Unlucky with mowers, lucky in love

Building a relationship, especially when you’re middle-aged and set in your ways, could be an uphill battle unless you are lucky enough to be in love with your best friend.
Compromising and sharing begins to lose its glamour once you’re close to being over the hill. Lucky for me, a longtime friendship developed into a relationship that, after nearly five years, has been my source of inspiration to believe that I really could find someone whom I would share my last chocolate chip cookie with.
Reminders of why I fell in love with him come at the strangest times, mostly when I’m not looking for them.
While at a high school football game an older gentleman sat down in front of us. He started off a conversation with “hey, how are you guys doing?” It didn’t take long for us to realize that this older man was there by himself and was just looking for someone to talk to. I didn’t have to worry about discussing football with the guy because for the rest of the game my boyfriend spent a great deal of time with this stranger as if he were a longtime friend.
That’s when it hit me how I often overlook these great qualities that he has, that I fell in love with. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the grind of everyday life and then forget to embrace what makes us truly happy. It’s not just because he took up conversation with the older guy, but it’s these kind of things that represent who he really is – good, true and just plain ole’ nice.
I did finally get to use his faster-than-the-speed-of-light monster mower machine when the old tractor began having issues this summer. I listened intently to his instructions: stay away from the fence, take your time and don’t feel like you have to go full throttle.
Amazing how quick this mower moves, compared to the tractor it was like riding a go-cart. With fancy zero turns I could fly around trees faster than a squirrel looking for his lunch. In no time I had mowed half of the 10 acres and was beginning to feel confident that I could manage mowing next to the fence. I found out that the mowing machine bounces off the fence a lot quicker than the tractor does.
I bent two wheels and elected for the wait and see method, instead of confessing to the damage. Having already broken several major appliances, destroyed his cell phone, spilled pink nail polish all over his workbench and put the only scratch on his truck, I figured this would be the straw that would break someone’s back. He brought his mower out several times after the “incident” although he never suggested that I mow and I didn’t offer my services. I was starting to feel really guilty that I hadn’t fessed up. Finally when he had the crowbar out trying to straighten the wheels I finally said “I did it.”
“Hit a fence?” he asked with a smirk.
I nodded.
“I got the tractor fixed,” he said.
I nodded again.
“It’s probably more your speed.”
I nodded, although I didn’t want to admit that it was. I like him because he’s always so logical, understanding and patient, but I love him because he’s just plain ole’ nice.