Advice ~ from Scott Omelianuk of This Old House

Atticus age 7 building his own puzzle

 I love reading This Old House Magazine, because we have a "This Old House"  that we are working on. I  also enjoy the Letter, Scott Omelianuk the Editor, writes the readers each month.

In the June 2014 issue, he shared some advice to his son, who just turned 3.

It made me smile, and I want to share a few words with you.

Do you stick out your tongue when you work?

 One day while Scott was taking his son for a walk, they could hear a whine of a saw from inside a house they passed. Luca asked, "Daddy, what is that noise?" Scott started to explain it was someone  inside cutting lumber. Little Luca answered, "A boy, and his daddy working maybe?"

 "Is there a project today, Daddy?"

During these times when Luca asks me this, says Scott, I realize that he already knows something valuable ~ that doing it yourself is always done better with someone else by your side, even, or maybe especially, when that someone's chubby little hands can not do much more than repeatedly drop the screw they are to hold on to... :-)

Back to the advice...

Let the saw do the work.

Always keep one hand on the ladder.

A weekend project is never done by Sunday night.

 Regular life. Simple life. Work is part of that~enjoyable work, whether it is the kind you do for yourself around the house or the kind that gives you a paycheck. And, of course, there's  the people. Above all, what matters is a connection to people.

Friends, family, naturally, but also all the others you come in contact with. Those who are here with  you now, those long gone. Imagine the men who, 145 years ago, built the house that you came home to after you were born. Think about the guy driving the bus you always get excited to see, the police officers and firefighters whose sirens you love to mimic. The best piece of advice I can pass along ~ that everyone around you has at least one valuable thing to teach you. And if you can recognize that, seek it out, your life will be richer and more textured for it.

And I think you will realize, too, that most people you meet are good people. They might live in another place, do different work, belong to a different religion, vote another way. That is something important I have learned in my years at This Old House. Talking to so many good folks who read this magazine, watch our T.V. show or go to our website, I know they all want the same thing in the end. A place for home and family, a roof overhead and a solid floor underfoot, and maybe the opportunity to chase after a little one who is banging a plastic hammer where he or she should not be.

Scott Omelianuk

See that blue paint on the face. 

What is the best advice you have given or received?