Gift #3 - Handmade chess set

Hey.


As I've mentioned before, I grew up poor. What shaped that experience with pride was watching my parents create highly orchestrated, loving gifts using little more than time and care.

For my 9th birthday, my father finally revealed the secret project he'd been making in his makeshift wood working area in the garage.

He had spent several months making a portable chess set for me. Took a standard metallic board and used his divine crafting skills to make a work of art.  Still takes my breath away when I see it.

The chess set folds in half and locks shut with a latch.  Here's what's underneath:

Soak that in. For a nine year old boy, he made this ornate sliding set of liners with a foam backing for the pieces.  All of them, capped with magnets under a velvet base.

For years, I took it everywhere with me.  Spent lunches at school with the chess set.  Didn't play a whole lot of games with the kids (because it was the fourth grade and chess wasn't very fashionable), but I'd play one or two quirky pals of mine.  Or, just slowly open and close the drawers and marvel and the precision and passion my father gave a creative project.

After loaning it to a friend for a several years, I got it back over the holidays.  It's banged up a little, and over a quarter of a century old. But it's so beautiful.