Hammer, perforator and the first kiss

In 2002, I spent almost an entire day hammering a reinforced concrete ceiling with a hammer and chisel.

Back then, I didn't know that absurd hole would lead me to a wedding where I would kiss my future wife for the first time.

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The full story

I was seventeen or eighteen years old. Renata's older sister was getting married. Renata and I were to be part of the wedding entourage, according to the local Polish custom.

Of course, I wanted to go to the wedding. But I needed money: to buy suitable clothes and a decent gift.

My future mother-in-law had been working as a painter for many years at that time. She had seen that I wasn't afraid of work: I would come to their place in Grigiškės, help with the old wooden house, in the garden, try to putty and paint.

One day she asked:

– Do you want to earn money for the wedding, a suit, and a gift?

Of course, I did.

That's how my first real job began.

At one site, I was told to cut a round hole in a reinforced concrete ceiling for a halogen lamp.

The tools were serious: a hammer and a chisel.

No drill, no hammer drill.

I was young, I tried hard, and I didn't know how to ask the right questions yet. If a task was given, it meant it had to be done as best as possible.

And I hammered away.

At first, energetically.

Later – not so energetically.

Finally – just out of principle.

Almost an entire day passed. The ceiling held firm.

The man I was sent to work with hardly paid any attention to me. At the end of the day, he borrowed a hammer drill from other builders and made the hole in a few minutes, which I had struggled with all day.

I stood with a hammer and chisel in my hands, looking at the finished opening.

I think that's when I first realized: sometimes a person works slowly not because they are lazy or incompetent. Maybe they were just given a hammer where a hammer drill was needed.

I was paid for the work. I don't remember the exact amount anymore. It was typical pay for an inexperienced assistant worker.

But for me, it was special.

It was the first time I earned money myself. I didn't ask for it. I didn't receive it as a gift. I did the work – and I got money for it.

After that, there were other sites. I worked all summer, including insulating roofs. I did everything I was assigned and tried to do it well. Gradually, I saved up the necessary amount.

I came to the wedding in a suit and with a gift. Renata and I went together, but I didn't take any money from her. I paid for the gift from both of us myself.

Later, I was even told that I had given too much for one person.

It didn't seem that way to me. It was my first self-earned money, and I wanted to spend it on people who were important to me.

The wedding was big – about eighty people gathered. We celebrated, danced, and followed Polish wedding customs for three days.

It was at that wedding that Renata and I first kissed.

I already liked her a lot then. I was probably already in love. But we were both young, shy, and didn't really understand how to start a relationship correctly.

We didn't become a couple right after the wedding. Everything happened slowly, timidly, and a bit crookedly – as often happens when people fall seriously in love for the first time.

And in 2005, we got married.

So, I worked that entire summer for a suit and a wedding gift.

But I earned much more: my first money, confidence in my own hands, and my first kiss with my future wife.

So, I didn't hammer that ceiling for nothing.

A true story based on Dmitrijus's memories. Some short dialogues are recreated from the author's recollections. The exact amount of the first earnings and the address of the first job site have not remained in memory.