yard lessons

a few years back when my street was widened,
they put in a drainage ditch along the edge of my front yard.
well, everyone's front yard.
not just mine.
just one of those normal ditches you see everywhere.
it's grassy and just lets the water flow down the street.
i've got a pipe under the driveway.
that kinda thing.

no big deal.

until i go to mow it.

then it feels like a canyon.

well, the first few times of the season that i mow it, that is.

my gosh,
maybe it's more accurate to say it feels like a mountain.

a canyony mountain.
the great divide.
the embarrassing it's really not that big, why is it so hard to mow?? spot.

whatever it is, it's been difficult.
i grunt, and push, and push harder, and sweat, and
almost lose my shoes right off my feet as i try to push that mower
along. seriously, i've had to bend down and tie my shoes tighter.
and seriously? it's not that big a ditch.

so i notice it.
cause i can't figure out why it's so hard for me.

and i've watched.
and i see it's become easier.
ha!
i figured my arms were getting stronger.
that's cool.

and then a couple of weeks ago, something weird happened.
it was fun to mow.
i actually got a kick out of it.
and i tried to figure out why.
and i felt like i was dancing with it.

so then this whole new concept came into my brain.
'dance with the ditch. learn it's curves. move with it.'

cool, right?
but the next time wasn't that easy.
darn.
i'm not dancing so great.
i was a little bummed about that.

so each time is different. but mostly getting easier.

kinda like a lotta life's challenges, i thought today as i mowed it once again.

this ditch is a lot like life.

my attitude goin' into it all definitely matters.
the more i listen and groove with it, the easier it is.
i get stronger and stronger as i go along tryin' to deal with it.
sometimes it's so darn aggravating and sometimes it's funny.
and sometimes it just is.

it really is a lot like life.

i decided i needed to play with the ditch.
use a different visual each time i mowed it.
today in trying to decide if it was a canyon or not -
i couldn't figure out if canyons got windy.
seems like every time i'm over there, there's a breeze.
so i pictured a windy canyon.
then got stuck on the facts.
are canyons windy?
and then i laughed at the sheer craziness of my trying to be factual
as i make up a visual.

a car drove by just then and i said to myself 'let's make the cars be bears.'
and then i really started laughing. yeah, let's be factual as we make this stuff up.

so okay.
i found a new playground.
in a place that's been a challenge to me.

and i realized as i wiped the sweat off my face today,
i really can learn a lot about living life right here in my yard.