I heard yesterday that our neighborhood’s gardener was in the hospital after he hadn’t been feeling well for a spell. My neighbor told me that he’s likely to retire soon. The news gave me pause to reflect on the past six years we’ve lived here and how important he has been to us.
Allow me to explain. When we first moved into the neighborhood, Terry was one of the first people to welcome us. Even though he himself doesn’t live here, he works here every day and knows everyone.
In Florida, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t pass several different landscape company trucks along my drives. And that’s just in my own neighborhood! People cycle through landscape companies like they upgrade their phones – regularly and often. Florida plants grow fast and furious so a good landscape company who comes regularly is a necessity, otherwise it’s mere weeks until your yard starts to look unkempt and unruly. Here in South Florida, that’s a big no-no. If you leave it for too long, you’ll undoubtedly get a stern letter from your HOA, so we do what we can to keep our yards looking beautiful. A company truck parks outside someone’s house and 5 or 6 workers file out, sometimes working on a couple houses at a time, pruning and weeding and mowing to keep the manicured lawns looking pristine.
Unlike any other operation I’ve seen here in Boca Raton, Terry does not have a large landscape company with dozens of workers. He is the sole gardener for our entire (rather large) neighborhood, maintaining all of our public green spaces on every street, our community park, and even the treacherous strip of grass between our development and the extremely busy 6 lane-street outside it. It might not sound so crazy until I tell you that Terry is- wait for it – in his seventies! Despite being the age of most retired folks here in South Florida, he is likely in better shape than many people 20 years younger than him. While most people his age are speed walking and playing pickle ball for an hour or two a day, Terry is doing the landscaping for an entire neighborhood. It seems like a Herculean job for one man, even one in his twenties, but Terry makes it look like a piece of cake. #goals #beliketerry
Each day as I would leave our development in the early morning hours for work, I would wave to Terry. I started to chat with him and found out, that like me, he homeschooled his children. We bonded over our shared love of classic literature, and he never failed to stop and say hello to my kids whenever we would pass him on the street. He would pepper them with questions about what they were learning and ask my how my dad and father-in-law were doing, remembering the names of my nephews and where we had just been on vacation. He is always in a good mood and – if I’m being honest – downright jovial, as if I’m catching him in the middle of his daughter’s wedding day instead of pulling gardening tools out of his trunk on a 95 degree day.
I asked my neighbor for his number when I heard he was in the hospital. Oddly, I realized that though I see him almost daily, I never spoke to Terry on the phone. He has just always been….there.
I called him today to see how he was doing and told him just how much his presence has meant to me these past six years. I’ve learned the hard way that you need to tell people how you feel about them while you still have the chance.
There have been times when I’ve been driving in or out of our complex, hurrying to gymnastics carpool or to the store, after a rough interaction with one of my kids or trying to get home for one of the online classes I teach. I would inevitably pass Terry daily. Seeing his smile and friendly wave was my inner trigger to slow down and be present in the moment. My voice cracked as I told him this, how he has been an inspiration and a reassuring presence to me these past few years. No matter how stormy the waters may be, no matter what crisis I may be going through that feels like it engulfs me, he has always been there, with a wave and an encouraging smile.
Once in a while, I have an existential crisis about my chosen profession and wonder if I’m actually doing what I’m meant to do in life. It’s scary to have that question in your 40s, and I often imagine that I can and should be doing….more….whatever that is. Terry, humble and hardworking and always upbeat and positive, reminds me that there is beauty to be found everywhere and always meaningful work to be done – it just depends on how I look at it.
I once told Terry I’m jealous that he seems to have the best job in the world because he’s so happy and relaxed all the time. Truthfully, what I’ve learned from him is that you can have any job and be happy. It’s not the job. It’s the pride you take in your work and the attitude you have toward the life you are living.
Once he recuperates, Terry will retire from his job being the sole gardener for our neighborhood. I will miss stopping to chat with Terry for a moment or two, a pause in our otherwise chaotic day. I highly doubt it will happen when the team of 6 or 7 landscapers finally come to replace Terry’s one-man operation, but who knows. If one of them says hello, I just might be up for a chat.