The Changing Landscape

You heard it here first! After a six-year relationship I am calling it quits with my landscaper. He did a great job for the first five years but he has gradually become too comfortable and complacent. Our yard, once the envy of the neighborhood is now barely holding its own at “status quo”. This might be acceptable if we were paying for status quo, but we’re paying “green with envy” monthly maintenance fees. The coconut that broke the Royal Palm Frond, came by way of a $300.00 unapproved up charge for additional palm tree trimming he said was not covered in the monthly fee. This may have been all well and good had he not been so presumptuous in assuming we were willing and able to pay the additional charges. He never gave us the courtesy of telling us in advance. It’s not so much about the $300.00 as it about the fact that he took away our freedom of choice!

The landscape is changed in many ways, mostly as a metaphor for my life.

Six years ago, I would have never had the courage to confront my landscaper. He had all the power, I would have paid the up charge, I would have settled for status quo. But, the landscape HAS changed. Mid Life happened.

So, I tell the landscaper, the economy has changed. {As if he hadn’t noticed.} The “landscape” of the way we do business has changed. It is unacceptable to us that he would just charge us for something we didn’t request. To which he said he would split the difference with us, letting us know that he felt that was a very generous offer on his part.

I don’t know what struck me more, the fact that he charged us or that he had the audacity to let us know he was doing us a favor by splitting the cost. To that I confidently said “at the end of the month your services will no longer be required.”

It was liberating! No longer bound by the insecurities of my youth there is something so incredibly profound about realizing the landscape has changed in more than one way. Mid Life is here dammit and lots of good will come of it!

It’s the time to see your childhood dreams come to fruition, throw caution to the wind and challenge yourself. Getting out of your “comfort zone” had become your comfort zone!

The status quo just doesn’t cut it anymore. Time used to be measured by how expensive my watch was. Today, time is more about “how I spend it” and “who I spend it with” …

Mid Life is about luxury. The “luxury” of knowing who you are, where you’ve been and where you’re headed. It’s not the beginning of the end, but the beginning of the beginning.

New Beginnings … Second Chances

In the amount of time it took me to write this post, my landscaper had a change of heart. Not only did he wave the additional charges, he lowered our maintenance fee by $25.00 a month with a promise to bring back his A game.

Mid Life is about taking a stand, backing it up with fact and purpose. It’s about giving and getting second chances. It’s about moving forward, going places and enjoying the ride, no matter what the vehicle!