"Thank your wife for sending you here", she said.

The daughter confirmed. Fortnightly Mondays. Two hours.

I showed up for my first session with brand new gardening gloves and did what the garden needed first.

Pathways buried under a season of leaves, clawed back.

Pots relocated.

Furniture moved to where it should've always been.

Nothing complicated. Just the quiet satisfaction of making order out of mess.

The work was honest. The conversation, as expected, was better.

She was exactly who she'd been at our meet & greet. Sharp, funny, with an edge. Moving through her garden like a General studying his troops. Pointing thing out with her walking stick.

At one point I caught myself watching her... the way you watch something that quietly reframes your assumptions. Ninety-four. Moving better than I do on mornings I've talked myself out of the gym.

I'll think about her the next time that happens.

When I told her I was done, she looked over what I'd done and said: "You've done very good work for us to start with. "

I'll take it. She said, "I look forward to seeing you again. Thank your wife for sending you here."

First official session. Fortnightly from here. We're off.