Today at work was directed by super effective frantic energy. From the time I go there to the time I left, huge strides were made on the Downs body, a 33-34 Chevy fiberglass shell that we were developing hinging and safety features for. I was elated when we finally got the door swinging after having worked on those blasted mounting plates and the jam. I wish I could say my father was as excited as I was, but he just immediately focused on the next thing without taking a moment to appreciate that victory, a supremely important one for me.

It was amazing how effective we were being. We got more done today than in the past week combined. The power of deadlines, I suppose.

My mom walked up at one point just after the first swing, and I forced her into sharing my elation. I got a fist in the air and a halfhearted “Whoo” but that was better than nothing.

When the guys came to pick it up, they were excited about what we had made. They talked about how cool it looked, and how more and more people were looking for the kind of features that we were designing. It was very satisfying, because for me it had just been routine, but they saw magic.

After work, I went to my CR step study. One of the members gave me a birthday present she had been working on since finding out that my birthday had been before last week. It was sweet and heartfelt and I felt totally undeserving. All of the girls wrote notes on the back of an art frame that says “You are loved.” They barely know me, why should they love me? And yet they choose to. It’s baffling to me.

The Downs body is going to a car show, as is, with all the rough stuff exposed. And I’ll keep walking through CR, and letting people see a bit of my rough stuff.