Dadisms...

Dadism:  "Life is like cutting the grass."

Here's the thing.  That one never made a whole lotta sense.  But he said it regularly enough and I understood his point.  I was about 12-13 years old and my dad decided it was the summer for me to start cutting the grass.  My parents' yard is fairly big and a decent undertaking with a push mower.  My parents didn't buy a gas mower until several years later so it took most of the afternoon to push the mower, stop every few lines to empty the bag of grass into a plastic trash bag (it didn't "recycle" the grass like all the fancy ones do now), push the mower, stop, drag the plastic bag to the new spot, empty the grass...  Combine this with the sun, the heat, the gnats, a 13 year old attitude, and my father watching me from the deck, and you can imagine how annoying it was.  There was one time in particular I remember being really frustrated.  My father finally said, "Look.  I get it.  It's hot and sticky and miserable out here today.  There are 100 things you'd rather be doing.  But you're going to finish the grass.  Life is like cutting the grass... and no one likes a quitter."

I finished cutting the grass of course and as I got older it became my favorite chore.  And now the smell of freshly cut grass ranks as one of the sweetest smells I know, second only to the smell of a brand new baby in my book.  Freshly cut grass smells clean and new and full of life.  I just love it.

My parents' backyard
May, 2006

"I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass,

how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, 

how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day.  

Tell me, what else should I have done?  

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?"

--Mary Oliver (from "The Summer Day")

(*Edit: My mom corrected me.  We didn't have a completely push mower, ala 1930 of course.  It was a "push" mower in that there was no self-propelled or powered movement.  Hopefully that clarifies and makes sense?  General point-- that shit was hard.)