Boards By Ahicktiger

I know that isn’t the most exciting title in the world. Most homeowners do the same thing this time of year. So why did I choose that statement for my title?

It was really dusty today, and since I’ve been working on the landscaping of my yard with a tractor, about a third of it is bare dirt that has new grass just starting to grow back. This coupled with the very sparse rain and summery temperatures this June has created a veritable dust bowl condition that is exasperated by the whirling blades of my zero turn mower when I would get close to those spots of the yard.

Because I am trying to get the good Bermuda grass to grow back in those bare spots, I have been running a sprinkler that has about a thirty foot reach to encourage the grass to reach on out and overtake those barren, dust ridden areas.

Which brings me back to my title. I was mowing my yard today, and as I got close to the area being watered my mower cut some of the Bermuda grass that had been wet by the sprinkler.

A marvelous aroma rose in the air, and the dust quit billowing from beneath the belly of my machine and I was immediately transported back in time. No longer was I riding a dust covered, raucously loud machine in the hot, blazing sun, with sweat dripping from my forehead into my eyes.

I was back a few decades, sun just peaking over the horizon, in early August, helmet on my head, pads on my shoulders, cleats on my feet, getting ready for two a days.

Or maybe I was in just my helmet and shorts and those marvelous semi-shirts that we wore under our pads, doing a walk through practice on the Thursday afternoon before a game.

Or maybe it was Friday night, with the lights on, and the band drumming and playing and the crowd getting loud as we warmed up on the field before the game.

I was all those places and even more.

Isn’t it amazing how something as simple as a smell, or an aroma has the capability to transport one back in time to another place, and all those memories can come flowing back?

I don’t often reminisce about those days, life is busy, and there are so many new memories to be made as we live our lives, but I can say I was blessed.

I was blessed to get to play sports in school. I was blessed with parents who encouraged me to be my best. I was blessed to have a positive coaching staff all throughout my playing career. I was blessed with good teammates, who lifted each other up to a higher level than any of us would have reached individually.

A few minutes later, I was away from the sprinklers and the dampened grass, and back to the dusty conditions, with the roar of the mower on my ears, but I didn’t care. I was smiling. Even with the sweat dripping from my forehead and the dust caking on my face and shoulder. I was smiling because I got to go back in time for a few minutes to another place. A place that I don’t often go.

I was there, and so many other places, and I got to remember so many blessings all because, I was mowing my yard today.