Mowing the lawn - thinking of grandma

Yesterday after a three mile run - I decided to break out the weed whacker and trim the grass along the sidewalk and driveway - I usually do this - so no big deal, but then - something strange happened inside my brain and I decided to begin mowing the lawn - I had no intentions of mowing the entire yard - but with rain six out of seven days the past three weeks and more rain forecasted for the next week - yesterday was sunny and the grass was l o n g gggggg! Chris had taken the kids swimming and I really thought he would return to find me mowing and offer to finish - despite him only having had three hours of sleep the night before and working all day yesterday - wishful thinking on my part - I know.

Mowing the yard is not something I do - it's Chris' job - over the years - I don't think I've mowed the entire yard but maybe once or twice - but yesterday I did and as I mowed - I thought of my grandma.

From the time I was nine or so - I mowed my grandma's lawn religiously week after week - she'd drive to our house and pick me up just so I could mow her lawn.  I think my grandma taught me how to mow a lawn - at least she taught me how to mow her lawn - I could see every step of her yard and every tree of her yard as I mowed my lawn yesterday - and I could remember some of her directions like she was talking right to me: "around the driveway you have to point the mower inside away from the gravel so you don't shoot the rocks into the grass." and "Mow around the trees and then go up to the tree trunk between the roots." and  "Careful not to mow down the flowers."

In the earlier days of mowing grandma's lawn was not just about mowing - it was about moving and mowing as she had a swingset, a huge slide,  a glider, a whirligig, a fancy teeter totter, a bench swing and more.

The best part of mowing my grandma's yard was milk and cookies afterwards and she'd always give me $5. Usually I'd spend the night as it was over summer vacation and we'd play yahtzee, board games and watch TV together, usually CNN :).

It was a nice day of reminiscing about grandma and being productive at the same time.