The grass is always greener

We've been living in Kohler for almost 2 years now. I hope I've painted a pretty good picture of Kohler - it's an enchanting utopia that borders on Stepford. In a good way. I wouldn't trade Kohler's charm for anywhere else in the world. (Except Ireland, but that's another blog.)

Kohler is home to, of course, The Kohler Company. But for those of you that don't know, the enormous Kohler conglomerate includes The American Club and Kohler Waters Spa, which together make one of the finest resorts in the United States. Kohler is surrounded by Kohler owned golf courses - the US Senior Open will be here this summer. The American Club is one of the most classic, beautiful hotels you could ever hope to see. Frederick Olmstead, the designer of Central Park, designed Kohler, "A Garden Community". The Kohlers don't fool around - they do everything first class.

So you can imagine that everyone in Kohler, for the most part, keep their properties in top form. Weeds are not welcome inside the Kohler borders. It's frowned upon to let your grass grow too long. Shame on those that don't use Weed and Feed. Each little house has a small yard, and most are surrounded by beautiful gardens. When I look down the street, I see yard after yard of beautiful green grass.

We purchased our Kohler house based largely on it's potential. The gardens surrounding our house were wild, bordering on out of control. According to neighborhood lore, the previous owner was attempting to make the house look like a French chateau. The more traditional houses don't really lend themselves to the wild look, although I respect the previous owner for her dedication to planting. We pretty much sent the neighborhood into a tizzy by ripping out almost all of her hard work. It was just so overgrown that starting over was actually the easy route. The lawn also needed a lot of work - the previous owner didn't like to use Weed and Feed because she had a dog. (We don't care about Palmer and Major's health.) A few of the neighbors are still divided on what we've done to the house, but if you look around, our house now matches the others. It's more "Kohleresque".

We've put a lot of sweat equity into this house, and it's worth it. The neighborhood is worth it. Every Friday and Saturday night, the guests at the American Club are treated to horse and carriage rides around our beautiful historic neighborhood. Our street is on the route. The carriage rides are so quaint that we are delighted to be on the route. The kids go crazy when they hear the horses coming. It's one of the fun things of summer - holding a drippy popsicle and waving to the riders.

All this is my elaborate (and rather long winded) explanation of how a green lawn makes a difference in this neighborhood. I was green with envy (no pun intended) at the lush lawns surrounding ours. That's why cutting our lawn is such a big deal for me. Over the last several weeks, I've noticed improvements in our lawn. It's quite green. And I've become rather brazen with the mower - I cut all sorts of patterns in the grass. (My neighbor across the street is my idol - no one cuts on the diagonal like Brian!) I actually giggle as I cut the patterns - all proud and thinking I'm comical.

Now, all that being said, a couple of days ago I received the biggest compliment of the summer. The most admired lawn in Kohler (not to mention the gardens, which are out of this world) is two doors down from us. So you can imagine my pride when the owners of that lawn walked down and told me that our lawn is looking very green. My heart almost beat out of my chest I was so excited.

Everyone around us has wonderful green grass. The grass may be greener on the other side, but honestly, there isn't much I'd change about what we have. Jim and I have worked hard to build the kind of life that we want. Including a village house with a green lawn. We have earned every single thing we have every single step of the way. We've toughed it out through thick times and thin times. I truly wish that Jim wasn't stricken with cancer. But other people have other crosses to bear, and there's no way to tell what kind of cross they are carrying. One of my Mom's favorite sayings is "you can't tell what goes on behind closed doors". The guests at the American Club that take the carriage ride on Friday nights don't know what we're dealing with. They look at our pretty house and our green lawn and could quite possibly have a little lawn envy. They could also be admiring the wave I cut into the lawn last week.

The grass may be greener on the other side. But our grass is getting greener by the day, and when all is said and done, we'll stay on our side of the fence.