Spoiled

In the summers of the distant past, before Mr. Son and Miss Daughter became teens, I would spend approximately 4 hours a week mowing our, and my grandmother-in-law's yards. It was a nice respite from cleaning, and being a mom 24/7. I rather enjoyed it.

Today, I spent over 7 hours mowing my lawn. Yep, you read that right, SEVEN HOURS!

It could have taken me much longer, but I got lazy. In the past when mowing, I have been known to go over a spot again and again, until all blades of grass are the same length....yeah, yeah I gotta problem .... but I do like pretty lawns.

Anyway after about hour three, and not even being halfway done, I began to tell myself......"this is not a golf course, the lawn does not have to be perfect, and, it is a waste of precious gasoline to go over a spot that has already been mowed." So, I was able to skip most of the not so even places, well, most of the time. I also trim around trees with the garden tractor, I have gotten quite good at using forward and reverse to trim around the trees. But after about hour four.....nope, I decided that 2 foot high grass with seed heads is quite pretty, and I want to experience that more fully.

The mowing is now done for a week, a 10 acre oasis of fairly even length grass. Around hour six, I decided, maybe, I should buy a goat, or, put up some fencing and pasture some horses. What a savings it would be in gasoline, and back muscles. Plus, boarding horses would be added income, there is one stall here already.

My next thought....tell Miss Daughter how riding the mower is a great way to get a tan. Might work, even if she would do half, my back would thank her. But, she still does the mowing at her father's house, so I somehow doubt I will be able to convince her to do it here too.

It has spoiled me in recent years to have someone else do the mowing, I missed it on occasion, mowing is a fairly brainless activity, and it does give one time to think. So, there were times when I would tell one of my children I would do the mowing. They liked that.

I have decided that a part of this extremely large yard is going to return to nature. There are areas in which it would be quite pretty, and beneficial to the abundant wildlife in the area to have some meadow lands. Now, I just have to convince my neighbors.

Another area in which I realized I have been spoiled in the past is having central air conditioning. The one here quit working on Thursday evening. I debated long and hard before calling my husband to check it out, it was a very humbling experience as well. At first I didn't think I had the right to request that from him. But, it is one of his many areas of expertise, and I most definitely do not have the money to hire someone to do it, plus it made him feel needed. At least that is what I am telling myself now.

He did examine it, and the compressor is inoperable, so we wait until Monday afternoon for repairs to be accomplished. In the mean time, I am getting used to the heat, being a bit more conscious of keeping drapes closed during the day, and opening windows only during the evenings. What I didn't expect was melted chocolate.

I was so tired by 9:30 that I didn't feel like preparing a meal for myself, so I snacked, and then felt like eating something sweet. I remembered Miss Daughter requesting me to buy the ingredients for S' mores. I went to the cabinet, and came across a package of melted Hershey bars! Melted! I have never had them melt in the house before! It must have gotten quite warm inside today.

In thinking about all of this, I did realize how spoiled I have been. My life has been relatively easy. My husband is man of many skills. Rarely, very rarely have we had to hire someone to repair a broken appliance, rarely have we taken a vehicle into a shop for repairs if it was past warranty. He has always had the knowhow, or the fortitude to learn to repair most broken items. I have learned much from him over the years, and I am very grateful for that. I realized many years ago, that in watching him, I learned that very few things are impossible to do ourselves. In that time, I have attempted many things, learned from those attempts, and been quite proud of my accomplishments. I have him to thank for that.

As I was contemplating all of this today, I realized, now, I have to learn how to sharpen a mower blade. Now, I have to remember how to change a flat tire, now I have decide whether I attempt minor plumbing repairs, in addition to a multitude of other things. Impossible tasks? Nope. But ones I have let someone else do over these many years.

As I was thinking about all of this. I wondered, what did I give him? Was there a gift of me to him?

I can't really think of any. I have no special talents, I am atrociously bad when it comes to mechanical things, I can do many types of home renovation, as long as they are simple, like painting or wall papering (neither of which I do well, but I can do them). There are many things I do around the house, hanging pictures, arranging furniture, cleaning, minor (very minor) carpentry, but the big stuff and much of the little stuff, he did.

Emotionally, politically, even somewhat intellectually, we are very different people. But I do have to realize, that somehow, for over 27 years, there were parts of us, that complemented each other. I will miss that.

In the grand scheme of things, I know that what I am doing is best for us both, but, I also have to wonder, what is about me, that he will miss?

Just for the heck of it, some really cool bugs I saw today.