The Bricklayer's Story

This post is a far cry from my usual monologues but bear with  ------

There is iron in these words and its inspired by 2 great men, as well as a song that reminded me of their story, (or parts of )






The Bricklayer's Story


            I am not in the habit of celebrating pop culture too much,  --- but i posted a link to an obscure song below from Dicky Barrett and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones


Why?    ----  I am remembering my dad and a dear friend of his. ---  Both from SE Oklahoma, -- a poorer section of the country you would be hard pressed to find 40-50 years ago.  

         They didnt know each other back then, although they were likely only a few miles apart at any given time ---  it wasnt until 1988 that they came in contact ----

My dad needed a bricklayer due to an incident at my childhood home that i instituted (hit the side of the garage with my truck)

          My dad (Doug McBride Sr ) and Bob soon became fast friends due to their common geographical bond ----  in later years i remember many afternoons of them playing horseshoes and having good old fashioned bull sessions in the backyard
        When my dad retired after many years of government service with the FAA and the Army,  he occasionally helped Bob with some bricklayin' jobs from time to time  
        ----  they were both roughly the same age, - mid 50's -- and my dad related to me that it was rewarding work for him compared to what he had been used to as an executive with the federal government.      He had to blend economy of motion, stamina and perseverance together everyday to get jobs done , and -- for him at least, it was fun  (i dont think he needed the check - i think he did it as a personal challenge of sorts - and for that, i have much respect)

    On the other hand , Bob was a bricklayer by trade and needed every check he got -------  the 2009 song from the Bosstones reminded me of my dad his friendship with this good man

   The chorus explains it all

"A lifetime lifting cinderblocks, stacking bricks and mixing mortar
Gave this man his crooked walk and kept his life in order" 

Bob didnt exactly walk crooked, as the song implies ----- but i never heard him utter a word in anger, nor a curse word, -- everyday he acted the true professional that he was and lived close to his beliefs in living a clean life  ---   and physically, kept working harder than most until the point that he couldnt lift a trowel 

 
My dad and Bob both contracted (diagnosed - who knows how that disease actually works)  cancer within a few months of each other -----  Both in their early 60's,  neither one smoked or engaged in high risk activities associated with that disease  ---- it just hit them   and they passed away within a couple months of each other in 2008 -----  My dad was gone first and i broke the news to Bob, who was hairless from chemo at the time and recounted to me some of the telephone conversations he had with my dad concerning their shared disease ---

----  2 months later Bob was gone as well, from this earth at least, ---- but i would like to think they are together in heaven pitching games of horseshoes, drinking cheap beer , and b-sing around about politics




Live a good life  --- Live a clean life --- reap the benefits that go along with that --- but realize that we all have a target on our backs --- the date may not be set in stone ,  ---- but its there.           In the meantime,  live your life with the thought of being a great example for those younger than you --- through actions, not words,  and with the quiet strength that comes from hard work without bluster



             We can't all be bricklayers,  ---  but we can live our lives as if we were
     



Godspeed Bob and Dad


This song made me think of Dad and Bob   -----

in Bob's case,  as the chorus implies,   a lifetime lifting cinderblocks, stacking bricks and mixing mortar ---- kept his life in order

link to the song is highlighted below, -   and the lyrics are attached as well


The Bricklayers story -- Bosstones


Just a bricklayer by trade a harder worker you won't find
He was like fifty when I met him maybe fifteen years ago
A Scottish American and a master with the trowel
He swears that he's the urban legend you hear about on every job and site

A lifetime lifting cinderblocks, stacking bricks and mixing mortar
Gave this man his crooked walk and kept his life in order

Here's about half an explanation and then not too much information
Until the day he died he bragged that he's the one that rode the rope
All six stories of that building from the pavement to the roof
And then all the way back down to earth

A lifetime lifting cinderblocks, stacking bricks and mixing mortar
Gave this man his crooked walk and kept his life in order
A lifetime lifting cinderblocks, stacking bricks and mixing mortar
Gave this man his crooked walk and made his lifetime shorter

"On the way up my skull was fractured and my collarbone was broken
The barrel i was working with broke both of my forearms and the bones in my wrists"
Don't believe a word of it, but the one thing that I'm sure about is this:

A lifetime lifting cinderblocks, stacking bricks and mixing mortar
Gave this man his crooked walk and kept his life in order
A lifetime lifting cinderblocks, stacking bricks and mixing mortar
Gave this man his crooked walk [x3]
And made his lifetime shorter






  Douglas McBride Sr. 1946-2008

The epilogue :       Keep your life in order through hard work, diligence and perseverance  -------  attack each day like you have a wall to put up

------   Im still working on mine


Your next 5,10, 20, or 30 years are not guaranteed but live your days to the fullest anyway