Why does everything have to be so hard?

Once I helped a dental repair technician at my office repair my compressor. We had a hard time-nothing was going our way. Frustrated he lamented “Why does everything have to be so hard?”

So hard!! Yes everything was so hard. Ha! I wanted to say try being 5’2” and work with dental  equipment made for a 5’10” ‘average’ person.

I thought about this today while I was wrestling with the water hose reel. I wanted to water the shrubs and trees in my yard. They needed water desperately – they were dying due to our eight week drought. I struggled getting the pump primed and finally got the water flowing. Unraveling the hose from the reel was difficult as it kept hanging up. When I tugged too hard to loosen it the entire hose stand would fall over. Frustrated I almost gave up but then looked over at the small tree in the corner of the yard – looking so droopy.

Aggravated those words came back to me…Why does everything have to be so hard?


 I finally got the contraption to work and unraveled the hose. I dragged the hose over to the pitiful tree and turned on the sprayer. After about five minutes my hand started getting tired so I tried to remove the sprayer nozzle from the hose so I could just lay the water hose at the foot of the tree.

Of course the nozzle would not budge. I rolled my eyes and continued to hold the sprayer aiming it at the ground by the tree realizing this was going to take a while because the ground was really dry. I went to the garage to get a tool to hold the sprayer while I twisted the hose loose – I do not know what the tool is called but I knew what it looked like. It didn’t work….seriously!!

Why does everything have to be so hard?!

So there I am holding the hose watering this desperate looking tree. There was no way to even adjust the sprayer to keep it going so I could lay it down and go do something else. So I just stood there …watering.

Water was dripping from the nozzle where I had unsuccessfully tried to remove it.  The water dribbled onto my arm and legs. It felt kind of nice. The breeze lifted the hairs of my sweaty neck – this felt nice too. I was thirsty so I snuck a little sip from the water hose.

Wow- that tasted awesome! It brought me back to my childhood and the great times I had playing in the yard with the water hose.

I decided to sit down and  I changed the angle on the water hose. The ground was eagerly sucking up all the water. An article I read recently said you must water the shrubs and trees until water stands on the ground to ensure they get enough. This was going to take a while.

I considered going into the house to get a book, a magazine or at least a radio but I had to keep switching hands because they would get tired so I figured I better not multitask.

I sat and watered.

I sat and watered.

I began to notice the breeze again. A yellow butterfly danced in the mist that the hose created. If I looked really hard I could see a tiny rainbow. The birds were chirping and I could hear squirrels scampering on the tree limbs nearby. A purple butterfly with yellow stripes fluttered by my hands. I had never seen a butterfly this color.  As the breeze caressed my face again I noticed the scent of honeysuckle.  Nice....

I began to relax and just stare at the water hitting the ground. I sat and watered.

I sat and watered. 

I have a stressful job, a stress filled life –don’t we all. To help decrease this stress I have tried yoga and meditation. Meditation was a joke for me. I could not sit still for even five minutes with an empty mind. When my husband tried it with me he fell asleep and started snoring!  Yeah meditation has never worked for me.

But sit here and water this tree? I could do that and because I could do nothing else – I relaxed.

If I had been able to get the sprayer off with that tool I would have missed this opportunity to see the butterflies, hear the squirrels and catch a hint of a rainbow.

Smell the honeysuckle and taste the water.

Why does everything have to be so hard?