Home is where the heart is

Summer/fall 2002

Jeff and I were now settled into our new home. Our weekends were normally spent by working on the lawn. When we bought the home (as you can see from the pictures) there was no lawn, landscaping, and there were many trees that began to die and needed to be taken down. One thing that I love now 6 years later is to know that every plant, shrub, flower, bush, tree, and blade of grass was because of the many hours we spent out in the yard. We have many stories about putting in the landscaping.

Here are a few of my favorite memories:

One day we went to the nursery and picked out shrubs/ plants. Jeff and I were so determined to get everything planted that we stayed out even after the sun had gone down to plant. We were the funny looking neighbors out with flashlights planting shrubs. We would then walk across the street to admire our work. If it did not look right it came out until it looked perfect in our eyes.

Before we were even able to plant the bushes, shrubs, plants, and flowers we had to first clean out the flower beds. The builders left a ton of trash and cement behind. We then had to make sure that there was proper drainage and good soil for everything to grow. I was sitting on the front porch one day watching Jeff sweat and work digging out debris when he came across a bag that looked like a zip lock bag. But it had something in it. It was also buried pretty far down. I was like Jeff what is that? That is kind of strange. He was in a bit of a mood from all the energy he had been putting into his efforts and the fact that I was sitting there watching him was probably not helping his mood. So he tells me it looks like a dildo. I am like what? No why someone would put that there? Then because I have heard of the word and never seen one I started to believe him and grew pretty curious as to what this was. I made him put on gloves before he opened the bag. He continued to tell me that it had to be a dildo and that this is what builders do. This was their way of playing a joke and they like to joke around like this. After we unwrapped the object from the bag we found a figurine. Neither of us knew what it was or why it would be buried in our front yard in our flower beds. So I told this story to anyone and everyone because it was funny to us and Jeff was so adamant that at first glance he knew that thing was a dildo. As it turns out the figurine is St. Joseph and is used to aid in the selling of homes.

“The practice of burying a St. Joseph statue to assist in selling a home or property has been around for a very long time. The tradition started when Sister Teresa of Avila (now known as Saint Teresa) and her fellow nuns started burying St. Joseph medals in ground they wanted to attain for their convents. The practice has in more recent times evolved into the tradition of burying a St. Joseph statue with a few moments of prayer. This tradition grows more popular every day. Kits are designed specifically for Home Sellers and contain everything you need to perform the tradition: the statue, instructions, history and prayer.”

Jeff and I are not Catholic. So we did get a good chance to learn something new about St. Joseph the day that we found out what the mystery object was.

My final story went something like this. I had gone to the Dr. to have a mole removed. When I returned home Jeff was in the yard. Before we put in the lawn he would be out in it using a ladder to smooth out the dirt. We also spent time getting the rocks (big and small) out of the yard. The builders left us with a terrible grade. Jeff did such a good job using a John Deere tractor that his dad let us borrow. He would move the dirt around and try his best to get the dirt level. So anyways we were just steps away from seeding and putting in the grass. Jeff was doing a final rake over on the side of the house when I was gone. When I returned home from the doctor I went out to talk to him. I could tell that something was kind of up I just did not know what. I soon learned that Jeff had been raking when he heard a scratching sound. He saw the top of a stone. So he went to try to pick it up. He was unsuccessful. So he began to move more dirt. It turns out that this small stone the size of a quarter........... turned into the size of a potato and then into the size of a watermelon and so on. This is the final “stone” that Jeff originally found. We now have this in our backyard as part of Samantha and Sydney’s garden.

These are some of the memories that I cherish most.