I figured it was a small thing I could do to take one thing off my mom's plate (I am also fixing dinner tonight). Also, I needed the exercise, and something different to do.
My parents have a gas mower - then again, their lawn is about twice the size of mine, and it's bluegrass instead of St. Augustine (the reel type mowers like I have seem to work better on wider-bladed grass than narrower ones).
It's funny how it took me back, though - since I mow my own lawn with a reel mower, mowing the lawn has a different feel. It reminded me of when I was a tween/teen and mowed my parents' lawn for money, back in the early 80s.
I made $2.50 for doing it. This was at the house in Ohio where we had nearly an acre of lawn. I am amazed at it now, that I did that. (Though 2.50 in 1982 roughly had the same purchasing power as 6.50 did in 2018, according to an inflation calculator. Still, I'm not sure I'd mow an acre for $6.50 now.)
I wonder at that. I don't know if it was that I was more a compliant child (doing it largely to please my parents, secondarily for the money) or if I really was that mercenary. (My weekly allowance was $2, so mowing the lawn weekly in the summer more than doubled my "income")
What did I spend it on? Small toys, mostly. In those days, you could get a small Dakin stuffed animal for less than $5, and Smurfs were either $1.50 or $2.50 (I don't remember which though given inflation, I am guessing $1.50 is closer to right). I'd say I'm surprised I "wasted" my hard-earned money on silly things like that, but....what else did I have to spend money on? I would have had to save for almost a year to buy a pair of designer jeans, and on some level I think I knew that even if I made that sacrifice, I wouldn't be accepted at school the way I wanted to. And the small, periodic happiness of a stuffed animal or a Smurf or another small toy - or some "penny candy" from the Attic (really: dime and quarter candy, by the time I came along).
And I got to thinking as I mowed: I wonder if my Smurfs are still around, still in the place I tucked them away? And after I got done, I looked.
Yup. there they were. And a couple others I remembered, and a couple others I'd forgotten: I remembered a bunny and a chick figure (Probably sold around Easter some year) and they were what I flashed back to in my memory when I looked at the little Pochacco I received in a gachapon crate a while back. But also: a funny long-legged bird with a rainbow painted bill and an aviator's helmet, and a very cute puppy (anthro-style - on his hind legs) wearing overalls and a striped scarf and throwing a Frisbee.
I also had a few of the "bootleg" Smurfs that Imperial toys made - "Gnome Family" or some such. Similar idea, but different colors (orange or green skin instead of blue, and their clothes were brightly colored, and they had pom poms on their hats). They were cheaper than Smurfs and I think one year my brother and I each got a few in our stocking (and in the way of kids everywhere, we rolled our eyes at them: couldn't our parents get ONE of the genuine article instead of several fakes?). Though the irony now is that they're probably worth more than the real ones, if there's any sort of "collector's market" for these.
I found the only Smurf I think I ever actually named*, the first one I got: a standard standing boy Smurf, except his pants and hat were painted gold (this was before the cartoon hit the US shores; after that I think I just called the Smurfs I had "[something] Smurf" in the model of the cartoon). Because the artist's pen name (Peyo) was stamped on the bottom of his feet, I named him Pedro....he was the only one I had for a while because Smurfs were super-popular and rarely did I get to the store that sold them when I had money AND they had any in stock. Later, as the fad cooled, I did get more, including the much-sought-after Smurfette.
(*No, wait, that's not right. I remember now I had a Smurfette dressed as a ballet dancer that I named Noel because of her surprising-to-me backstory - one snowy December day, walking downtown in Hudson, I looked down into a snowdrift and there she was. I picked her up and asked my mom what I should do - after all, she wasn't *mine.* There was no one else around who looked likely to have dropped a Smurf so she shrugged and told me she guessed I could keep it. Since it was close to Christmas and I already had a Smurfette...I named her Noel. Now I wonder - did she fall out of someone's bag? Did a child drop her? (though I would think they'd have been looking for her). Or did someone "boost" her from the store, and then either HAVE to drop her (the owner caught them) or they decided they didn't want their ill-gotten Smurf. Well, I'll never know, though maybe I hope someone bought her as one-of-many for gifts, and she just fell out of the bag, and was never actually missed...)
But yeah. Mowing an entire lawn to buy a small toy, on the one hand it looks foolish to me now as an adult, but on the other hand - I remember how happy those made me, and in a way, they still make me happy to look at them. (I might retrieve the little dog-with-a-frisbee and carry him back with me...and maybe eventually take the Smurfs, also).
And really, is it any more foolish for a child buying a small toy for $5 or less to be happy with, than an adult seeking happiness in shoes or purses or cars or boats or any of the much more expensive things some adults spend their money on?
Edited to add:
Messy hair - it's humid here, and I washed my hair after mowing the lawn.
2 comments:
It costs me $45 to get a quarter of an acre mowed.
I am excited you are crocheting another dragon. I *finally* taught myself how to read a crochet pattern this week. Maybe some amigurumi are in my future.
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