Why I Mow My Lawn...

This post is dedicated to Amber, who wonders why I am mowing the lawn and not her brother.

It all started when I was about 12 years old and my dad decided that his lawn mowing days had come to an end because he had two daughters who could now do it. Years before that, my sister and I always had to be outside while my dad mowed because we had to do the edging, weed eating, and grass pickup (we'd have to rake it all into a pile and then put it in the trash). Now I'm sure that my sister is going to argue this with me in her comment, but don't listen to her. I swear to you that I had to mow the lawn WAY more than she ever did because when we moved to Arlington, TX she stayed in Garland with my aunt and uncle for awhile so that she could finish the school year, or something like that.

So unlike my darling sister-in-law, I did not have any brothers who could mow the lawn, I had to do it....along with MANY other jobs that my Dad made me do. Working in my home was a serious thing because I have a mom who is an exceptional cleaner and wanted to teach her daughters to do it to the same level of perfection (I remember having to show the tub to my mom after I scrubbed it in order to get her approval...I normally had to do it at least 2-3 times). I also had a Dad who claimed that the reason he had children was so that they could do all the work while he "supervised". The only way that I could ever spend the night at someone's house was if I was home by 7 am Saturday morning so that I could begin my Saturday chores.

As a youth, I would always dream of the day when I was married to the man of my dreams who would never even think of having me mow the lawn, edge, weed eat, trim bushes, rake the leaves, etc. Fast forward 3 or 4 years....I married the man of my dreams who has ever allergy known to man, and to top it off, he's allergic to grass. So, I mow the lawn. Not that he can't or won't do it. We had a day of service about a month ago here in our region and Cory had to mow like 6 lawns. He wore jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and had to take like 10 benadryl. He came home miserable. He would mow our lawn (and he actually did the front yard last week while I was gone, but I took over and did the rest because otherwise I knew that I would have a sleepy husband the rest of the day because of all of the Benadryl he'd have to take). But I actually kinda like it. I enjoy the satisfaction that comes from seeing the beautiful neat rows of trimmed grass. It is very satisfying. In an effort to be frugal, Cory traded some of his tools for a lawn mower. It is wonderful and does a great job, but....it's a push mower and we have a huge hill in our front yard. So not only do I get the satisfaction of a beautiful yard, but I also get a great work out.