that only the well informed know how to properly use. It’s a good place to visit to get really fine information on how to do things or whom to call to provide a competent repair. 

I can spend hours walking through a good almost old fashioned hardware store. I’m fascinated by the tools and products and often willing to give them a try inside my home. My own skills rarely get past hiding holes in the wall or gluing things together, but I often purchase things just because they seem like items that might one day be useful. My husband is the person who is handy when it comes to keeping the house in working order. He learned almost everything he knows from his Uncle Bob, a long time electrician whose garage was almost as well stocked as one of those old time hardware stores. 

Uncle Bob taught my husband well. He can accomplish almost any needed repair with the exception of those have anything to do with plumbing. He tried that a few times with disastrous results. After a total fiasco on one occasion he vowed to leave plumbing to the experts and he never looked back. Nonetheless he has a fairly good idea of how to do most home repairs or improvements and over the years I have accompanied him to hardware stores many times. Being in such places never fails to fill me with a sense of joy. 

Our garage is filled with handy tools that my husband inherited from his uncle. Some of his screws and fasteners are older than he is but still perfectly good for emergency jobs. My husband carefully stores everything in labeled drawers and bins that allow him to access whatever he needs quickly. He’s become a kind of “Bob Vila” of the neighborhood. Everyone knows that he has the supplies and the expertise to keep a home in good working order all of the time. He may have been a banker by trade but his passion has always been learning how things work and keeping them fine tuned. We often laugh when we realize that he might have been a happier as an Electrical Engineer or even an electrician like his Uncle Bob. Somehow the urge to build and fix things is baked into his DNA just as it was for my father and my grandfather. 

I’m excited because we plan to visit a hardware store in a small neighboring town today. I’ve never been there before so I intend to take my time perusing the offerings. Visiting a hardware store is always an adventure for me that evokes Saturday mornings when I awoke early like my father and tagged quietly along while he selected his supplies for the day’s project. I never picked up his skills but I certainly learned to appreciate them just as I do those of my husband. I enjoy learning from him just as I did with my father. Mostly I appreciate the remarkable skills of all people who know how to make something wonderful from a bit of this and that. The builders of the world fascinate me and make me smile. They may not be erecting cathedrals or skyscrapers but the work they do is fascinating and often starts with a visit to a hardware store.