Married to an inventor?

Although my blog is called, "On being married to an inventor", I do spend precious little time talking about what that is really like. While few ever get the extraordinary opportunity to be a full-time inventor as mine currently has, there are a lot of part-time inventors out there, constantly creating, thinking, and stewing over solutions to the problems of the larger world, and their own little world. Some even make it to patent stage, and the diversity of patents that My Inventor runs across in his day-to-day life give some sort of indication of the tremendous diversity of interests and ideas out there.

I think most of us have sparks of creativity and we all have good ideas now and then, but what seems to set apart one as an inventor is the dogged determination (or happy circumstance) that sees an idea blossom into a reality. We know of one inventor who spent twenty years of his weekends, holidays and free time working on an idea for a bicycle helmet. From the original idea, he tested, built prototypes and refined, until he was ready to appear on "New Inventors", and from there his idea took off into commercial reality. Unlike so many others, at least this man won't be seeing his idea appear on a shop shelf and saying, "Hey, I had that idea twenty years ago!" The vast divide that many ideas never seem to cross is the limitation of time and money. Spending twenty years in your garage is one thing, but then finding the tens-of-thousands of dollars to register your patent is another massive commitment, and requires a great deal of faith in onesself and ones' idea.

The faith in a person and an idea is difficult enough to garner from an outsider, but having it followed up through financial support is another thing entirely. I pray every day that The Inventor's work will bring great financial gain, not just because that would be very nice for us, but I believe that D deserves financial reward and kudos for the faith he has placed in an idea which offered vast promises- but nothing more-  for the future of the earth and the environment.

Faith in one's idea is paramount, and some people just have one great idea which they work on relentlessly. Other inventors are like mine. Their minds are possessed by the constant churning of ideas, and often they need guidance to stay on one path without too much wandering. Life is just one long journey of possibilities, and they love to explore them all.
Once, when we went away for a weekend, The Inventor said to me, "We must do this more often".
"Ah," I thought to myself, "he likes to spend time with me, relax and get down to my level".
"Yeah," he continued. "I get so many great ideas when we go away, but the trouble is, then I can't wait to get back to the lab to try them out".

The idea The Inventor is currently working on isn't a new one. It is actually just one of the many things that have bounced around inside his head, and this one has bounced around in many forms for years. This idea has emerged from amongst the others because technology has now become capable of supporting the process and environmental awareness has grown to a point where the process is desirable and worthy of funding from private individuals and government bodies. (We are hoping to gain some government funding in the near future and have spent a great deal of time preparing a submission, and I am now volunteering my time in at the lab a few days a week to help speed us through some of the more mundane tasks, until the arrival of the new staff that we have been promised.) The Inventor's obsession with mankind's responsibility to the environment, and his involvement with environmental groups, led him to pluck and nurture this idea in preference to so many others.

The choice was a good one. Time after time, he finds solutions to problems and the science and engineering of the project leap effortlessly over the hurdles. With the extra staff, progress will leap forward and we look forward to the new challenges this will hold. To quote the Hash House Harriers, "On, On!"