Recently I've taken some time to start digging through those dreadful storage bins I have. You know the ones, those that have every type of thing you've ever done, seen, or saved throughout the various stages of your life. Well I've uncovered some real gems documenting my 57 years on this earth.
Before I became a husband, father, fly fisherman, photographer, EMT, fireman, and nurse I started out in the family business hanging iron as a Union Ironworker. Saying I was "hanging iron" might be a push because, to be honest, I was average at best. Maybe if I stayed in that profession you'd be reading a blog called, "The Average Ironworker". But I did, from time to time, get an opportunity to work in what they call the raising gang. That's the crew of 5-6 ironworkers and operating engineers that work directly with the crane and unload, shake out, and assemble the open iron that becomes the skeleton of buildings and bridges.
Times are different, no doubt, in all aspects of the world and lives we live today. Back in the day those who had connections, like I did due to my Dad who's an ironworker and owned a steel erection company, union books were obtained in two ways. You either served an apprenticeship working up to journeyman ironworker, or for a little donation and a back-doored meeting, you could buy a book. Well mine came in the way of the later.
I got in during a time, when I think, men were men. It was a time when Mom's stayed home and held down the house and the kids which is the hardest and most important job out there. Yes, fathers made the baseball games and mowed the grass, usually on the weekends, but the stops at the gin mills and shaker joints after work were part of the game. And while there was drinking during lunch break and after a long days work, back in the day, drinking occurred during working hours as well. And sometimes, like, heavy drinking. The OSHA's and the patrolling safety officers at every construction these days would have a stroke if they went back in time. There were no random urine tests back in the day. Beers lined the outriggers on the crane, went up in the bolt buckets, and could be found tucked inside the webs of the columns where the beer cans stood in the shadows. Not all change is bad, I guess.
I think what gets me more than my age is how construction sites look in old pictures. These days you'd be hit with a felony if you got caught walking the iron without being tied off. And most times these days the use of man lifts bring you to the point where the connections are made. Years ago nets were draped over the iron to catch anyone who fell. The only thing about that is that if you fell and landed on the steel below you would pretty banged up, or dead, but your body wouldn't hit the ground.
This is stuff from forty years ago. These days I have a hard time remembering where my keys are and when I last ate and I'm closer to natural death then my natural birth. But lucky for me I'm a saver so from time to time I can dig around and see where I've been and the things I've accomplished during my good years.