Boys

“That boy’s got a lot of quit in him.”

–     Blue Collar Comedian Ron White‘s grandpa, referring to Ron

“One boy’s a boy.  Two boys is half a boy.  Three boys is no boy at all.”

     –     Loren F. Stark, my grandpa

I’m discontinuing the lawn service for 2013.  “Ben’s Lawn Care,” my now-16-year-old neighbor, has done a wonderful job for three years.  Better than I’d do it, $15-a-crack.  Yes, he did it better than I would have and I’m sort of a lawn-manicuring guy.  Yes, $15 is a “steal,” but his dad wouldn’t let me pay him more.  If I value my time at all — and I do — $15 for cut, trim, edge, sweep is a flippin’ bargain.

So, why am I discontinuing it?

It’s time for The Middle of The Three Who Will Not Be Tamed to earn his keep.  Or, at least earn his allowance.  Or at least put down the remote for something other than cinnamon toast, SpongeBob or baseball practice.

When it comes to work, The Middle has a lot of quit in him.  Like me as a kid (and Tom Sawyer, perhaps), he’d rather have a friend “help.”  But two boys is, in reality and as Starky said, half a boy.  I picture the mower running in the corner of the lawn, still in mid-mow, with two young men on bikes off in the distance, headed for the pool.

But earlier this year, I gave him a trial run.  He liked it.  He took it seriously.  He paid attention.  He did a pretty danged good job.  He’s reminded me a few times that “next year, Dad, I get to cut the grass, right?”

“Get to?”

Hmmmmmmm.

Maybe the key is finding something we love to do, and then making sure we spend some time doing that thing.  Maybe that makes a difference.