I moved from Richmond to Bremo Bluff, VA, in 1982. My new home was a 1906 farmhouse on seven acres five miles from Fork Union, VA. I was thirty-two years old and living by myself, and I enjoyed my solitude at that point in my life. Coming from the city after closing my company, I needed a break from the stress of employees, clients, bookkeeping, taxes, and the never-ending roller coaster of life as I thought it should be. I started with visions of developing a sizeable company. After building up to five employees, I realized Management wasn’t for

Mr. Toot was my eighth-grade shop teacher. He was a gentle man of small stature, soft-spoken, and always with a thoughtful message. Even as a fourteen-year-old, I sensed he went into teaching because he felt the “calling” to share his knowledge and to make the world a better place. I remember observing him as some of my classmates challenged him. He would start off with a kind request to change their behavior, then proceed to a more hard-line approach, which his demeanor was not designed for. Mr. Toot’s approach to teaching woodworking was to select a project that required one