With all the rain we continue to get, my front yard was looking a little, shall we say, shabby.  Normally there is a kid in the neighborhood that is ALWAYS bangin on the door asking if I want him to mow, pull weeds, fix anything, or bring in my mail…for a small fee of course.  He’s a good kid just trying to make a buck which I can appreciate…I mean, my own son is always out hustling trying to earn extra cash.

Speaking of my son Noah, we were talking the other day on the phone and he reminded me that he wasn’t working that day so he was just ‘going to be hanging out all day’.  So being the parent I suggest he mow the yard, you know, cause it desperately needed it.  “Sure, no problem” his deep serious business voice says over the phone.  Cool…right?

I get a text from him with a picture of the freshly mowed and weed wacked yard (it look great of course) with the following attached to the picture…’Finished mowing the yard, you can Venmo me’.  Here is were I’m not sure if I’m a proud dad or a shocked parent…he was charging me for mowing OUR lawn.  Let me get this straight I thought to myself, you’re going to charge me…me…the guy who pays your cell phone bill…the guy who for years nurtured and cared for you?  Me?  You’re charging ME?!?  Then I smiled as I thought…he gave me a family discount that is a heck of a lot better than what he would charge anyone else.  He works hard, really hard at his job and other things he does to earn extra money.  He’s heard me say over and over that peoples time has value and that should always be respected…so, his time also has value.  Smiling that the boy isn’t a pushover, even for his dad, I sent him his payment for his time and effort through Venmo.

I need that neighborhood kid to come around again…he’s a whole lot cheaper than my son!