There is a saying "when the going gets tough, the tough get going" or on the other hand, "never send a boy to do a mans job". As we were growing up we were very seldom told we couldn't do something, in fact, we were encouraged to do the difficult. This is an account of the second difficult chore we boys were given. It is that of mowing the lawn with a push mower. What can be difficult about that? Well if your height is such that if you take the handle and push the mower, it is tipped up on small rollers behind the mower and not on the drive wheels that move the blades with repect to the cutter bar, it just doesn't work. Because of our height or lack thereof, we would take one side of the mower handle, the T end where the two hands go normally, in one hand and the neck of the wooden handle down by the mower mechanism in the other hand in a bent over fashion. This worked with no little effort from a small boy and was made easier if Howard or Larry would join from the other side. I remember we would cut the lawn in sections. We would mow the first section of the lawn until we were exhausted, take a brief rest, and then hit it again. We usually did this toward evening when the sun was going down and it had cooled off a bit. I remember Mom sitting on the step and cheering us on with comments like, "Look at that boy go", "Here they come lickity split", and "look at my He-man". With such encouragement, who wouldn't push there guts out. Well, at first, after her "he-men" were pooped, mom would finish the job, but we did get it done later in the summer. This was a very common chore, it was satifiying because a fresh cut lawn makes everyone feel better about their home, there status in the human race and their family.Side note: My brother Howard teased me when he found I was doing a blog, stating that "Dwight is a legend in his own MIND" the word mind normally is time. He is really behind it and was only teasing in a positive way. I do feel that I might be self engrandizing with this blog but also feel that recording the positive and growing experiences of life help us, all of us, remember who we are and that if we can win the prize that our Father has for us at the end of this life, world fame aside, we will be in fact legends as our status will be great. I hope that whoever reads this is uplifted in their own life as they reflect on similiar experiences.
