One of the things I did over Thanksgiving, was to pick up the shelf that my son in law made for me. I need the shelf to hang over the peg board that holds my coats. It is fastened on the wall near the front door. The shelf will hold the mittens, scarves, hats and boots that don't fit on the pegs.
Don apologized when He handed me the project. It had marks on it. He made this shelf for me from a scrap of board he had saved specifically for this project. His son used the board for target practice in the basement. There are dings all over it from being shot at. Don filled the dings and explained how they got there.
It is my opinion that the dings become an interesting feature of the shelf. They are now house archeology....marks that tell a story. Some day, Donnie will see those dings and remember being a teenager, target practicing on the board in the basement of the house he grew up in.
My husband had post polio syndrome. His right leg was paralyzed. He walked with a brace. In order to go up and down stairs, He had to swing the leg , scraping the stairs. Over time, it wore down a spot on every stair in the house. I think of Bob every time I see the worn spots.
When I was a little girl, my mother took down the curtains in the kitchen, cleaned the room and painted the cabinet doors. I was a toddler. I found the curtain rods, swinging them around and banging on the freshly painted cabinet doors. The dings went deep because the wood must have been soft. I presume they are still there.
My daughter , a preteen at the time, could not have a pen, pencil or something that scratches, without marking something up. She was talking on the phone with a pin in her hand.. doodling...making a design in the bench she was sitting on. It is still there...ditto her name on the organ.
The best archeology marks are from a friend. She tells the story that she announced to her parents that she and her husband had made a purchase offer on a house. It was accepted. The mother was excited, as it was the house she grew up in. After the sale was completed and the family moved in, the elder couple took the younger couple up to the attic. There, behind the attic door, were pencil drawings on the wall. The mother had made then as a child on a rainy day to amuse herself. You bet they will never be removed .