Utterly in Love

I fell completely and utterly in love with my husband again last week. Not that I wasn't already thoroughly and utterly in love with him already, but he did something for me that I will never ever forget. It meant so much to me that I am all drippy just thinking about it.

He did the lawn for me.


I'm sure that you have no idea why this is such a Big Deal. Let me tell you a little story...

T is allergic to the outdoors. Once he went to pull weeds at a friend's house and was in bed for 2 days recovering from an allergic reaction. He cut down trees once and the same thing happened. I am not allergic to the outside so I willingly and happily have been caring for our lawn and gardens for years. (We did have a few years of paying a neighborhood boy to mow our yard, but now we don't have any neighborhood boys. Tragic.)

I didn't have any problems with this arrangement until I purchased a new trimmer. I figured that if I got that fancy one that costs more than $100.00 that it had to be good. That it would practically trim the yard itself. I would merely hold it smiling, wearing pearls and heels while playing ball with the sweeties as I worked.

Ummm...what reality am I in? I'm not sure. I do know that where I reside is a special place, but I don't think that it is here on earth.

It took me 2 hours to put the trimmer together.

It took me 2 more hours to figure out how to take the brush blade off and how to get the trimmer pieces on. I started it and the string disappeared within 3.4 seconds. I cried.

It took me an hour to figure out that there weren't any directions for how to wind the string. I cried again.

I sent T to Home Depot with the string stuff so that he could ask them how to wind it up. He was there for about 45 minutes. He came home with detailed instructions and worked on it for about 30 minutes. This involved the use of a sharp knife and various other implements from my kitchen.

I placed T's work into the trimmer. Started the trimmer, shredded the booklet of directions and did about 10 feet before the trimmer died. I couldn't start it again. I gave myself blisters endlessly pulling that darn cord. I cried big ugly tears that made my nose run and made my eyes red.

T, the-superhero-trimmer-man, decided that the trimming was clearly too much for me to handle so he took it upon himself to trim the lawn. Then he mowed it. Without having a massive allergic reaction. Granted, I dumped the grass into the garbage and handled all the direct hand-to-plant matter. So that is what probably saved him from serious sick time, but it worked. And I didn't end up in tears. Not even small pretty ones.

So that is why I've fallen in love again. Completely and utterly and hopelessly in love. T recognized my weakness and made up for it. Which is really what marriage is all about. It is two people helping each other through life. We pick up each other's pieces and happily fix them. Sometimes those pieces are dirty socks, sometimes they are disappointments and sometimes they are trimming the lawn. When one of us can't carry our load, the other one simply gathers it up and either carries it until the other one is stronger or keeps it. And that is why I am so lucky to have T. He picked up that trimmer, without making me feel inadequate, and allowed me some dignity. So thank you Mr. Man. I love to to bits and bits. You are the bestest.