Straight Lines

Nothing gives me more pleasure to see a yard of unruly grass and mow it down in straight lines. 

I love to mow the lawn.  I always have.  I have one sister and no brothers which meant that my dad had to do all the man chores around the house.  Which I didn't think was fair.  I remember thinking one day that my dad had enough things to do around the house on Saturdays and why couldn't I take some of that burden off of his shoulders by learning to mow the lawn.  He never asked for help because he was so capable and easy going.  One day when I was about 14 or so while he was at work and I was home picking my nose, not doing anything in the summer I decided to go out to the shed, get his lawn mower out, and figure out how to make it go.  I was super skinny back then and had no muscles to speak of but I got that old thing going and I mowed the lawn.  I'd watched him do it many times and learned that you go up one way then turn around and go back the other way parallel to the up way......that makes sense to me so I'm leaving it in.  Pretty soon, I'd mowed the back and the front lawns.  I was so proud of myself and couldn't wait for him to come home so he could see it.  I don't remember if I did a good job or not but he praised me and then told me I had a new job.  What the...?!

I mowed the lawns from then on. 

I still mow the lawns.  After we bought our first little house my husband decided to take on private practice clients.  That man worked hard.  He was working 60-80 hours a week at that point.  Monday through Saturday.  I'd just had our fourth kid and we were down to one car that summer (we were pretty poor) so I was stuck at home for the most part that year.  He was working so hard and again I had the thought of needing to take some of the burden from his shoulders.  So I went out, got the mower going, and mowed the lawn.  It's been my job ever since. 

Our house, now, has about a half acre of grass to mow.  I can do it in an hour.  When we first moved here we had a riding mower which was fun but it didn't make the grass look all that great.  I was surprised when it broke down and I went back to the self-propelled mower how much better the grass looked.

My oldest child is on a lawn crew and when I was working for the district I would ask him once in awhile to mow for me as I didn't have the time once school started, otherwise, I mow the lawn.  One thing I learned from the Boy is to mow one direction one week ie. across the lawn, diagonal the next and the 3rd week mow  against the direction of the first week.  I don't know if that makes sense or not.  It makes sense in my head.

I heard my old neighbor once say that he always mows the lawn because he didn't want his wife to have to do anything outside.  He would be embarrassed to have her do his work--that sounds demeaning--he wasn't being demeaning, though.  He cherished her womanhood and didn't want her to have to stoop to outside work.  I have often wondered what he has though of me mowing the lawn, digging holes for trees and bushes, hauling 50 lb. bags of bark mulch over my shoulder.

My dad has often said, "Why don't you have that oldest boy mow the lawn.  He needs to do it."  I say, "Yes, he can do it and he does if I don't have the time.  But I like to mow the lawn and I do it the best."  Which is true I really do the best job.  People don't believe me when I say that I LIKE TO MOW THE LAWN.

I do hate to trim, however.