I could see exactly what was going on...

There has been this weed growing on my neighbor's property, right on the edge of mine. Whenever I'd gotten one of these weeds in my yard, I always found it easy to pull. In fact, it is a weed I enjoy pulling because it always comes out super easily. No hard work, no worry, and no mess. 

Well my neighbor's weed was getting pretty big. Luckily it is one of those flat kinds that spiders out along the ground so it wasn't really noticeable unless you happen to walk past it. So even though it was covering a good portion of their side yard, it wasn't too obvious. 

One day I decided that I was going to be a good neighbor, go over there, and just yank the weed up and throw it away in my can. I was excited, knowing that I could get that massive weed up easily.

So there I went, in my black flip flops and yard gloves to pull the weed. I reached my hand down and started pulling up, only to retract my hand quickly. Something had poked me! And not just a little poke, but one that felt like a small bite.

Weird.

But, I dug back in. Pulled up a little more and poke! Ouch!

I realized that little, mean looking pokies were covering the weed. This wasn't the weed I knew from my yard! This wasn't the weed that never gave me any trouble! This was something else. Something I'd never dealt with before, honestly.

But at this point I'd already pulled enough of it up that I was too involved. I had to continue.

The pokies kept slicing through my gloves and dropping down on the ground around me. They were everywhere, raining down from the weed. Which was fun to clean up, let me tell you.

In the end, my black flip flops were pocked with the little pokies that cut into my feet. See the picture above.

I thought I knew what problem my neighbors were dealing with. I thought I knew exactly what was ailing them. It was a trial that I'd conquered many times with ease, and I thought that there yard would yield the same results.

But in the end, I had no idea. And I wasn't equipped to handle their weed. I didn't go in with the right tools, I wasn't dressed to handle it, and I didn't know what I would be facing. I came away with little hurts of my own.

And all because I could plainly see what my neighbors were dealing with and thought I knew how to handle it.