Bouquet

From Donald Lison, Florence, Wis:

I am no longer considered young and while my head tells me nothing has changed, my body often corrects that viewpoint. Nov. 7, I complete my 74th year. Did I mention that I am also rated 100 percent disabled by the Veterans Administration, a reflection of my service in the Vietnam War? Did I mention that I live in the woods? Did you know that if your woods is to the east of your lawn, the prevailing winds will send your lawn a lot of leaves each fall? Well all of those are true.

So a little bit ago, I called the Florence High School and asked if they had any students that wanted to rake for cash. After a couple days, a young woman responded and we set a time. On the day of the raking, she emailed and asked if she could bring more workers. We said yes. Do you know that young people nowadays use phones but not to actually talk? Interesting.

Well they arrived, two young women and two young men. They worked hard and fast and in three hours moved all the leaves to the compost area in the woods. Two of them are high school students and two are college students.

When they finished up, my wife attempted to pay them. I say attempted because they refused the money. They said they did not do it for pay. Now I am not so old that I cannot remember all the things I needed money for when I was their age. But they were steadfast and would not accept the cash. That really surprised us.

We thought we were hiring help and they did it just to be nice. We are grateful for this favor from them to us. But this good deed needs a reward, so we will donate the money they would have earned to the general fund at the Florence Schools, where it can help a child in need.

I am not going to mention names here _ first because I actually do not know all of them but mostly just in case their families have been after them to rake at home.

Thank you again to all four of you. I hope your families know what great young adults they have raised. We surely do.