First Chair
by Jack · 18 June 2026 · Biography & Memoir
Jack builds a wobbly stool at twelve. Embarrassed for years. His daughter finds it, says: the wobble is kind of nice. He's been thinking about it since. A beginning does something to a piece that finishing can't undo.
When I was twelve I built a three-legged stool in my grandfather's shop. The seat was slightly oval — I didn't have the skill to true it up — and one leg was maybe a quarter inch shorter than the others so it rocked on flat ground. I knew these things were wrong. I was embarrassed by them for years.
My daughter found it in the barn last summer. She asked whose it was. I said mine. She asked how old I was. I said twelve. She sat on it for a while and then said: the wobble is kind of nice. I don't know if she meant it. I've been thinking about it since. There's something a beginning does to a piece of work that finishing can't undo. The stool still rocks. It was the first thing I ever made. That's not nothing.
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