Fankful Friday

Had Paul given me more than three days' notice that he'd be taking off work today, I would have done the same. It was absolutely gorgeous outside, warm and breezy. The kind of day that makes you want to skip school altogether. Joel did get to stay home, but it was because he woke up with a nasty cough and congestion that he got from Stephen.

Since I don't report till noon on Fridays, we used some of the morning to go to Lowe's for flowers and mulch. I should've gone flower hunting earlier this week; what I really wanted were coral colored flowers. They didn't have nearly enough to do the border in front of the house, and Paul hates geraniums--the only other sunloving flower in that color there, so I went to Plan B. (I have had to divert to Plan B so often I call myself Queen B.) I bought coral colored impatiens for the covered porch, since they must be shaded at all times, but I am not wild about them. I'm just wild about the color this year.

As long as I have a garden, it will have purple in it. So I went with sweet williams (dianthus) that have purple centers fringed with white. Hardy for my likes, cheap for Paul's. He just wanted to get on with it. I had to fight ingratitude and stubbornness; picking flowers is such a joy to me, I hate to be rushed and was feeling I have to just settle for something. But God quickly reminded me of last year when there was no extra money for flowers at all. Last year was a lesson in really making do, really waiting patiently during the seemingly colorless interlude between March's crocuses (croci?) and June's salvia. I had to wait for every single perennial to come back, which made me ever the more thankful that God doesn't make us plant everything new every year in order to be surrounded by beauty.

As I climbed into the Jeep after paying for our new petaled friends, I thanked God for giving me a husband who is willing to take the day off work to work hard at home. He does not enjoy yardwork at all, but likes a green lawn and tidy landscaping. Not that ours is ever completely green OR tidy, but we aspire. I thanked God for the money that we're appreciating this year, finally some extra because we are totally debt-free (sans home mortgage) and walking in financial freedom.

A quick weeding of the side garden, then a shower, and then I had to leave for school. I felt a headache coming on as I drove, maybe from the sun or the guilt of leaving the whole job to Paul. There was still more weeding, all the planting, and all the mulching to do. He asked me where to plant the flowers and I said, "along the border," and trusted him with placement.

At school the headache had intensified to the point of near nausea, and kids were extra loud from Friday excitement and the anticipation of taking their geography test. One precious student followed me around the room, telling me about the outstanding grade he just got on a Bible test. He was thanking me for the grade.

"But I don't teach that subject. Why are you thanking me?" I asked.

"Because," he replied, "Mrs. Ruiz grades our punctuation which I used to be really bad at, but because you're such a great grammar teacher, I do really good at it now. "

(Between the pure sweetness and comic irony of his compliment, myheadache almost vanished.)

When I got home from school, my mailbox garden greeted me with lovely purple sweet williams on a wonderful smelling bed of black mulch. Scanning the yard, I beheld all the landscaping was done! Every last flower planted, every weed gone, every garden area heaped up with fragrant chips of bark.

I came into the house to thank Paul, but found him zonked out on the couch, next to Joel, enjoying the late afternoon in silent slumber. I took two ibuprofen and went up to bed. When I awoke two hours later, I hugged Paul tight and said everything looked great. I think the man deserves a medal.

What a Fankful Friday I've had.