I Nailed My Hand To A Theatre Set
In all my years of
writing the blogs I do not remember if I’ve shared this story before or not,
but as I was seeking God about what to write on today I kept thinking about
this one.
When I was in college
at The Ohio State University, I spent a lot of time in the Scenic Studio. I was one of the few women I believe they
actually ever hired up to that point. It
was probably because few girls wanted to work there, but I enjoyed it. I got to help build the sets for the theatre
shows and work with power tools so it was a win win for me. It was my senior year and this freshman boy
showed up to assist in the studio who obviously thought what I was doing was no
place for a woman. He’d pretty much said
that to me. The guy irritated me. I shouldn’t have let it get to my head, but
it did. I wanted to prove to him that I
could read a blueprint and wield an air powered nail gun with the rest of them. I had used one countless times.
That day I went to
work building the small corner of the back of a stage. Retrospectively I could list off the things I
could have done better here. I should
have gotten vice grips to hold the two pieces of wood together. I should have realized that perhaps the nail
gun was a tad too heavy and tried to use my brain more than my brawn. But that little freshman watched intently
what I was doing and somehow in that moment I was fighting for girls
everywhere. I grit my teeth, put my hand
on the other side of the wood, and angled the nail gun. Unfortunately in pulling the trigger I moved
my angle on the gun. Unfortunately as
the nail pierced the wood at 90 lbs. of pressure my hand just happened to be in
its path. Unfortunately, I had a Jesus
like moment in my stupidity and nailed my left hand to the platform. We’re supposed to be like Jesus but I assure
you that is NOT what God means. Also
unfortunately the freshman was watching me as I did it. His eyes got real wide, as he stood there
staring.
“Go get the
TA!” I yelled at him. I was the one that was supposed to be in
charge in the shop at the moment, and the closest TA was out on the stage
getting the flats together.
Unfortunately I didn’t drive a nail home for girls in construction
everywhere that day. I made a fool out
of myself as the TA ran to me to physically put all of his might in to pull my
hand off the nail. He was right; I
couldn’t go to the emergency room attached to a wooden set. I’ve been a kid that’s had a lot of
accidents, but never before have I almost blacked out until or since this day.
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