In January I wrote about my possible and included in that post that the Leatherman that resides in my possible is thanks to my brother. Today I have a different Leatherman in my possible and it is thanks to my brother again. Here’s the story.
YEARS ago I bought my first Leatherman multitool and loved it. It was wonderful. I also bought a cheapo multitool which was okay but not great. Everything was usable on the cheapo multitool but it didn’t fit and feel near as good as the Leatherman. Of course, that didn’t matter much because I carried my Leatherman with me and just left the cheapo one in my vehicle’s glovebox.
Then one day I was at my parent’s house and pulled out my Leatherman to work on something with my dad. He immediately loved it and said he had been wondering how good they were. I told him no problem I have a cheapo one that I don’t use very much at all and he was welcome to it. Yeah if I were a good son I would have just handed him my Leatherman but I am my father’s son and therefore I have a strong cheap gene in my DNA. I reached into my glovebox, pulled out the cheapo multitool, and gave it to my dad. Dad was thrilled.
Well at least I thought I gave it to my dad. What I actually did was give him the Leatherman by mistake. Dad was happy and I drove the hours back home (I can’t remember if we were in Missouri or had just moved to Louisiana at the time). When I got home dad called up and asked if I had really meant to give him that multitool. When I said yep he responded with “I thought you were going to give me your cheap one, not the Leatherman. Thanks!”
I wish I could say that I purposefully gave him the Leatherman, but I can’t. I was really planning on giving him the cheap one. Yet my pride was such that I wasn’t going to tell my dad that I had meant to give him the cheap one. Nope as far as he was concerned I was going to make sure that he thought I gave him the Leatherman. And that is what he thought. So I stayed quite for years. At least a decade, possibly two.
When dad died back in October mom asked if there were any specific things that Ken and I wanted to take with us and that we would figure out everything else later. I told her I wanted one of dad’s knives for Adam, Noah, and me and that I wanted my Leatherman back. I told mom the story of how dad ended up with it originally. I don’t believe she had ever heard that story, not unless dad had figured out that I hadn’t actually meant to give him the Leatherman. So My mom, brother, and I looked everywhere we could for that stupid multitool. Every time we straighten something out or looked for something else we had the Leatherman in the back of our minds. None of us found it and our speculation was that he had possibly given it to someone else (not out of character for him) or dropped it in a river while fishing (not out of character either). I figured it was gone.
So my brother decided to surprise me for Christmas with a new Leatherman and a note. Christmas morning I opened up my present form my brother and read the note which said, “Merry Christmas. I probably stole the other one, so here is a new one.” It was a wonderful Christmas present and that Leatherman has been with me in my possible since Christmas morning. It has been used quite regularly.
Then Ken had to go and top his Christmas present to me by actually finding the lost Leatherman that I had accidentally given to my dad. Pam, the boys, and I sent mom flowers for her and dad’s anniversary. By way of letting us know that she liked them the devious woman (that’s right mom, I said you are devious) decided to post a photo on Facebook with a hidden surprise. The Leatherman is on the table beside the flowers. Mom didn’t say a word about it. She just posited the photo and hope I would see the Leatherman. Ken had been cleaning out mom & dad’s Airstream and had accidentally found the Leatherman behind a coffee can of tools. I know I had looked there. I am positive of it.
Anyhow I now have two Leatherman’s in my possible bag that I am emotionally attached too because of my dad … and my brother.