....all because of a weedeater

I would assume most people reading this would describe me as independent and strong willed. And even though I am those very things, there is a part of me that doesn’t want to be. Let me explain...carefully. Last week I had to put together an electric weedeater to weed eat my gross yard (hopefully it won’t be gross for much longer!!). I will admit that I was quite proud. Seriously, I have lived by myself for eight years now and each time I ‘build’ something, I think someone should buy me a present or take me out to eat! Anyway, because the line thingiekept breaking and wouldn’t come out of the hole as the directions promised, I became frustrated...because I couldn’t do my job. I couldn’t complete my goal. Since I am very goal oriented, I had issues with this. So everytime the string thing got used up (or whatever the heck happened to it), I would have to stop, unplug (because I value my safety....and my fingers...), take the bottom thingie off and manually pull that stupid string through. There is probably an easier way to do this...but I do not enjoy these types of problem solving. I was not created to fix weed eaters...or probably even weed eat. Although I liked the immediate results, I have decided that this is something I prefer not to do. And, no, this wasn’t the first time I had used a weed eater...although it was close!!

All that to say... I came to this conclusion. I think it is easier to be a single guy than it is to be a single girl. And of course I am biased...but let’s take a look at this. Adam was made out of dirt...the same dirt animals were made from (Gen. 2:7 & 19). Furthermore, Adam was created outside of the garden and later placed into the garden. Eve, on the other hand, was created inside the garden. You can find that in Gen. 2 as well. Gardens full of flowers and plants are girly. Dirt is not. In my head the garden symbolizes the house and dirt symbolizes the yard. Therefore men are the weed eater fixers, women - not so much.

Problems that may arise inside the girly garden (the house) are as follows: What color of paint shall I use? What type of plant should I put in here? What piece of furniture would look good here? These are simple questions that are easily solved....but then again, I am a girl, so I know how to solve these problems on my own!

Problems that may arise outside in the manly dirt are as follows: Why is the string not coming out of the weed eater? What type of grass killer should I buy? WHY IS THE STUPID STRING NOT COMING OUT OF THIS BLASTED HOLE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY????? These are questions that usually require some outside help. This is when I must pick up the phone and call someone born from the dirt!!

I know my point is comical...and weak. And I do like to play in the dirt. I do like to work in the yard. It is relaxing and I do like the challenge of it. But sometimes it gets very frustrating being the girl and the guy in problem solving...and projects. And...by the way....most of my single guy friends have nicer and better decorated homes than I do...so I don’t see where they have this problem at all in their life! Perhaps they have the best of both worlds - a sense of decorating and muscles!

My dad treated me as a princess before he passed away, so I never had to do a lot of manual labor. Although, he did make me do my share...TRUST me!! He balanced that extremely well - he taught me not expect people to do everything for me but that I could ask or just say, "I’d prefer you do this. I’ve tried and it’s not working." He must have understood that I was born in the garden....I miss him when I get frustrated with weed eaters and such.

I was telling my friend Anna about this revelation that I had and she wisely responded, "...but it really depends on the guy..." true, true....