Exsistentialist Mowing...or, um, something...
But, as a bit of an Update ABOUT Monday, er..., I was mowing the grass yesterday. Now in Bethel Park, mowing the grass was often something I did on my lunch break - I'd come home, push mow the grass, grab a sandwich, and still be back in a little over an hour or so (including the 10-15 min drive each way). Not so, here.
Now, don't take that as complaining - we LOVE the new yard. We have lots of space for the girls to play - next summer we're hoping to put some fencing in and maybe get a dog. So we're really happy with the yard...except.
I hate mowing.
Now, I have ALWAYS hated mowing the grass - one of the reasons that I would mow on my lunch break in Bethel Park was because I didn't want to waste any "important" time (that is, family time or work time) to mow. So I'd use meal time...
I said once to a guy that I hate mowing and he said, "Oh, no, you'll come to enjoy it."*** Well, that was six years ago (when I had a full 20 years of grass-cut-hating) and now, six years later, I don't hate it any less.
But - this isn't about hating mowing the grass - this is way deeper.
You see, mowing the grass is one of those "urgent" things we have to do. Around here, since it takes me between two and two and a half hours to mow and trim, I have to plan when I'm going to do this particular chore and it HAS to be done every week. The grass doesn't stop growing...well, until fall but...man, what do people in Florida do, cutting their grass all year round....yech...
Anyway, it's urgent but it's not, in the grand sense of things in life, all that important. Yeah, I have to do it, but it really isn't that big a deal, right?
But I still hate it.
What happened yesterday, though, was that I used that couple hours to pray. To do something truly important even while taking care of this urgent business. I can't always do that, sometimes the urgent (sick kid, paperwork due, grocery shopping, whatever) will crowd out what is really important - but I have a whole new appreciation for the time I sit on that riding mower.
No, I still don't ENJOY mowing, I never will - but I can appreciate the time nonetheless.
So, that's my grand revelation for the week.
**** I hate it when people try to correct my preferences. I hate mowing. Oh, but someday you'll like it. Bah, fat chance. I hate liver, too - tried it several times, can't stand it. Just because YOU like liver, doesn't mean that I ever will. Oh, or when I said once that I can't walk 18 holes of golf right now, I hear, "Yes you can." No, I can't. Yes you can. But I'm physically unable to walk 18 holes - I can do about 14 right now. No, you can walk 18. ARGH. Really, I know me. It's not psychological. I can see it - it sits right in front of me. It's the hundred extra pounds that I'm carrying that makes my feet hurt so bad by hole 14 that I'll sit on a bench and make you go get a golf cart to come and get me. It's really not a matter of "preference" or "lack of will". So when are YOU gonna run one of those 100 mile runs? What, you say you can't? Yes you can...
******** Oh, I used a really cool tool from Microsoft to put together 13 images to make that panorama of our yards.
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Also, people telling me I will like something is one of my biggest pet peeves. Sometimes dad will tell me that I will really enjoy a certain food, and I instinctively decide that I already hate it ... just because someone told me I would like it.
Just a thought ... a goat would be just as cute and cuddly as a dog, and it would mow the grass for you.
I guess I get a little passive aggressive about somethings when people tell my "You have to..." see this movie, read this book, try this ice cream, whatever - it starts with a mark against for me - and I often end up not enjoying it because that - where I might have had I discovered it myself. I'm working on that, but...