Chores I

We all have chores to do around the house, right? Everyone has spent time raking leaves, washing dishes, digging up yams, doing laundry, etc. As an adult, they're just part of the daily routine. During summer vacation as a kid, they were the bane of my existence! My dad wrote out a list of chores every morning. In theory I wanted to be responsible, but in reality I wanted to play!!! Looking back, I can see that the work was good for me. Having those duties helped teach me to be responsible even when I didn’t want to be…or perhaps especially when I didn’t want to be. It was a good lesson to learn. I should point out that I had completely learned that lesson by the time I was 10. All the chores after that were simply overkill. LOL

This might be a semi-recurring theme over the summer, sharing stories about different types of chores. Today's topic: Digging trenches.

We had a leaky basement. My dad kept coming up with ideas to direct water away from the house. We dug ditches in front of our property, behind it, everywhere. When I was 12 we dug a trench almost all the way around the house itself, down to the basement footing, so we could install drainage tiles. We started out digging together one Saturday and then each day we’d dig a little more. But one of my brothers had a job and the other one was practicing to be a magician’s assistant—he kept disappearing! I dug by myself pretty regularly.

One morning the daily chore list said “finish the trench TODAY!” So I climbed down into the trench alone and before long it was done! I was so happy (I didn’t know I would soon be carrying buckets of rocks to put around the drainage tiles--LOL). I looked up for a good spot to climb out of the trench. I quickly realized there were no longer any “high spots” to stand on. I couldn’t reach the top edge of the trench to pull myself out the way I had every other day.

I tried waving the shovel and calling out, but couldn’t get anyone’s attention. I clanged the shovel against the house. Nothing! I was tired and hungry. There was no way I was going to just sit in that hole until someone came by. I should have used the shovel to dig a foothold in the side of the trench, but I didn’t think of it. I did think of something. I went to one of the corners, drove the shovel blade into the ground at an angle (close to the house) and wedged the handle into the corner of the trench. Then I “walked” up the shovel handle while balancing myself by holding onto the house. After several tries, it worked. Sweet freedom!

The moral of this story? We all know not to paint ourselves into a corner. But also, don't dig a hole you can't get yourself out of!!!