You Decide 2008:
Yes, my dear husband is gone a lot serving the baser needs of mankind. In the meantime, I cheerfully (wink, wink) go about my daily tasks at home, keeping the house in running order. Yes, I am the perfect housewife: I cook, I clean, I launder, I apply bandages to ouchies, and, occasionally, even mow the lawn.
It is the lawn mowing thing that has me in a quandry. You see, 4 weeks ago D was talking to our great neighbor, Gordon. Andy has been caught several times mowing the lawn at night in the dark (which, I might add, I have also done), and was asking Gordon how much he pays for his lawns to be done. Gordon replied, "Oh, they are really cheap, only $25 a week." To which D replied, "Oh, okay."
Later that night he told me about lawn mowing and we both decided it wasn't really in our meager resident's budget to be spending $100 per month on a job we can technically do ourselves. I say 'technically,' because let's be real here: the lawns are getting mowed every 2 weeks at most-- or otherwise when the grass is so long it is starting to become an embarrassment.
Well, what do you know, but the week following Gordon's conversation with D, the lawn mowing dudes tackled our lawn-- courtesy of Gordon. We thanked him profusely, I baked him some goodies and thought to ourselves, "What a great guy." On the next Tuesday, they started on the lawn again. D was home (working nights at the point) and told them we do NOT want them to do our lawn. "But your neighbor paid for it." "Arghh," we are thinking, "that Gordon. Too nice for his own good." I called him and again thanked him but said, "Don't you ever do that again. We'll take care of it."
Yes, that warning didn't stop Gordon-- about 30 minutes ago I heard the gentle purr of the weed whacker-- in our yard--again (it's been 4 weeks now, lawns courtesy of Gordon). I am totally embarrassed. We really can't pay for the lawns to be done ourselves-- and Gordon keeps paying, still. Do I pay him back? Is he sending us a gentle message about the state of our yard, or just being a nice guy? YOU DECIDE.
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15 comments:
that is a quandry! he know andy is a doc? maybe he's doing his part to say thank you hoping he won't need him and if he does, he'll feel...um....can't think of a word to go there. you dig? ;P maybe he's hoping to ask advice someday?!?
Wow, what a sweet neighbor...and what a predicament. I think I would try to pay him back for that 4 weeks and then let him know again that I couldn't afford to have the lawn done.
If then he insisted on continuing to mow despite knowing I couldn't pay him back, then I would let him receive the blessings of it. And I would make sure he received some baked goods every week as thanks.
I mow our lawn. Sometimes there isn't a good time (like a cool evening) to get it done because it's hard with little kids and husband not home. So even if I have to mow at 1:00 in the afternoon in July, that's when I do it. I wait till nap time, take my oldest out with me and just get it done. If I always had to wait till my husband could watch the kids it would go weeks in between as well.
But then again, I also enjoy yard work. If I didn't, it might very well not get done much at all.
I can't help but laugh because in MI we ran into the same thing. BUT--it was my 65 year old neighbor doing it for us himself. He's a neat freak and like yours, our yard probably gave him nightmares at night. The lawn is one thing I sort of refuse to do...so like yours... it gets neglected.
In our situation, we KNEW it was not just kindness, but a hint. So we grudgingly started trying to mow more frequently.
As for you....in his own words your neighbor doesn't think $25 a week is very expensive. So perhaps he is doing this out of the goodness of his heart and is happy to do it. In that case---let the man serve you. And continue to bring him treats now and then.
If it's something he hopes you'll take over...you need to know that.
Sounds like you need to have a heart to heart with him. Just a real honest heart to heart so you don't feel guilty everytime you hear the mowers. If your neighbor wants to do this for you long term then he wants you to appreciate it and not feel guilty. If he doesn't want to do it long term...he needs to tell you, too.
In the meantime - that's awesome!
Just enjoy the fact that you have a wonderful neighbor.
I don't know Gordon personally, but it sounds like he's just a nice neighbor! Don't let him go! He obviously is helping you guys out since he probably knows your situation...Just repay him any way you can (besides financially), bake him cookies, make him some cards :) or wash his car or something. Maybe he needs free medical advice or some prescription pain medication, and is hoping D can get some of that for him! When your yard is done, send him down to ours!!!!
I think he's just being a really nice guy! We'll pay him back by eating LOTS of cupcakes from his new place which, by the way, my bookclub ladies are super excited about!
Umm Camalia, I left an email in your inbox a couple of weeks ago. I would like for you to take a look...
Are you kidding let him serve you.. let him be nice!!:) I would kill for a neighbor like him!!!
On the flip side of things i hear what you are saying & i honestley don't know what i would do if it were me. I can talk REAL big but, just see what happens.... :)
Consider yourself lucky to have such a great neighbor. He probably paid for a month in advance and wants them to work for what they have been paid for. I am sure his act is out of kindness, because your yard looks fine!
Is Gordon an older man - married, retired, with a wife? If so, you just keep baking him some goodies -- he probably just wants to be able to help a young family out!! Aunt Beth
He sounds like a good guy and wants to do something nice, let him. That's what neighbors do. You help him out where you can, and he helps you out. What an incredible guy. It probably makes him feel really good to do it for you.
Maybe it's just me, but I'd say to just keep letting them do it. If he wants to pay for it, he can. If he's hinting, that's his problem. In the meantime, you can enjoy the benefits of having more time to do other things.
oh camilla, i don't know what to say. but you're great and you and D are doing a great job getting through tough times. i also read about your "embarassing moment" and thought you handled the situation very gracefully. no need to be embarrased!
He's definitely a nice guy that likes you guys as neighbors. We haven't mowed our front lawn for three weeks and no magical helper elves have appeared. Man, I'm suddenly so jealous.
How funny, i am having the lawn mowing debate with myself today--mow it with kids around or wait another 3 weeks for Jacob to have time?
If it makes you feel better our sweet retired neighbor snowblew (no idea on that grammar) our driveway for us all winter (Dec. 1-March 31 pretty much). I baked him goodies too, and he said "just being a good neighbor."
The times we did do our own we borrowed our other neighbor's snowblower (he gave us free rein to do it). Our neighbors have put screens on our rain gutters, come and fixed a disgusting broken toilet on a friday night (Jacob on call, our only toilet, i was in tears and cussing), etc. The list goes on.
I just think that someday we'll all be so kind to young struggling couples like ourselves and they'll feel the same way. So i vote accept with gratitude and pay it forward when you can--that's our plan! But it is hard to do it sometimes. I think self-sufficiency might be for people without small children.
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