This Sunday is Father’s Day, so it may seem odd to share with you about Mother’s Day but hey, it’s a good story.

When we first moved from the farmhouse to our home in town, our new to us home came with a great big yard.  My husband went to work quickly putting a good portion of it into garden but the rest was grass and it was a solid two acres of grass to mow.

On the exact day of Mother’s Day, my husband went to Family, Farm and Home and bought a brand new zero turn Husqvarna mower.

He brought it home and took it off the trailer.  The shine on it was so bright it seemed to very literally gleam.  My husband whirled the gleaming orange machine around the yard, giddy that our fleet of vintage garden tractors that broke every single time we went to cut the grass could now retire and our lives were about to get so much easier.

My husband rushed that mower up to me and disengaged the blade.  With a big huge grin at me he said, “Ain’t she a beaut?”

He was about to engage the mower when an idea came to him immediately and he quickly added, “Oh, happy Mother’s Day!  How do you like your gift?”

I have never once sat on that mower.

Over the years, the boys have taken over fully mowing the lawn on that zero turn. My husband has always been so particular about his vegetable garden that only he works on it and keeps it to his exact specifications… and at nearly a full acre, his garden takes most every moment of his evenings and weekends.

Every once in awhile my husband will take the Husqvarna out just for the fun of whirling through the back yard on it, but the boys have had a system with the mowing and they don’t like it messed with.

The funny thing about being a parent of nearly grown children is that you begin to look around your home and realize that suddenly this is all your responsibility. My “free” child labor is about to end. I have been making lists of projects to be done this summer because I suddenly realized these boys who have helped me move furniture or helped me accomplish any “Hey, I was thinking” idea I come up with will soon be gone.

I am going to need a three-ring binder filled with tips on “how to mow the lawn and get pretty lines” and “how to back up the trailer” and all the things they have just been doing for me while I feed them all and keep the cookie jar full.   Of the two sons out of four we do have at home, one graduates next year and one will be 16 with a full-time job next summer. My chore list in two years is suddenly feeling huge.

So this week I sat on that mower, my Mother’s Day gift, for the first time since it arrived in our yard.

After my soon to be high school senior son had explained all the this is for that and that is for this directions, he reminded me that he would be right next to the pole barn working on his vehicle so I was not ever really alone. “You’ll do great, Mama” he assured me as he patted my shoulder.

“We sure have done a great job raising him to be kind,” I thought as I crawled to a forward speed on the mower.  And that is when I saw him whip out his phone to send video footage of his sweet helpless clinging to the weird handle bars of the Mower Mama to all the people.

I was allowed to mow half of our back yard.  I am hearing about how my mow lines are not at all straight, but overall I did not do terrible.  This is most likely because I mowed my part of the yard at about turtle pace, and it took a good long time to get it done.  When I was done, I still had all the kitchen things to finish inside.

Which makes me wonder if I can hire a house keeper or a chef for my husband for Father’s Day?

I hope you have a wonderfully fun Father’s Day!  What are some of the unique gifts or ways you have celebrated in the past?