I can hardly believe that it’s finally December. Can you? Where did the semester go?
With the advent of the new month, I’m sad to announce that this column is ending. Thanks for reading, guys. Your support has been awesome. Whether you now have fond memories of your first fall on campus or you’re just waiting for graduation so you can walk onto the stage and off into the sunset, I hope this past semester was as good for you as it was for me.
I feel like I’ve come away with some snazzy new skills that I can apply in my continuing internship/job search. And now that you’ve been reading my column for several months (…right?), you now have amazing crafting skills that will probably impress your mom way more than anything your organic chemistry class has taught you.
Although you’ll be taking a break from school this month, I hope that you won’t take a break from honing your creativity, whether you’ve always known you were a glue gun genius or you’ve recently discovered the power of a paintbrush. The holidays are a perfect time to keep practicing, since pretty much everyone around us is expecting a gift.
What better way to tell your parents “I love you” (and “I’m poor”) than to give them a handmade set of tile coasters? Does your little brother want the latest Pokémon game for his Nintendo 3DS? He’ll break that in a week. Your customized MU game day accessories will last for generations.
In all seriousness, some of the most treasured holiday items and Christmas decorations my family has are the ones that were made generations ago by family members (or purchased by family members, but whatever, they’re still handmade). These are the ones that are stored most carefully and unwrapped with the most reverence as the story of how they came to be is told again and again, every year.
I remember baking as a child with my mother during the holidays, using some of the tools that my grandfather had used when he owned his bakery in Troy, Mo., long before I was ever born. Somehow, touching the things that he made and used made him come alive for me in a way that nothing else could.
Someday, I would love to leave my children and grandchildren with mementos that I made myself, so they can tell my stories over and over again. That’s the power of DIY — it doesn’t just have to be great in the moment. It’s timeless and can be enjoyed by so many people, even the ones that will never meet you.
If you’ve taken anything away from this column, I hope it’s that the most important part of DIY is the Y — as in yourself. You may be a master craftsman and really have the whole pouncing technique down, but if you don’t put yourself into your creations, you might as well be a piece of equipment in a mass-producing factory.
On the other hand, maybe you can’t even really hammer a nail into a piece of wood, but if your project is clearly you, then it might just be worth a whole lot of love. No matter how far you take your crafting or how good your skills get, never forget that your projects are valuable because you made them.
You never know how far down the family tree they’ll go.