Monday, August 13, 2012

Mow ze Lawn!

So there's this joke I heard quite a bit growing up....

"How do the French say 'cut the grass'?"

The answer is, obviously, "mow ze lawn"...it's not one I particularly found funny, but maybe that was because I've had a deep love for France and the French language and culture for as long as I can remember. Anyway, it's significance today, is this:


Today, for the first time in my life, I cut the grass.

Why have I never done it in my almost-30 years of life? For two very good reasons...1) I grew up with an older brother. It was always his job. When I moved out, I didn't have to worry about a yard to care for. It wasn't until after I was married and living in Italy that we had any yardwork to be done, and I had a husband to take care of it. ;) And when he was deployed, a guy from his squadron took care of it for me. And 2) I have allergies. Pretty severe allergies. I took my allergy medicine about 15-20 minutes before going outside to give it time to get in my system and head off as much as I could to start with. And according to The Instigator, who also reacts to grass, it doesn't happen while being the person mowing. At least for him. Evidently that wasn't the case for me. I came inside, itchy all over, eyes watering, sneezing, and feeling puffy and swollen. Thankfully, a shower (and closed windows!) helped a lot.

It took me an hour to get it done, and it's anything but perfect, but the point is...I did it! It's one of those moments rare in many adult lives, being able to be proud of having accomplished something so trivial for the first time. Naturally, being me, I went online and researched "how to mow a lawn" and "how to start a mower" and watched a couple of videos. (Yes, yes, I know...I'm a freak...) ;) Elphie even mentioned that if I were to die under mysterious circumstances, police searching my computer would get a surprise from my google history...I have looked up many "how-to's"...lol

It took me about an hour to mow, and it looks nowhere near perfect, but the yard is pretty large, it is anything but even or flat, and parts of it had sprouted up to about 10-12" in height! On top of all that, due to living in a not-Colorado climate, there is this thing called "dew" and "condensation" that we get overnight, and this crazy-tall grass was not completely dry. For a first attempt, I don't think I did too bad...

So here it is. Our front yard, mowed by yours truly!


Has anyone else had moments like this, that most people learned such a basic skill long ago, but you feel proud of the accomplishment and feel like a glowing child saying "Look what I did!"?

(Also, I know it's been a month since I last blogged...I will try to get into the habit of blogging more often!...again...LOL)

2 comments:

Becky said...

Good going Netta!!!! One more thing off your check list! LOL I can say yes I have felt that feeling of "I did it" after struggling with something when dad has been gone!

YogaKnot said...

Awesome. I have only ever mowed our lawn with a push mower never an electric or gas mower. I should probably try that sometime...lol.