My dear parents and younger sister came to visit a couple weeks ago and true to their reputation, one of the first things they asked after walking in the front door was, “What can we help you with?”
Now, the first time they ever did that to me, I immediately said, “No, no, no–you don’t need to help with anything. You just relax and have a good time!”
But it wasn’t 10 minutes later that I found my Dad sweeping out the garage and my Mom washing the back sliding door.
It was then I realized if I didn’t tell them what I wanted them to do, they would find things to do on their own.
So, now I prepare a list ahead of time and after hugging my Dad hello, he holds out his hand and asks, “Do you have a list? What can we help you with?”
So this time around, my Mom and sister helped with housework and cooking and happily took over the Bubbers King while I supervised my list.
And (contrary to the expression on his face) the Bubbers King had a fabulous time.
And I watched my Dad fix an inexplicable hole in the cabinetry under my kitchen sink with his master carpentry skills.
And after that, he tackled the garden.
Charming and I told him our plan: plow the neglected plot to smithereens before planting.
“Sounds great,” my Dad agreed, “Let me help!”
“Well,” we said, “we’re not ready, yet. You see, we don’t want to spend the money to buy or rent a rototiller, so we’re trying to borrow one. But we haven’t been able to, yet….. So now we’re thinking we’ll have to spend the money anyways.”
And then my Dad asked, “Do you have a couple shovels?”
“Yes,” Charming answered.
“Then we’ll turn it over by hand and save you the money!” my Dad declared and stood up to get started.
“Holy smokes!” I gaped, “I didn’t even know you could do that!”
And off they went to dig up the whole garden plot and have some nice male bonding time.
And wouldn’t you know, my Dad found a whole mess of potato plants that were already growing and we had no idea they were even there!
So he pointed them out to us and they carefully dug around them.
After that, my Dad (a dear tree lover) took us on a little tour and taught us even more things we didn’t know about our backyard…..
….. Like the fact that we have a peach tree, apple tree, pear tree and three cherry trees currently growing fruit!
He then advised us to do some serious pruning on almost all our non-fruit trees and completely take out a few struggling trees.
“It’s not the right time of year for pruning,” he explained to us, “But I happen to have my chainsaw back in the car, so I could do it for you now and the trees will probably be okay.”
Charming and I were thrilled to have his help and told him to go for it.
So he whipped out his chainsaw.
And made short work of some monstrous, unsightly branches.
Then he moved right on and completely took down three struggling trees (and it looked so much better!).
Then I saw them attacking the stumps and thought, “Aw deeb, I should probably be helping them…..”
So I set the camera down and put my sorry carcass to work helping to cut up the trees and put them in a big pile.
And then my Mom found out what we were doing, asked to borrow a pair of gloves and jumped in to help, too.
So a project that would have taken Charming and I hours and hours to do alone, was finished before we knew it!
What blessing it was to have so much help–thank you, Mom, Dad and Leesy!!
One question: will your family adopt me? Thank you.
Holy crud…who just happens to have a chain saw in the back of the car, makes you wonder just what else is back there with the chain saw!?!? Talk about being prepared! Do your parents and sister visit often? It sounds like you will have some very yummy fruit to eat!
Wow can you send your parents to my home please.
What a great way to spend the day with your family, bonding and productive.
Don’t ever take your family for granted. There are lots of us out here that would gladly adopt them.
Yeah, I’ve got a list about 10 names long of who I’d want to have with me if my ship were sinking, or if I were on a desert island, or if the world was ending. Your folks are definately up there. Fun to see pics of your cute sister!
my grandparents used to do that whenever they visited my mom too. I hear a lot of parents do this, and it makes their kids feel inadequate or judged. Its nice that you have a good relationship with them and don’t feel that way about it! I like the new look of you blog.
I didn’t know peaches and cherries grew there. You’ll have to tell us how they turn out!
@Charlotte: LOL! That totally made me laugh–you’re so sweet. :)
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@JS: LOL! You are too funny! You’re right–he happened to have the chainsaw because he used it at my brother’s house on his way up to visit us. :) They visit us once a year and we visit them about twice a year.
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@Suzanne: You’re absolutely right! There’s something special about working alongside your family that is wonderful. We feel very blessed.
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@Jeff-nhn: Welcome and thank you! You’re right–it’s easy to take them for granted and I appreciate your reminder that we are blessed to have wonderful family.
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@Jesse: LOL! I hadn’t ever thought about it that way before, but you’re totally right! I’ve heard many of my family members say, “If anything happens–we’re going to Mom and Dad’s house!”
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@Tearese: Oh my goodness, it had never occurred to me to think about it that way… That’s too bad that it doesn’t work out for some families. Maybe it’s in the way they handle it? I don’t know… But we’ve just always loved his help and ability to fix things we’d otherwise have to hire someone to fix. And thank you–I’m glad you like the new look! :)
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@Kara: Me either! Hopefully they’ll turn out okay. Some of them are rather shaded, so that will likely hinder them a little. But we’re excited to have fresh fruit right in the back yard! It reminds me of growing up…
Heidi, you did a great job as usual with the pictures and movies. It was fun to watch them (you’re so good at this now though that you should be able to remove the wrinkles in our faces, etc., right? :-).
Many readers of your blog probably are not aware of the “Epic” movies you have made of our yearly family reunions that have become legend in our family. Better keep it a secret or they will definitely be wanting to adopt you into their family! Love you, Mom
That sounds like my MIL. The last time she came over she just started doing our laundry. It didn’t bother me one bit.
Thank you Heidi, for putting those pictures of me on your website. It touched my heart to see pictures of myself that I have grown-up throughout the years. I love all the comments you said about me and Mom and Dad. You must pat yourself on the back because you worked hard at all of those pictures, especially, the Father’s Day pictures. I had a great time seeing you and Charming, and to see Bubbers walking around the house. I love you, sis. Keep up the good work! Say hi to Charming and Bubbers.
Aw, thank you for your awesome comments, Mom and Leesy! We had a blast with you–thanks for all your help and for visiting! (And we’ll just keep that secret between you and me, Mom). :)
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@Apple: That’s awesome! I’d probably have the same reaction! :)