Love and the Lawn Mower

Wednesday afternoons in the Pea household can get hectic.  Today's afternoon itinerary went something like this:  

Noon-thirty:  Pick B up for the last time in Second Grade

1:00 p:  Drop Mr. Pea off at the Law Library to do legal research (all because the book he ordered hasn't arrived)

1:30 p:  Go grocery shopping for family reunion

2:30 p:  Clean, clean, clean

3:00 p:  Pick up Mr. Pea and return him to work

3:30 p:  Pick up van at the mechanic (Wahoo!!  The van is back!)

3:45 p:  Carpool to Scouts (this week, I was the driver)

4:00 p:  Cub Scouts (it's my week to stay and help)

5:00 p:  Impromptu meeting to discuss Cub Scout Camp

5:15 p:  Head home to prepare for track practice

5:30 p:  Track Practice (a.k.a. my turn to walk around the track with Mr. Pea while Little Miss plays with a friend in the little bleachers and B practices)

6:30 p:  Track Practice is over

6:45 p:  Head to Costco for a few things including dinner - might I recommend Costco's rotisserie chicken.  

7:00 p:  Mr. Pea has Scouts, the rest of us have dinner

All of us usually meet up around 8:30 pm, read scriptures and head to bed.  But tonight was different.  We're preparing for a family reunion and that requires extra time ... 

Knowing that tonight would last beyond 8:30 and that it was also the night Mr. Pea mows the lawn, I thought to myself:

How nice would it be if I did it instead of he?  (The rhyme is a bit much, isn't it??)  

Anyway, I started to mow the lawn.  I never used our new-to-us mower, but I figured it out and was nearly finished when I ran out of gas.  Luckily, we have a gas can for an occasion such as this, so I knew it would be an easy fix.  I unscrewed the lid, poured some in (at first I might have missed and spilled a little bit on the machine) and was ready to finish.  Only thing was, I couldn't get it to start (at first I hesitated because I had this nagging fear that because of my minor spill, the whole thing would explode on me ...)  I tried and tried and the darn thing wouldn't start.  

I stopped trying and decided to take out the weed whacker.  At this time, Mr. Pea pulled into the drive way.  He was smiling - I think he was glad I decided to mow the lawn.  Emphasis on the word was.  

Me:  "I think I broke the lawn mower."  

Mr. Pea, with head tilted to one side and questioning expression:  "You broke it??"

Me:  "Yeah, it stopped working and now it won't start again."

Mr. Pea:  "I'll take a look at it."  

Mr. Pea:  Pulling the starter stringy thingy ... over and over ... 

Mr. Pea:  "Did you add gas to it?"

Me:  "Yeah."  

Mr. Pea:  "Where did you put the gas?"

Me:  "It's on the porch, want me to get it?"

Mr. Pea:  "No, where did you put the gas in the mower?"  

Me:  "Huh?"  

Mr. Pea, with a look of amusement:  "It's supposed to go into the tank with the yellow lid."

Me:  "That's the gas tank?  I thought it only had one, the black one."  

Mr. Pea, smiling:  "That's for the oil."

Me:  "%#$%^ ..."

Sorry about the explicative ... I was really frustrated.  The explicative I used isn't as bad as you might think, I promise ... 

Anyway, Mr. Pea assured me that it was an easy fix and didn't hesitate to change his clothes, run to the store for the things he needed and change the mower's oil.  Other than one little scare - there was a puff of smoke as he finished mowing the lawn (I probably should have warned him about my spill) - the mower worked great.  

What impressed me was this:  He could have been really frustrated - he's been under a lot of stress lately and was planning on using this evening to catch up on a few things - but he wasn't.  Before he left to get things to change the oil, he gave me a kiss and a big hug and told me not to worry.  To be honest, the looks he was giving me made me feel like he was more amused than anything else, like he was trying not to bust out laughing.  Later, he admitted there was one moment where he thought ... "Oh, Mrs. Pea" (only of course he used my name instead of Mrs. Pea).  

BUT, in that moment when I was feeling wretched and guilty, he didn't show it.  I didn't feel like he was annoyed.  In fact, in moments like this, he always shows me more patience than I expect.  

And in those moments, I know I've married a wonderful man.  

In those moments, I fall in love deeper than I ever expected.  

Whenever we're out, we like to capture what we call a "face shot."