Mowing and Thinking

So I've always said that I do some of my best thinking while I'm mowing...and I realize now in saying that, that I'm limiting the occurrence of my very best thinking because since I've been married, I haven't really mowed. And that makes me think of a few things. I have always enjoyed mowing as far as chores go. You have a task ahead of you, with a clear beginning, a clear end, and an easy and kind of beautiful way to measure the progress as you go. It's a good thing I've enjoyed it- because I've mowed the lawn since I was I don't know, maybe 12. This is one of the things you do in a houseful of three women.

As much as I liked it- I did often think to myself "When I get older and get married...I'm not going to have to mow. How nice will that be?" And that's really come true. Davis usually mows the yard, but this past weekend, I decided to get outside and mow while he did some other work. I was mowing along in the 100 degree weather, admiring my perfect lines, when Davis came over and stopped me to give me a few pointers. Admittedly, I was a bit defensive. He said whatever he said about my mowing technique and I responded with a curt "Uh, yeah, I know..." He smiled and said "Woah..." to which I said "Davis listen. I've been running this very lawn mower since I was 12. I had a pretty admirable lawn business with my grandpa, in fact. I KNOW how to run this mower." And I went on about my way.

And then I did some great thinking. I was feeling both happy to be mowing- and happy that mowing is not a big deal to me. It's one of the many things we learned to do early on because we (my mom, Nikki, and I) were the only ones to do them. My friend's dad's mowed their lawn or their older brothers or whatever...but that wasn't the case with us. And that was fine. Actually I'm thankful for it. I was mowing along this Sunday, and thinking to myself, that there is actually NOTHING we didn't do because it was just the three of us. Seriously. We drove cross-country, we owned nice houses and maintained those houses, we traveled internationally, we tried every sport or activity we wanted to try, and we didn't know anything otherwise.

And clearly I say "we" because we were a team unit- but clearly it makes me reflect on how tough my mom was. Single woman. Two little girls. Taking on the world. And so as I mowed, I thought of two things. 1) I am thankful that God has blessed me with a great husband that is a true partner and 2) I am thankful to my mom that I know how capable I am of doing anything I'd like to, or need to do. See- more great thinking while mowing. I might need to quit my day job and get back into the lawn mowing biz.