I thought about that, and I was also looking through his work with that idea in mind. One simple reason - he was a woodworker, and he was building a woodworking

I thought about that, and I was also looking through his work with that idea in mind. One simple reason - he was a woodworker, and he was building a woodworking-focused CAD project. I know very little about woodworking, and I wouldn't bring the project to a very meaningful conclusion. I had one last lesson from my dad, from that afternoon looking through his projects. My dad went through his career with a mindset that you build your projects to perfection before releasing them, and you don't talk about them much until they're complete and ready to share. I realized that if I kept any shred of that mindset, none of my projects would ever see the light of day. So I resolved right then and there to build stuff that sees actual use. Shortly after that I decided to start attending tech conferences, and learning to polish my practice enough to release usable software. That has opened doors I never imagined, and now I'm starting to build a second career in software development. That's what I wish he could see - that I'm taking the skills he gave me and starting to build things that others use. I really appreciate that final lesson.