Well, I was going to go climbing yesterday at the gym, but my knee was so stiff, swollen, and sore from my bike crash the day before that I decided to go help my mom out at the field where I could at least sit down and help her. Mom fixed me some dippin’ eggs and toast before we left for the field. Once at the field, my mom wanted to do some mowing before we did anything else. I’d brought a book – Mastermind by Jerry Moffatt – which I read until I fell asleep. I awoke to the sound of my mother knocking on the pickup truck window and telling me it was time to burn. I tended the burn pile, surrounded by green – the green of the white mustard weeds that were thigh-high and that my mother mowed down before we set the burn pile on fire. There was no chance of the fire spreading anywhere, even if I couldn’t get up to stir it or the wind came up, because there were so many healthy, green, wet weeds growing everywhere! That’s what my mom worked on getting mowed down elsewhere, too, while I watched the sunflower stalks and the dead tree branches and the ragweed stalks burn. I stirred the burn pile now and again when it got to smoldering instead of burning, sometimes standing in between and sometimes sitting in the lawn chair my mother had brought me to sit in so that I didn’t have to stand on my sore knee so much. I watched my mom mowing down those weeds… Back and forth, round and round, with more energy than I could’ve mustered for that, my mom mowed and mowed and mowed. This 72yo woman can run circles around me in her sleep!!! My mom is very healthy and is an extremely hard worker. I felt bad that I couldn’t help her more, but she’s wanted to get that pile of stuff burned for a long time, and with me watching that, she could do other things (like work herself to death).
We went back into town for lunch and a short rest. My mom fixed some homemade pizza with that awesome Boboli pizza crust that I’ve always loved, and it was awesome! Mom was tired and I could tell. There was more work to do, though…
Mom and I went back out to the field and Mom mowed for almost three more hours before she finally quit, saying that her back was starting to hurt. We had started at 0800 hrs, and she was finally giving it up for the day at 1530 hrs. Take an hour out of that for our short lunch and break, and you’ve got an idea of how far and how hard my mom can push it when she’s working on a project. I was glad she was giving it up for the day. I gave her my chair in the shade to sit in and brought her some water from the truck to drink. It was 80º F out, and thank God for the breeze!!! I drove the truck around to get the gas can that was at the other end of the field and back around to just short of where my mom was still sitting, exhausted. It was really something to hear my mother actually say that her back was starting to hurt. She seldom admits that anything hurts or that she’s tired. She hardly ever quits before a job is done, either, but I was glad she did. She’s 72, for crying out loud! It’s about time that she gives herself a break when she’s tired!!! All of that stuff doesn’t need to be done in one day, either. It’ll still be there when she gets another opportunity to get out there and work on it.
I’m glad I went out to the field with my mom yesterday. I feel better when someone is with her and she’s not by herself working herself so hard out there. That way, if something happens, someone else is there to help. It’s nice to have company when you’re out working in the field, too. When we got back to the house yesterday and I was getting ready to go, my mom was up helping me get things together. She looked so worn out. I gave her and Dad a hug and left before rush hour traffic got started. I hope my mom got enough rest last night. She’ll be in to watch Squiggle Bug today. We’ll go for a walk together and I’ll hobble along with my knee while I’m sure she’ll be somewhat sore from yesterday’s work. Squiggle Bug will be looking around at all the things his height, like flowers and hedges and the wheels of the big vehicles passing by on the street. There’s one hedge that he really likes to run his hand across as we pass by it in the stroller (his “chariot”) and he feels the green leaves on his hand. He really loves that hedge. It’s toward the end of our walks and he usually notices it. Today could be a slow walk, but we’ll go because Squiggle Bug needs his outside-time, and so do my mom and I. I’m trying to lose weight and Mom gets to stretch her legs when we all go for a walk. Squiggle Bug misses me when I’m not with them walking, or so Mom tells me. Evidently, he looks around for me, which I believe because he looks to make sure I’m there or that Gramma’s there walking beside him while we go on our walks together. It’s a good way for me to spend time with both of them. Like I said, today it could be a slow walk…
CLIMBING 4 THE REST OF US 