This installment of Ben Stories is brought to you by someone who knows him very well, even if she doesn’t always know everthing he’s up to…his mom, Debbie.
Let me introduce you to Ben: Sue’s husband, Nora’s Dad, Elizabeth’s brother, and Larry and Debbie’s son. Ben is quietly clever, smart, funny, creative, and always has a project of some sort going on.
Sharing this story borders on exposing ourselves as really tuned-out and oblivious parents. But, what the heck. When Ben was growing up, he was fascinated with putting things together. Well, actually, he was usually more interested in taking things apart, but we like to frame things in a positive way. Not all parents would appreciate this type of talent, but we thought him amazing.
I truly believe we are the only parents on the block who were unaware that their teenaged son was rebuilding a motorcycle in his bedroom. Ben would walk by the family room on his way to his room, slinking ever so slyly, carrying something large and heavy. “Hi Mom. Hi Dad,” he’d greet us. At this stage in his life he kept his room in such disarray that we seldom entered, and when we did there was so much clutter that we probably wouldn’t have noticed the large engine setting on the floor. He was always carrying tools in and out of the house. This should have probably alerted us to his craft, but who ever thought he’d be so bold to do automotive repair in the house.
And then one day we noticed him carrying objects out of the house, back into the garage. Voila! A full motorcycle suddenly appeared in the garage. Of course, when he moved out, we had to pull up the bedroom carpet (a few oil stains), paint the walls (minor splashing) and set out air fresheners (petroleum, you know).
You gotta love the guy!
Ben’s Mom