It was an incredibly humid and muggy afternoon in Memphis, TN today...perfect conditions for manual labor. I had four pallets of sod to lay and the whole family was ready to help...pretty cool since the kids are eight and eleven.

Shortly after i begin i notice that the kids really like grass...thye climb on it, roll in it, do cartwheels on it...just aboout everything but pick it up and move it. To be fair my eleven year old son was working hard...his sister though used the opportunity to practice her gymnastics and crack jokes. Her plan had its merits....its kind of nice to have a jester around...she kept us plenty entertained.

Slowly the landscape took shape. Laboriously (not magically) it turned from a boring piece of raw dirt to an emerald green oasis...it started to look like the nicest park ive ever been to.

After all of the sod was laid and the kids had their time just playing in it we had a chance to let the hound check it out. Ive got a 100 lb mutt and i was a little concerned that he would view our project as an excellent playground upon which to dig. Ultimately he just romped...he sniffed for about five minutes then simply ran back and forth as fast as his huge paws would take him.

After it was all done I stood back in fatigued silence and viewed our handiwork...and the thought hit me...if people are willing to travel thousands of miles, cross deserts, deal with human traffickers, and run the risk of jail or death just to get a job like laying sod...how bad must Mexico really be? I live here and i dont want to see another piece of sod for a year. I cant imagine how bad it would suck to do this everyday.