Dad Kit

     Today I had to dig my Dad Kit out again.

     Years ago, when the kids were in their first few grades of school, every year the school would sponsor a Christmas shop for them. Each year they would take their quarters and dollars to school in December and buy trinkets and tchotchkes and gewgaws for me and Stacey. Andrew was the canniest with his money, and would often pass by the shopping and instead present us with home drawn pictures on paper plates, but the girls almost always visited the Santa Store at their schools.

    So I have amassed a collection of five or six Dad Tool Kits. You know the type, I guess. Three or four miniature screwdrivers and maybe a  punch or a blunt knife blade in a plastic case. Not really big enough to exert any force on a real screw. Maybe a one-AAA flashlight, long since corroded out and died. Not really enough of anything as a gift, just to let you know the kids are thinking of you at Christmas even if they only have a dollar to spend.

    But, you know, those kits are some of the handiest tools I have. Today Marley brought me an old toy of Sarah's to replace the batteries in it. The battery compartment was accessed by removing a couple of screws that look more like pins and make eyeglass screws look like carriage bolts. Take them out-why, I couldn't even see them!

    So out came the Dad Kit, and the screws were extracted in quick time. There's even a tiny little pair of pliers in there, useless for anything else, to drop the screws back in and line them up when you are ready to reassemble. And most precious of all, even a magnifying glass to let you see what you are doing. So all the hundreds of dollars of drills and hammers and levels and flanges and whatchamacallits and thingamabobs, cordless and super-torqued and all, that I own, failed to do the job these little bits and ends of tiny screwdrivers did.

    So once again the Dad Kit has saved the day, and made me think again of a time when sometimes a dollar your kid spends on you at Christmastime is more precious than all the expensive things you have. Once again, thanks to my kids for the priceless things they have given to me, free of charge and with no strings attached.