By Michael Cole

Our lives are fast paced and offer little time for leisure these times it seems.

I know that I seem never to stop.

Helping candidates, writing blogs, editing videos, pushing social media, and building websites

All while pushing my nefarious plans of world domination.

Hey, everyone needs a hobby.

It is a full day.

Which when I tell you that free time is an alien concept to me, I am not kidding you.

But, as life would have it. The universe will remind you every once and a while to stop and smell the lemon tree.

Lemon-tree you ask?

Why not roses? What is wrong with you, Michael?

Well, that is a story in itself.

A few years ago I planted a dwarf lemon tree. In about the worst place on my property to do so. It created a mow around for my yard, making a simple annoying job, a long annoying job.

So earlier this week, I decided to try and get at least some weed eating done before the rain made even that impossible.

Except for my riding lawnmower, all of my yard tools are electric. My mower and weedeater are plugins. I even have an electric chainsaw.

That means I have long outside cords.

Despite the negative reputation on it, I enjoy ones and prefer them to the gas ones.

My mower is lightweight and sounds like you are vacuuming in the grass.

But, back to the story,

So, I was weed eating and my lovely dog, Bernie, decided that he wanted to chase a bug while outside.

So this loveable 60-pound ball of fur, love, and muscle broke his leash and is chasing this bug headlong into my direction.

Something I was unaware of at that moment.

Suddenly my weedeater goes dead followed by a resounding thud as a disconnected extension cord, dog, weedeater and myself collide with a 4-foot lemon tree.

So now, at the base of this tree, you have Bernie freaking out and trying to get away.

Which only tightens the cord around us.

Finally, Bernie stops. Not because he has discovered the futility of it, but because he has found the scent of lemon leaves.

Now, I will tell you; I love Bernie. At almost three, he has the biggest heart of any dog I have ever had. I was there when he was born and working from home; I spend a good portion of my day with him.

Bright. However, he is not.

So in the process of trying to eat a lemon leaf, he discovered the thorns.

So he yelps, finds a way to extract himself and runs for the safety of the house and his two brothers.

Leaving me now on the ground wrapped in a bright orange extension cord, impaled of lemon thorns and about a foot away from my right prosthetic that had come off in the melee.

Then I realize Lemon leaves smell pretty good.

I have had that tree on my property for five years, and except cursing the fact that I have grown precisely four lemons or that it was a pain to work around, I had paid this little fellow no attention.

So, here I am trying to untie myself while noticing how peaceful it is right now. I can hear some birds chirping, one of my dogs barking like a psycho.

But beyond that, it’s peaceful. It is beautiful.

And I never noticed.

I came to the conclusion that life had gotten so hectic, that I had forgotten why I work as hard as I do.

To enjoy life. To be able to spend it with my bumbling ball of fur that is now suddenly interested in the water in the ditch.

So, I tell you, find time to get wrapped in extension cords. Enjoy that unexpected bumps in life.

Smile, let your hair down, take off your right prosthetic and smile.

There will be times that the chance is gone. And you will regret it.

Laugh, love, and don’t sit under the Lemon Tree with anyone else but me.

Michael Cole writes several political and lifestyle blogs for national and international outlets. You can reach him at michaelcole@mail.com