Courthouse Step in My Front Yard

a step from the old courthouse

 My neighbor died when she was ninety-four-years-old. I went over almost every day of the week for about ten years. She told me one day that the things I did for her kept her out of the nursing home. Actually, on the days I went to school, I could only go over for ten minutes or so. But, that was enough to change a blown light bulb that left her in the dark, drag her garbage to the road, or get a cheese sandwich.

She kept sliced cheese and white bread. I know eating that all the time helped me put on a few pounds. She taught me how to cook sweet potatoes so they were delicious. She taught me which varieties of sweet potato were the tastiest.

When she died, my heart broke. I was lonely. She depended on me, and I depended on her needing me.

She had a stone bench that her daughter allowed me to have after her mother's death. The front yard corner holds it now. After I put a bench under an oak tree, the other corner neighbors near me put a bench on their corners, too.

The courthouse-step bench is one of three benches that grace my yard and allow me to sit in various places to enjoy the yard or rest when my back and knee hurt.

Charlie on Saturday took a 20' iron pipe, used it as a lever and pushed the step back where it was once again centered. A friend's truck had pushed it off center while she was driving my generator to its place in the yard after a tornado left me with no electricity for five days.

Benches within my sight

directly across the street

 

two doors down

 

I have never seen a soul sit on either of these benches! These are more expensive and landscaped, but I like mine better. And, I and my friends use my bench.

Your turn
Do you find that the older you get, the more you need to sit when you are in the yard? I do. Do you have a bench anywhere in your yard? More than one? Does your bench have a history? Do you actually use your bench?