I was about 12. The morning was really cold. Icicles hanging off the bushes, brittle crunching of the leaves as I walked next to my Grandfather. We were walking out to the tractor. He had some assignments for me. He just had me “punch in” my time clock. A small scrap of paper he kept on the cork board by the phone. This is where I would track my time. This was supposed to teach me a life lesson, or so he explained to me.
We got to the tractor, and old Ford-Ferguson. My grandfather gave me the first three tasks to accomplish. Start that tractor, connect it to that trailer and go pick up all that trash by the side of the house. When I was finished, he told me to come in and let him know and then he would show me where to take the trash. We were going to burn the trash, of course. We burned everything!
He walked off and headed into the house. I think he had a client matter to attend to and needed to get ready to head into the office. So there I stood, freezing my tail off and staring at this old tractor. What the heck do I do now? After some minor fidling, I eventually gave up. I sheepishly headed back into the house and sat patiently with my Grandmother while he got dressed. Then when he walked in, he asked me if I was already done. I explained I ran into a problem and could not get the tractor started. His response?
Why are you telling me that? Better get out there and “just figure it out.” So I tried. I failed of course, as I did so often. I think when he came home from lunch he showed me how to connect the trailer and then actually drive the tractor. I popped the clutch and ran into a fence (which I was required to fix at one point) and I eventually finished my three tasks. The next day he taught me how to drive the tractor down to a burn area and there we burned the debris we had gathered. I learned how to charge a battery, jump start a car, repair an alternator, connect a trailer to a tractor, fix a flat on the trailer tire, start a controlled burn and how to drive on a highway.
However, I learned something more significant that day. Just figure it out has become a way of thinking for me. My wife says I have a problem asking for help. Runs deeper than that. Yes, from that morning at age 12, I learned that I can figure just about anything out.
