the amazing blessing we call life

the amazing blessing
we call life

at a time when people barely know their neighbors, i was seriously blessed by one today. i'm not sure he even knows what a difference he had in our little lives... but nonetheless he did. after way too many days of rain to count, a seriously steep hillside yard, over knee high grass, and a mom-of-the-house (i.e. me) who is not particularly talented with a lawn mower... i had a serious chore on my hands. well, we finally had some sunshine quite by surprise today, so i decided to mow our small jungle. i had talked with stan via webcam last night to get the particulars on starting a mower that hadn't been started in awhile, and set off to my task.

step 1 - getting that sucker down the hill. we live on a hillside that's pretty steep. (the ups man once told me that i have the steepest driveway in town.) so when i started pushing the mower down to the flat part of the lawn, lets just say i wasn't exactly pushing. more like running behind a wild runaway machine... the only thing slowing it down was the sheer volume of grass it was rolling through.

step 2 - starting the mower & keeping it on. i took it down to the street and started it there just like stan told me. and started mowing. well, apparently mowers don't really like to stay running in tall damp grass. so not very far into my little adventure. it stopped. back out to the street i went to start her up again. no dice. i pulled and pulled and couldn't get it started again.

ENTER NEIGHBOR BLESSING #1
looking admittedly quite pitiful, my neighbor a few houses down must have seen me. (i didn't realize anyone else on the street was outside at the time, so consumed with trying to get the mower running again.) my neighbor came by and asked if i needed some help getting it started again. i was so grateful. he started it right up, gave me a few more mowing tips for my task at hand, and i was on my way again!

step 3 - mowing a jungle & not destroying your mower. slow and steady mows a jungle. and that was what filled the next hour or so. not that my yard is very big, but it was way out of control.

ENTER NEIGHBOR BLESSING #2
about 2/3 of the way through the bottom (flattish) part of the lawn, my neighbor in shining armor came back by. he asked if i'd like for him to help me finish up. i said i'd be alright... i should be able to finish. he said, well, i got my mower out and if i work on the hill and you finish up down here, we'll be done in no time.

to make a long story longer... he helped me finish. i am so grateful for my neighbors, my neighborhood, my small town, and all of its blessings... for all of those people that see someone struggling and help them out, and the reminder to me to do the same whenever i can. sometimes the littlest things can be the biggest blessings. thank you. :)