The Art of Lawn Maintenance

How an Immigrant in Overalls Trumped all the Teachings of My Degree.

This might be a test of my age, but I am hoping that if I say, ‘Wax on, wax off,’ most people nod in unison, knowing what movie I am talking about.

Though I have never mastered martial arts, I have mastered the art of grass cutting.

I was assigned the role of grass cutting very early in life, a single digit age, to be exact.

Grass cutting was my job from nine years onward; nine years onward, take that in, in 2025 …being raised by an immigrant from India during the 80s in Kamloops was an epic experience, let me tell you. The rules were very different back then and my dad’s rules are unique at all times.

Back to the lawn; so every Sunday, like clockwork, I would cut the grass.

I also do not intend to sound intense without purpose; this was not a light assignment.

My father is not an easy going person…that is not how you would define him. My father has been described by more than six grown adult men as the scariest man they have ever met. An ex once described my dad as looking like, ‘he is a second away from losing his shit,’ at any moment and that is a fair description of his natural resting face.