Some savvy guys, though, recognize the garden s potential as an escape mechanism. It offers the illusion that we are going somewhere, and in a way we are. Hop on the mower, crank it up, and we travel a tightening spiral into ourselves an uninterrupted journey into our dreams, our memories, and our fantasies. Admit it, every one of us has entertained the fantasy of riding that Toro off into the sunset, where we ll meet up with a posse of other mowermen and spend our days cleaning our carburetors and our nights sharpening our blades. Yes, lawn care requires a commitment of sorts, but it s a kind of going through the motions sort of thing.
Guys are good at that.
It doesn t require a lot of attention. Gardening can also fulfill our need to mark our territory, especially if that territory is a tiny eighth of an acre that s virtually indistinguishable from every other lot in the neighborhood. A little bit of sprinkling doesn t do the plants much good, but it certainly makes us feel like the alpha dog of the neighborhood. Gardening s great for that. We can leave piles of garbage lying around, watch them rot as worms and all sorts of creatures crawl through them . . . and call it compost.