I Have a Hedge Now

Putting in my hedge has made me realize how many nice people there are in the world. (Sorry in advance for cheesy post. I promise to return to my normal cynicism next time.) First, when the Home Depot guy noticed my overflowing cart of boxwoods, without being asked, he loaded all the shrubs into my cart and then into my van. Then when our neighbor saw Chris ripping out the sod, he came over and helped Chris rip it all out. The next night a different neighbor came over and moved our sprinkler heads for us. This left us with the odious task of planting 52 shrubs in what some refer to as "soil" but in all actually would be better called a "gravel pit." So with half our planting left to do, I came out in the 95 degree heat and attempted to dig something like thirty holes during Deacon's nap.

A half an hour, and one and half pathetic holes later, I was about to give up. That's when I noticed two guys approaching me. As you may or may not know, I live in a construction zone, and these were two workers on a break from working on the house across the street. "Do you need help?" they asked. This was when I began to justify my poor shoveling skills. "Well, the ground is so rocky, and it's so hot..." Of course these excuses were lost on people who had been laying cement in the heat of the day for several hours. One of the men took my shovel out of my hands without a word, and the other one asked if I had another. I quickly found one, and twenty minutes later all thirty holes were dug! I went inside to get them a drink, and when I came back out they had put all the shrubs into the holes! This from people I had never seen before, and who I have never seen since. The concrete was done, and they were gone the next day. Their kindness saved me like a million hours of work.

So, all this kindness towards me has inspired me to be a nicer person. I told Chris, "I'm going to start being a nice wife." To which he responded, "Honey, I love you just the way you are. And if you started being nice that just wouldn't be you." (He was joking.) (I think....)