My stonemason father

a surname

My father in his seventies, though thin, always looks so energetic. Although the wind and frost of the years have left a deep mark on my father's face, I have never touched the word "old" on my father, because in my mind, my father has always been like this since middle age, never getting old, always so young and so handsome.

My father is a stonemason and has been dealing with stones all his life. He learned to play with stones, play street signs, build stone arch bridges, carve stone lions, and play with stone mortar grinders since he was a child ... as long as you name it, he will restore it to stone. I remember the year before last, the neighboring village wanted to restore the old house. There are some patios and doorways, and some stone tablets are missing. My father pieced them together according to the remaining half of the wall. Ancient sculptures and ancient restoration have re-printed the history of an ancient village in people's eyes.

In my eyes, my father is very clever. It's really not easy for an illiterate person. A few days ago, my brother brought back a beach stone and put it at the door. My father looked at the stone and saw him drawing on it with a pencil.

I laughed at him and said, "Dad, what are you drawing? Chickens are not like chickens, and birds are not like birds. "

My dad actually said that he would paint a phoenix, and I laughed at that time. I didn't expect to go home a few days later. There was a stone coffee table with flowers and birds carved on it and a small piece in the middle. See me go home, ask me to carve two words, ask me what words to carve, I can't answer.

I happened to meet two friends opposite my house that day, one is a writer and the other is a calligrapher. The writer friend thought for a moment and said, "Tea talk! Drinking tea, life geometry? " The calligrapher friend splashed ink and wrote these two words in official script. Father carved the word "tea language" on the stone coffee table along the handwriting.

Now sitting on a stone coffee table and drinking tea will remind me of my father's concentration on carving.

In the 1970s, there were eight people in my family, grandpa, grandma, parents and our brother and sister. In the production team, our family is a big eater, only two parents are working, and we always get no rations all the year round. When we have no food, we have to borrow rice from other families

As long as I can remember, I know that this kind of life has passed for several years. Until one year, my father was sent to Jin Lan Reservoir to build a dam. Because my father can beat stones and have sex, he got more points than others. That year, my production team didn't overspend and finally had surplus grain.

The years when my father built the dam were also the most promising years for my brothers and sisters, because my father would go home every few days, and every time he went home, he would bring back "delicious", white steamed bread and lard residue. At that time, as children in the countryside, these were not eaten. Only those who have eaten "commodity grain" can eat it.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters always hope that my father will go home more, but what we don't know is that these are all saved by my father through his teeth.

My father has traveled many places in his life, worked as a stonemason outside, and took several apprentices. But now because it's all machine operation, no one comes to learn to play with stones. My family's ancestral craftsmanship ended with my father, and my father became the last stonemason, guarding the home in the country.

Now some places, some old things, will let dad repair them, but our brother and sister won't let him go to distant places. Father would stare blankly at a pile of hammers and steel bars behind the door. This is his youth dream and his pursuit of youth.

My father, who is thinking about the masons' old craft, always wants to cheat on his old craft. At the bottom of my stairs, hammers weighing 24 kg, 18 kg and 8 kg are neatly arranged, as well as steel, large and small ironware, and there are still a few stones at the door. Sometimes when I come back from the fields, I have to play with some stones.

When the old craft gradually fades out of people's sight, my father will stare at a pile of stones. In his eyes, this is not a stone at all, but a beautiful work of art, which is the most perfect pursuit in his life. It can be seen that my father has a unique complex for stones.

A tired father can't be idle at all. According to his own words, "if you are in space, your body will hurt and your whole body will be uncomfortable." So in my vegetable field, there are always endless dishes all year round, not only our brothers and sisters, but also our next-door neighbors. In order to let us eat safe food, my father specially went to the village team to pack an acre of land, planted rice for one season, and used less pesticides, saying that it was safe to eat the rice he planted.

My family has a "back garden", which is euphemistically called "back garden". In fact, there are no flowers or grass in it. There are only two fruit trees in it, all of which are chickens and ducks. It is impossible to grow flowers. These chickens and ducks are also raised by my father.

Every weekend, our brothers and sisters will gather in their hometown to eat the meal cooked by their father. I don't know from which year, it seems that getting together every weekend has become an unwritten rule, and whoever is absent is a "big violation." Occasionally, I have something to go back, and my father will call my brother to pick it up. The daughter has something to do, and the son-in-law cannot be short of it.

Over the years, the neighbors in the village have envied our big family. Every Sunday is full of excitement and fun. At the dinner table, my father occasionally comes up with a very funny sentence, which directly makes you laugh. Sometimes chickens and ducks raised at home are not stewed, and we all say that they can't bite. Father said: "I can bite people, I am young, and my front teeth are gone, but my one-horned teeth are powerful, just like hoeing the ground, digging a big piece at a time."

My mother likes playing mahjong. Sometimes my mother says she doesn't want to eat, and my father says, "I'm too full of egg cakes today, so I saved my meal." Anyway, my father's witty words made our family live in harmony in a happy atmosphere.

After dinner, dad will prepare things for us to take away, such as rice, vegetables, chicken and duck eggs ... every time we come home empty-handed, full of goods, comfortable! ! !

It's really my parents, and it's my day. In front of my parents, I am willing to be a child forever, surround my parents and let my father take care of us. This is a kind of happiness for my children. Father said he was still capable of supporting us. It's a joke, but think about it. I'm really happy. I am a grandmother, and I can often disturb my parents and eat my father's dishes and chickens and ducks.

My old father, my favorite person, is very sweet in this world, and you only tasted three points. My old father has been a stonemason and a farmer all his life, and he still cares about our father from time to time. I respect and love you. May my father live a long and healthy life forever!