My Pensieve: Ricks College: Grounds

Working on the grounds crew at Ricks College was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me. There I truly learned the value of hard work, and I also learned that you can have some of the most fun ever while you are working. I'll never forget how it felt to come home from work at the end of the day with sore and aching muscles--evidence that I had worked hard. Some of my favorite days were mowing days, when we'd get our lawnmowers and push them up, down, and across the steep slopes at the dorms. Talk about a workout! I also liked manure hauling days. Ooh, I know that sounds so terribly insane. It was just like dirt, it wasn't stinky or squishy--but I loved to get in there and show up all the guys who thought a girl couldn't handle a job like that. That was very satisfying. Sometimes we would sing country songs for Mark, the supervisor, to try and convince him how great country music was. I don't think even "Don't Take the Girl" convinced him, though. He would sing crazy songs sometimes...I can still hear him singing "I got a booboo on my feeeeeenger..." I always thought he was making up that song, but he wasn't! Sometimes we played the spelling game, that was always fun. Every season brought something new, and there were so many different jobs to do. I love the fact that the smell of dirt is so wonderful to me. I miss that. I miss that satisfying feeling of cutting a perfect ring around a tree, or cleaning out all the leaves, etc. that had collected under a shrub. Call me crazy, but sometimes I miss getting up at 4 a.m. to shovel snow with a bunch of other tired people. I miss working with the dirt, the weeds, the flowers, the leaves, the ice, the snow--all of it.

There were a lot of good friends and a lot of good times on the grounds crew. In the beginning I thought it was some menial job that I was too good for (???!!!???) but always for the rest of my life I will be so grateful for the experience. I am thankful for Mark, because just by the way he did his job, he taught me the value of hard work, and gave me the opportunity to realize how satisfying physical labor is. He changed me from a relatively lazy person into a hard worker, and it has blessed my life ever since.

Mark's Truck. We had a lot of fun riding around in the back of that thing with all our tools.

One of our work crews. On the left is David Searcy, then Joel Day. Joel died of cancer a couple of years after this picture. I don't remember the girl next to Joel, she was only there a month or two, Then there's me, standing next to Mark Jaynes. Then another girl I don't know. In the back with the green shirt is a girl named Melissa, then the tall dark guy is Romaine, and Jared Wood in the blue shirt.

One summer day we went up to the gardens for a work party. Not really a party, just some fun with the crew. This is me, and that's Joel chilling in the background.