It's actually the love story between my gardener and me. OK, I don't really have a gardener. I just like saying that because it makes me feel like Katherine Hepburn in Philadelphia Story - lazing on a chaise lounge with a mint julep in hand.
He's really one of the landscapers who works on the common grounds of my neighborhood and we're not in love. I don't even know his name. I'll call him Johann. (I'm also fairly certain he isn't German/Austrian/any kind of European.)
In my neighborhood, each house is within courtyard walls. I have a carport and a gate that both lead to my front door. It's my job to keep my carport clean and the plants within my courtyard alive and beautiful. (I'm terrible at the alive part.)
Every Monday, a landscaping crew comes to our little neighborhood and does some upkeep on the parts of the neighborhood that don't fall under the "within the courtyard walls" category. Johann is part of that crew.
I usually see him blowing leaves off of the cul-de-sac as I leave for work. One day a couple of months ago, he even cleared my driveway and carport of debris after a storm.
Well, I guess you could say things are getting serious because today I opened my front door to find that not only was my entire courtyard leaf-free (it was completely covered last night), the Asian Jasmine that had begun its slow takeover of my patio was trimmed back perfectly to the edge of the sidewalk. And there was Johann, just outside my courtyard wall, slowly blowing leaves off of the street in front of my house.
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| This is Asian Jasmine. It's a type of ground cover that covers ground pretty quickly. |
That is love. Being paid to only maintain the common grounds, but clearing a stranger's courtyard in 95-degree heat just because it needed done.
Lately I've been growing more-and-more impatient now that the students are back in town and traffic has increased tenfold. Johann's selfless gift this morning made me think about my actions and my words.
Maybe these people I'm being short with have something else going on in their lives. Maybe it's a freshman who just stopped at a green light because he's trying to find his class. Maybe he's just left his parents for the first time and is afraid to admit that he feels like he's in over his head.
Maybe that woman who just cut in front of me at HEB is about to send her first child off to kindergarten and she's too overwhelmed with emotion to notice what's going on around her.
Maybe the house with the unruly Asian Jasmine belongs to someone who hasn't had time to really notice that it needed trimming.
The beginning of fall seems to be a stressful, busy time for everyone. This year, I'm going to try to be a little more like Johann.
that's very sweet of him, and very astute of you.
ReplyDeletealso please send him my way ;)