#18: Durability

«Hey Roman, tomorrow is harvest!» I had no idea what he was talking about. I hardly knew who I was speaking to on the phone.

It took me a quick moment to realize that the caller was actually the guy laying the wooden floor in our new house. We were at least 9 months away from the day when the wooden planks would actually be laid, but that wasn’t what he was referring to. He called to inform us that he would cut the silver firs in the Bregenz forest the following day.

Why on that particular day you might ask? Constantly following the moon phases, he knew exactly when the ideal moment for the harvest would be.

Fast forward 9 months, our floor layer stubbornly resisted the site supervisor’s call to lay the floor during a week that suited the overall planning schedule best.

«You can do whatever you want to do during that week, but I will definitely not lay my floor during the wrong moon phase having perfectly timed the harvest of the wood!».

Eventually, the floor got laid and it looked beautiful. All natural, untreated. What followed was another statement I will never forget:

«Most home owners are concerned about the look of the new floor after 2–3 years, whether the change in color would be consistent and how the unavoidable dents in the wood could possibly be fixed.

I then tell them that I didn’t worry about anything after 2–3 years. I have seen wooden floors that were 100 or even 200 years old. Those planks tell the story of a place, the people and the activities that happened in that house. So the time period I am interested in, not concerned about, is at least 100 years.

Lastly, whatever happens to you, your job, your career in finance. You can pass those planks on to your children. They will gain in value over time and are literally indestructible unless burned.»

You might argue that no company would ever honor a warranty of 100 years. That wasn’t his point. He spoke from experience. The quality of the wood combined with his craftsmanship and care would result in unmatched durability.

Let us also not worry about short-term dents and stains. Many years down the road, those marks tell us and others a story of where we lived and what we experienced.

What I have really learned is simple.

Time as a concept is relative.