The Tell-Tale Sign

How do you know you moved too close to your parents? When your dad says he is coming over and you spot him coming down your driveway on his riding mower. We do live close to my parents now, but not THAT close. Or at least I didn't think so until today. We haven't invested in a riding mower of our own yet and our yard is way too big to cut with a push mower in a reasonable amount of time, so my dad offered to come over once this fall and mow our lawn for us. I told him that it probably wouldn't be necessary because our grass really wasn't so bad. Greg discovered pretty quickly that raking leaves and getting them out of our yard was going to be pretty unrealistic without a little mechanical assistance. (See giant pile of leaves in post below.) I asked dear old dad if maybe he could help out with the leaves. Then there he was, driving down my driveway in his cute blue hat. He said it only took him 25 minutes to get here, which is only about 20 minutes longer than it takes by car. Not bad...

The kids were napping when my dad arrived but they were thrilled (and confused) to see him outside when they got up. We went out on the porch to visit and as soon as Marcus spotted his Pap-pap coming around the corner of the house he started saying, "Marcus ride tractor!" And so it was.

(Notice they both have the exact same expression on their faces. This is the face that both my dad and my son get when they are having fun. It is that whole glazed over and taking in the moment look.)

Will opted not to take a tractor ride, but he was highly interested in sitting on the tractor.


I thought my dad was just going to help out with the leaves. Three hours later the leaves were gone and my entire lawn was nicely mowed. Dad, you are totally awesome! Thank you so much for outdoing yourself! I hope you had a nice ride back home.

FYI, I get my fashion sense from my dad. Mostly. I mean, I might even have to draw the line at wearing that hat. Blue just isn't my color.