10/06/2026
This paddle may look like nothing more than an ordinary piece of wood, but to me, it represents where a lot of this started.
I made this paddle when I was 16 years old, taking carpentry classes in high school and discovering how much I enjoyed woodworking and creating things with my own hands. More than 20 years later, I still have it.
It has traveled with me through different seasons of life, different jobs, different projects, and a whole lot of learning along the way. It’s scratched, worn, and far from perfect—but I wouldn’t change that.
It’s one of the few things I still have from those early days that reminds me why I fell in love with creating in the first place.
Sometimes the things we make become more than just things. They become little pieces of our story. And for me, this old paddle is where a big part of that story began.
- Brandon
