A Little Push to Keep Going

Last week, in the 80+degree weather, I decided to mow the lawn. It's my dad's job, but he and Brian were busy in Italy. They traveled for two weeks, and the grass was getting high.

Salvatore wanted to help. We got out his little bubble mower, I filled mine with gas, and we started in the front.

He watched in fascination as I had to pull the rope to get my mower started.

"Why is that so hard, mommy?"

"Well, some things take a great effort to get going, but once you do, it can be smooth sailing." He smiled.

I cut the perimeter a few times before starting my rows back and forth. Then I walked across the driveway and leaned down to see if it was all even.

"Why are you doing that, mommy?"

"Sometimes you need to look at something from more than one angle, Salvatore. If I look at it just by standing up, I won't see my mistakes."

"You make any mistakes?"

"Yes, a few. You see? Now I know. Don't forget to look at things from other angles."

On to the back. Which took over an hour. A couple funky little grass patches and the swing set and my sneezing and the heat...

As I started on the perimeter of the back, I found myself behind my dad's house. I was a bit stuck with the slant, so I put my foot against the wall to push myself off.

"Why did you put your foot on Lolo's house, mommy?"

"Sometimes you need a little help. A little push. So you can keep going."

He smiled again.

He started to copy me. He was starting to mimic everything that I was doing, including wiping my face and neck.

When I was done, he wanted to take a shower. David had just started to pull weeds, so we helped him first. Then we sat on the little bench in the back and drank our water bottles. Job well done.

As I started to ask him if he liked the way the grass looked, he was already playing on his swing set. He didn't answer me. We showered and left to meet Ana and Sara for Chick-fil-A.

This morning, he was putting on his shoes and had some trouble getting up. He has just recovered from a week's fight with the stomach flu. He started to whine and pout. I was getting ready to help him, when he put up his hand, as if to stop me. He then put his foot against the wall and pushed himself off.

Then he smiled at me and ran out to greet the day.