I’ve begun my battle against the demon weeds.

I’m gaining ground against them. Slowly but surely. Every evening about 8 I go out to spend 15 or 20 minutes doing battle. I’ve taken back a good 12 feet of garden thus far, only about 30 more to go. I suppose I ought to have taken a before picture. Oh well ….

LightHusband comes out and sits on the steps to chat with me and drink a glass of wine while I dig in the dirt. We catch up with each other. Sometimes one or the other of the LightChildren join us, or perhaps a pet or two.

Yesterday evening, LightBoy joined us briefly. He came out, sat with his dad and joined in the conversation. He said, “You know what I’m thankful for? I’m glad we get that beautiful sunset at the back of the house almost every night. It’s really pretty.” LightHusband and I just looked at each other, and he said, “Oh really, you like that?” LightBoy said, “Yes. I do. It’s the prettiest thing here. We’re really lucky.” He asked his dad another question about a tree we’d had to take down last year and then he went back into the house.

LightHusband and I sat back in amazement when he left. We do love the sunsets, but they have always been marred for us by all the houses at the back of our suburban tract home. We always think, “Well, that’s pretty, but it would be better if it weren’t for all the houses around.” I have three windows over my kitchen sink that I sort of love. I’d really love them, if I could see something besides more houses. The view I had from the kitchen sink when I was growing up was forests and mountains, but I didn’t appreciate it then. Now I keep wondering if I’m cheating my children. But it turns out that they think what they have is pretty wonderful.

I tend to forget that they don’t know the things that I know. Their memories are not my memories. Their life is different from mine. They know what they have, not what I have. All of which sounds as if it should be a duh, but it’s surprising how hard it is to keep that separate. Then when they announce it to me in an off-hand way, I get to smile and think, “oh … yeah. I can relax again.” It really is all about perspective.