This is Supposed to be FUN?

It’s a beautiful morning as I get up and look out the window. A clear blue sky shines above the hill beyond the domesticated area of yard. The wild brush growing up the hill stands calm in the morning sunshine. A perfect day. A brand new canvas on which to chart my day.
My gardener, who’s been up for, if not hours, at least since shortly after sunrise, joins me at the window. “You know,” she says, “ this is a perfect day for spending some time doing some cleanup together in the yard. It’ll be fun.”
I translate: there’s work that needs to be done and this is the first good day that we’ve had to do it in a long time, so don’t go planning to race off to go fishing. “Sure, Honey, I say.”
Breakfast eaten and cleared up, we head outside, coffee in hand (and gloves and clippers and trowels and…)
The first hour flies by as we prune the trees and take the branches to the burn pile. Next we trim up the bushes, clip the dead remains from last year’s growth, lightly rake the leaves out of the flower bed and take it all to the compost pile. As we begin the edge trimming along the walks and patios, my gardener disappears into the house. A few minutes later she reappears with cool drinks. A welcome break! It’s not a Mai Tai, a Margarita, or a Mojito,; it’s not even a cerveza (a nice cool Negra Modelo would so hit the spot!), but the cool iced fruit juice is perfect. I wipe the sweat off my brow before I accept my drink. A long cool sip is followed by a full back stretch to relieve the aches and kinks. I take off my gloves and shake the tension out of my hands; this was work!
As we sit in our patio chairs at the table under the umbrella, opened for the first time this year, I contemplate our accomplishment. My gardener smiles over at me and says, “We did well today. I had fun. Didn’t you?”
Fun, I think. Fun? Yes, there’s a sense of accomplishment. I truly enjoyed spending a morning in activity with my special gardener. And I recognize the value of the work we did in the enjoyment we’re going to get out of our personal space for so many days to come. But fun?