Tower Mom

Watching ~my~ building come to life.

Every day, as I emerge from the depths of the subway to walk to work, I see the tower I worked on before taking a sabbatical. It’s under construction now, going up fast, and towering above the surrounding buildings.

I drew every sink, tile, and grout line in every single bathroom. I triple checked the height of every sprinkle pipe and air duct, to make sure they fit snugly between the ceiling and the concrete floor slab without rattling against the framing. I dimensioned every wall, numbered every door, and quantified every toilet.

Every day I approach the tower, I pass by the construction guys wearing neon hoodies and hard hats. I walk right through their cloud of hot coffee and cigarettes, while they wait in line at the bagel cart. And none of them know I spent two years on zoom calls day and night, taking endless meeting notes, drawing and compiling the whole set of construction drawings¹ for that tower they’re building. 

Now I’m just another stranger passing by, an observer watching it grow taller every day. I take pictures of every new window installed, like a proud mom watching their child do something new for the first time.

1. Construction drawings are also known as blueprints. Although, they’re not the blue carbon copies you’re probably thinking of. They’re all kinds of drawings used to create an IKEA-like visual manual on how to build a building, including floor plans, elevations, three dimensional vignettes of different exterior windows and doors, zoomed in drawings of screws attaching drywall to metal stud framing, excel spreadsheets that show the make/model/finish of toilets.