Jelly Beans will Never be the Same!

I nearly went to bed at a decent hour and then I remembered I had something to write to you all about!

Summer is a time that I spend unwinding a bit and working physically and spiritually more than I do during the school year. Today I did a bit of both in a strangely simple way. I mowed the lawn. Now before some of you go all "greenie" on me about how its unfortunate that my family has grass and the audacity to mow and what not let me tell you there are bigger fish to fry in this world than grass. I actually enjoyed the work because it has this weird way of reminding me of where I've been in life.

See, I've been mowing the lawn consistently since I was 11 or 12. I've figured a lot of things out while mowing. One is the simplest way to transfer the cut grass in the mower's bag into the trash bag. Another is the patterns I can mow in the lawn that go best with the lay of the land in our backyard. Now neither of those are very significant outside of the mowing world. I doubt any future employer would care if I mowed vertically or diagonally or if the cut grass was bagged or not. However, I do know of at least one part of my mowing routine that transfers into all other aspects of life; dog poop clean up. Yes, you read that right.

Ever since I've been mowing we've had a dog at my house. Now to be honest that does not mean that I've cleaned up after the dog every single time I've mowed, but I've had my fair share of clean up duty I think. You see I don't mind doing the task anymore. I used to dread it more than mowing, because of the stink, mush factor, and general land mine clearing mindset that comes with it. If you've never done this before imagine the smell as the worst passed gas you've smelled recently bagged up and warm. The mush factor as I refer to it can also be called the jellybean effect. You see the dog does its business the sun shines down on all that brown glory and the surface becomes crusty leaving a gooey or mush middle. The trick of course is to rely on the crusty shell to support the mush as you transfer the brown matter to the trash bag. The crust fails you at times, and sometimes the brown matter is so fresh it is just mush. My advice is to mow around it in hopes that you don't step on it or suck it up into the mower. Now that you have that scenario in your mind I can tell you why I told you all of this.

I can deal with the crap life gives me. Sure I hate doing it sometimes and I'll put it off in hopes that it'll get better (dry up) tomorrow. I'm willing to put up with some stank, mush, and potential land mines in my life, because I realize that I'm not in control. I cannot tell my dog where to do her business just like I cannot tell other people how to live. I can give advice if its asked for (kinda like what I do here on this blog) and I can deal with the brown matter in my own life. Is it a heroic job? NO, and it never will be. It is a necessary job though.

May you face the stank, mush, and land mines in your life with grit.

Blessings!