Praising the Father’s Daughter

Sons undeniably do their share to help their folks, but the daughters of America aren’t exactly spending their days watching the soaps. I know this because of the emails I receive. It is becoming increasingly common for me to get an email that starts, “I am sending this for my father, who does not use email.”

The topic generally pertains to the What is it? section in each issue of Farm Collector. Sometimes the daughter is sending a photo of an unknown tool for us to identify, but more often, she acts as personal assistant to her father, who has identified a given mystery tool.

There are a lot of things I like about this development. It certainly expedites matters for those who don’t use email, but who want to participate in the What is it? tool identification. But it’s more than that.

To me, the daughter’s involvement suggests something approaching regular face-to-face contact between the elder and his daughter. It also signals a particular willingness on the daughter’s part to do what she can to make her father’s life pleasant and fulfilling.

I like to imagine the scene. A daughter, stopping by on her way home from work; Dad, with the magazine at hand, opened to the mystery tool pages. He relays the pertinent information and then some, expounding on the topic to include his personal experience with the tool in question. It’s his opportunity to impart knowledge of a thing soon to be lost to the march of time, and it is his daughter’s opportunity to receive one more lesson from her father.

While we’re on the topic of Mystery Tools, I am respectfully asking that you get back to work! The well of mystery tool submissions is nearly dry. There was a time when I thought we might need to rent a storage unit to hold all the mystery tool submissions, but those days have ended. I don’t think we’ve solved all the mysteries; more likely, it’s just a supply chain issue.