Hello Friends!
Welcome to a new blog I am starting to document the journey of a dream. A dream I have had since I was a pre-teen boy with a hammer and a heavy block of steel making pretend swords for the neighbor kids. I love blacksmithing, but up until a couple years ago I thought it was just a dream. That blacksmithing was a dead art and that there was no way to make it an actuality. Then I found ABANA, The Artisan Blacksmith Association of North America. The men and women I read about were doing the art and were actually making a good living doing it. Since then I have been dreaming, reading, planning, saving, and hoping to actually start making metal glow and shaping it. This Blog will be where I share my steps from getting the workshop ready to buying tools and making tools and making items. I remember a song from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The road goes ever on and on. . Bilbo sang it just before going for walks because he knew that you never knew where your feet might take you once you step on the road. I am hoping that wherever this road takes me I can share it with my family and hopefully with my son who is still in his momma's belly as I write this. I hope that I can help him find his dream if its working metal with dad or finding his own road on which to walk.
My entire life I have had to listen to people convince me to walk a road of their opinions. I wish I had been stronger and stood up for my dreams when I was younger. Constantly I have heard "That is just a dream you can't make a living doing that kind of thing." or "There's no money in that go to college and become a professional." Let me tell you I hated college it was incredibly boring. and being a professional is white wash every "Professional" I have ever encountered is miserable and caught up in the rat race of appearance and status. Everyone said I was a gifted with computers and with electronics. Truth be told I am gifted with a lot of things but being gifted doesn't stir your soul, doesn't put that spring in your step and a smile on your face.
I have found that two things do that, first and foremost is family and second is doing what you love. I love my family, My wife is the greatest gift I have ever been blessed with and her love and support are what is helping me start this dream and for that I am eternally grateful. And now I get to begin to do what I enjoy and begin a new cycle working to live instead of living to work. And in the process possibly become a better man, a better father and a better husband.
So I hope you all take from this blog one thing. "Never let anyone say you can't or shouldn't" DO IT and prove to them that you CAN!
