I've only ever lived in rural areas previously. I know how to run the mower and the weed eater, and how to rake a gravel driveway, but I've never had a paved drive and sidewalks until now. The lawn has been slowly taking over both and I have lost where the edge should be.

My retired neighbor across the street has a beautiful lawn; it's always thick and green and the edges look perfect. I've been wanting to ask him for ages how he does it, but my anxiety almost always paralyzes me from doing so.

Today I finally went over and asked him. Guys, he was thrilled. 🥹 He asked about what tools I had on hand, and I mentioned that I'd bought what I thought was the right tool (electric edger/trencher) but I was afraid of damaging the driveway after I tried it the first time and was struggling to find the edge. He came over and was very enthusiastic about it being the right tool and that I had picked a good one, and showed me how to use it.

We ended up pulling out all the tools out of the shed that I've bought or been gifted that I wasn't sure about, and he explained how everything worked and how to care for it. He even helped me understand how to use the table saw I was gifted and have been too scared to use, showing me how the guides and pushbar and everything worked.

I apologized for interrupting his lawn work and thanked him profusely for all the help, and you could tell that it was not at all a problem. He was thrilled to be asked and to get to pass on all that knowledge, and I was thrilled to be able to freely ask questions and learn. Not once did he make me feel dumb for not knowing these things, and he was so excited that I had all these tools and was learning to use them.

Now I'm looking at my front walk, no longer covered in lawn, and I bet he's as proud looking out at it as I am.