BOWING TO THE PRESSURE

I have finally given in to 2 common factors that befall us all...the value of time management...and the symptoms of aging.

When Cindy & I moved to our current home 18 years ago, I was a younger man. I had a push mower that I used to mow the lawn that first summer. It was about a 90 minute project to mow the lawn...sometimes stretching to two hours.

The next summer...for Mother's Day (actually it wasn't for that day...it was just bad timing on my part)...I bought a riding mower. It cut the mowing time in half...45 minutes to an hour. That old mower cut lots of grass over the years...until about 7 years ago...when the rider finally gave out.

I decided to replace it by buying a self-propelled/push mower. I thought it'd be good exercise...plus it was a lot less money than buying a new rider, and that mower has cut lots of grass for those last years. But this summer began taking a toll on me. It became a routine to take 2 hours to do the job...and I was just exhausted when done. It didn't do any good to ask me to do ANYTHING else afterwards...because I was spent.

The last 2 mowings finally did me in. The first was a hot day and I was just in the early stages of acquiring an infection...that hit me full-bore...the next day. I was down and out for the next week...not that the mowing was responsible...but it didn't help. The last mowing was about 10 days later and again it took everything out of me to finish the job. Part of the problem was again...I still wasn't over my illness and the effort just took too much out of me.

Yesterday...with some extra encouragement from Cindy...I bowed to the pressure of aging...and having better things to do with the 2 hours of time to mow and the 12 hours to recover...and I bought a new riding mower.

This evening...I mowed the hay field that had become our yard...and I have energy remaining.

The expense of buying the mower...will be paid back many times...in other ways over the years. It'll be well worth it.


Dan