I love my children, I truly do. I do ask them to help quite a bit, especially with the mowing of the lawn. I was kindly gifted a push mower after mine died, so I was pleased we could get back on-track with outside maintenance. Then, my weed-eater broke! However, I’m not supposed to be doing the mowing or outside upkeep due to my asthma and complications from COVID…BUT, the job they’re doing is not adequate, to the point of making my eye twitch…they’re not getting the grass in the culvert, or up against the house, etc. Reluctantly, I had to take things into my own hands, especially when I received a lovely “warning” from the city about complaints about my property. GRRRRRRRRRR!

I arrived, after work a few days ago, with a full gas can and mowed my front lawn with a fury. What used to take 20 minutes (when it’s maintained properly), took me about an hour and 15 minutes. I used that mower as a mower, a bush hog, and a weed-eater. I angled that mower to shear the tops off the long weeds/grass, then went over it again! I was doing the work that teens and twenty-somethings proclaimed could not be done!!! It went beyond a mission into DEFCON-3!

Meanwhile, I’m wheezing and sweating and callouses are popping up on my hands — probably due to the fact that I was gripping it so tightly! I’d pause periodically and hit my inhaler with two shots, then keep going!

It was nearly dark when I finished. My teenage son, hearing the lawn being off for an extended period of time, must’ve realized the coast was clear. He came out to check on me. “Wow, Mom,” he said, surveying my work. “Our yard looks good again!”

I just stood , panting and wheezing, looking at him in disbelief. “Yeah? Get used to it because you goofballs are going to maintain this and keep it nice.”

I got a dejected look from him. “Oh, okay.” I then told him to gather trash and get it ready for trash day…that’s entirely ANOTHER sore subject. I just had to make a trash run for two weeks of missed trash and a chewed mattress and a blown up microwave. I now take more time to make sure it goes out on trash day in the early AM (before work), even though LOTS of verbal and text reminders go out the night prior. I swear, the whole house is staging a coupe and things are failing and breaking left and right…meanwhile, I cannot rely on millennials to remedy this, I have to be more on top of it…

…with these two hard-working hands…I’m working circles around the next generation…SMH…I’m just SO tired! Now, to attack the back yard…

Love and light!