Baseball and Landscaping

 

Baseball And Landscaping

In high school, while all my buddies were playing baseball, I was mowing lawns to help mom pay the rent.  After their baseball team won the state championship, all my buddies went off to college on athletic scholarships while I stayed behind in our hometown and mowed their parents’ lawns.  As mom’s medical bills mounted up, I mowed more lawns, then started gardening and trimming trees, just to make ends meet.   

When my buddies graduated four years later, jobs were scarce.  The first baseman, a history major, came to me for work.  I taught him how to start a leaf blower and put him to work.  I taught the shortstop, who majored in English literature, to trim hedges and prune rosebushes.  I put the pitcher to work weeding and mulching.  One by one, all the baseball parents called hired me to keep their lawns tidy and their sons busy. 

I paid my buddies well, so they were grateful for my generosity.  When they asked me what they could do for me in return, I asked them to teach me how to play baseball.