Written July 15, 2025
Hello Dear Readers,
Today is my wife’s birthday—but don’t expect balloons or a mariachi band. We actually spread the festivities out like butter on warm toast. Sushi night happened yesterday, and cake plus presents were tackled the weekend before. So today? Just some extra kisses and heartfelt birthday wishes. Low-key, high affection.
Her company gives employees a birthday off—pretty cool perk, right? You can use it two weeks before or after your actual day. This year, she cashed it in right on her birthday. That’s rare, especially since it’s quarter-end season, aka Finance Thunderdome. She’d already wrapped up the closing work, but the quarterly audit is still looming like a Monday morning.
Despite all that, she spent her day… helping me with yard work. Why? Because my kidney function isn’t at its best these days, and she didn’t want me overdoing it. I handled the mowing, and she tackled the driveway with our new power washer and a little garden knife/trowel combo my dad gave us. She wielded that trowel like a woman on a mission—despite having absolutely no prior trowel experience.
Turns out, she loved it.
She cleared out every weed hiding in the driveway cracks and expansion gaps like a champ. She looked up at me, mud-splattered and smiling, and said the weeds had grown nearly an inch into the concrete. She even used the edger to trim what the trowel couldn’t reach. Honestly, the driveway hasn’t looked this good since… well, ever.
We’ve been gradually collecting yard tools like Pokémon—slow and steady. Last year, we rented a power washer, which wasn’t exactly a bargain. She did the math and figured out that two rentals would basically pay for our own low-end washer. So we waited. And pounced on a Prime Day deal.
Best purchase ever, according to her.
She’s already planning to power wash the deck and the sides of the house next. She even schedules 1 to 1.5 hours of yard work into every holiday and weekend. Not because she has to. Because she likes it.
Yup, my wife enjoys yard work. Even when she ends up muddy, sweaty, and sore, she says it relaxes her. So today, on her birthday, she didn’t sip mimosas or unwrap spa vouchers. She ripped weeds out of cracks and blasted dirt off the driveway.
And you know what? She was happy.
That’s all the celebration she needed.