The White Picket Fence

There was a white picket fence that connected the back of Grandma Thalmann's house with the garage. My mother told the story of when she was a girl, she was climbing on a white picket fence and fell and got a terrible cut. I always pictured this fence as the one she was climbing on. Mom, was this the fence? There were a lot of white picket fences in the neighborhood so it could have been any one of them.

Grandma would pay me two dollars to cut her lawn. I probably would have done it for free because it was so much fun. But the money was an extra bonus. The picket fence had a swing gate next to the house. I remember trying to manipulate the lawn mower through the gate while trying to hold it open at the same time. One day, I made an amazing discovery. The white picket fence was ingeniously designed so that one section of the fence could be removed by lifting it up at one end. While I could still probably manage the lawn mower through the swinging gate, it was much cooler to remove the panel of the fence and take the lawn mower through the wide gap. I always imagined that Grandpa had built that fence and designed and built the hidden doorway. Did Grandpa build that white picket fence?

Besides the picket fence, there were a couple of other things that made Grandma's lawn fun to mow. Grandma grew mint on the west side of her house. I loved to mow on that side of the house because it smelled so good. There were lots of mosquitoes living in the mint but I didn't care because I would grab a mouth full and chew it while I mowed. The other cool thing about mowing Grandma's lawn was the driveway. Yes, you had to mow the driveway! Or at least the strip of grass that grew down its center. Actually, the driveway consisted of two strips of concrete, one for the left wheels and one for the right wheels.

One beautiful summer day, I had just finished cutting the lawn and had put the panel back on the fence. Grandma came out of the house and stood near the gate. She stood on one side of the fence and I stood on the other. We started talking. I don't remember all that we talked about but I remember thinking that I wanted to remember this moment forever. It was so good to be with my Grandmother and she was taking such an interest in me. I knew I wouldn't have her forever but I felt if I could remember that moment, it would be like I did. And guess what? I still remember that moment at the white picket fence and it is like I still have her forever.