yardwork

When Edd and I first met he found out I mowed my own grass and did all the yard work at my house.  Without a man to do it and not wanting to spend my limited income, I didn’t think twice about tackling the job myself.  I just did it.   In Texas the grass grows quickly in the summer so every week it would need to be done again. I really didn’t mind though. 

I didn’t spend much time thinking about it, but did notice that Edd never volunteered to help me.  I knew he cared about me and wanted to spend time with me, but didn’t want that to be one of the activities we did together!  Later on he even told me he’d pay for me to get a lawn service if it meant we could spend more time together... but he wasn’t going to do it himself.

As time went on I learned why.


He tells stories about being a little boy in New Jersey and cutting the lawn.  He remembers being behind a push lawn mower (not motor powered!) and he and his brother Mark are holding their little arms up high so they can reach the bar to push the mower along together.  That is such an endearing picture to me.  When I suggested that they probably told their dad that they wanted to help with the grass, Edd always says, “No, I don’t think so!”  He remembers these first  experiences with mowing.   I asked how old he was at the time and says… “Young!”   He knows that because his family left New Jersey when he was only in the third grade.


There were four brothers in his family and two sisters.  Edd was the oldest boy.  He remembers leaving Conroe, Texas to go to UT in Austin for college.   He wasn’t around anymore to cut the grass at home. That’s when his dad hired a lawn service! 

Years went by and he mowed his own yard at various homes he owned.  After his divorce he decided that yard work was a thing of the past and he bought a condo.  Soon after that we met.  Yard work is just something he made a decision to not spend his time on anymore… he did it long enough… and if you knew my husband you’d know that when he makes a decision he usually sticks to it unless he has a very good reason to change.  It’s actually a good trait that I like about him.

I only had to cut the grass if I wanted to when I was growing up.  I don’t think my dad thought it was work for girls.  I remember doing it once or twice.  Growing up where I did in northern New Jersey was magical as I look back.  There were hills to climb and fields to run across.  There were wooded areas (safe wooded areas) and wildflowers to pick.  I spent much of my time outside.  I remember playing on cliffs pretending I was going to lose my grip and fall … but just in time I would get “rescued” by a handsome man… some kind of childhood knight-in-shining-armor type.

Now Edd only wants me to do the yard work if it’s fun for me.  So we get a yard service to do it because I would need to spend most of my day on our yard to get it to look half as nice as the yard guys do.  Now I plant flowers and do some weeding and projects I want or like to do. 

Funny to think while I was having my happy New Jersey childhood, my now-husband had no idea he was having experiences that he’d share with me someday.  He would someday become my real-life knight in shining armor.  And not just in regard to mowing the lawn.