What Makes It All Worthwhile

[Mike Griffin]

Sometimes when I am in the shop coughing my head off from breathing balsa dust or my eyes are burning from getting dust in them, I wonder why I do what I do.  Lord knows I was told by all the cottage kit makers who preceded me there was no way to make much if any money in cutting kits on the scale that we do.  In fact all of them will tell you that there are times when you lose money.  You do it because you love the hobby and want to give back.  You do not charge for labor because it would make a kit so expensive, no one would buy one.  It is a labor of love.  In my case I am 62 years old and have been retired for a few years because of disability.  I was not ready to quit working when I had to and in order to fight the depression, I had to get occupied with something or lose my mind.  I tried RC for a few years and wasn't really enthralled with it as it reminds me of a video game so I went back to control line after a long absence and began flying again and then discovered that I really loved the building end of the hobby.  Some of my friends started asking me to build planes for them and then kits and somehow Custom Cut kits came about and I have something that keeps me out of my wife's hair and gives me a man cave to retreat to and I can lose myself for hours out there and be in complete bliss and all the problems we have today are gone for a while.

But sometimes you wonder, do I want to keep doing this and then you receive a letter like I received not to long ago and you know why you keep doing what you are doing.

I will not publish the whole letter nor reveal who wrote me the letter but I will quote one small paragraph from the letter and I think you will see what makes it all worthwhile.  This gentleman does not frequent the forums as far as I know and he actually wrote this letter to me (not e mail) after he had called me to order a kit.

Here is the excerpt.

" I am sending you a little extra money and I know you said it was not this much but you are doing extra work by sanding and gluing the motor mounts and plywood doublers for me.  And because of my health, this will probably be my first and last model in fifty five years.

I am really looking forward to receiving the kit...kinda like Christmas one more time.  I will do my best building it and send a few pictures when finished.  Maybe a few during the building."

I cannot tell you the emotion that hit me when I read this.  I will keep the letter and if I ever wonder why I am doing this, I will pull this letter out and read it again.

This is what makes it all worthwhile.

Mike

[Randy Ryan]

You never know the impact you may have in someone elses life, even those you do not know. A letter like you recieved sure does put it into perspective, thanks for sharing that Mike, we need to hear things like this or we will become so grossly jaded by the surface appearance of our culture.

"Give without expectation of return, and your returns will be multiplied"

[john e. holliday]

Very well stated Randy.  What would we do without guys like Larry, Walter and the newest Mike?  By the way Mike, the MO in care of the USPS.

[Bill Little]

Mike, Larry, Walter and Tom N,. are all great guys in my experiences! 

A great way to remain sane, Mike, and the letter is a blessing.

Big Bear