I know I've mentioned my lousy patch of dead lawn in the front of my house. Not out in front-front. No, the neighbors don't know that my inside the fence lawn is basically a dirt field with some sparse weeds. But I know, and it bugs the crap out of me.

See, dry packed earth turns into mud at the first hint of moisture, and it stains clothes, gets tracked all over the floor, stinks... and I'm not exactly fastidious, let's not forget, but every time I walked past the barren wasteland of my once upon a lawn dirt patch, I cringe.

I decided to reseed a strip of dead dirt and see if I couldn't make grass grow. After an afternoon roughing up the soil, seeding and watering faithfully, I've got some little grassy shoots going on. I couldn't be more proud. You'd think I grew a damn Redwood tree or something. I'm tempted to put a fence around it and maybe a memorial bench.

Today, I stood outside enjoying the warmth of the sun, and admiring my sad little grassy patch, when I noticed my five-year-old with a handful of dandelions and two cheek-fulls of air. It got all slow-motion there for a minute - me yelling "noooooooooooooo" and her blowing for all she was worth - right at my virgin strip of lawn.

She was delighted, of course. "Mommy! Did you see how many wishes I made?"

I looked at the lawn and contemplated the leaf blower. Would it work? I swear to you that I could see the little suckers burrowing into the soil before my eyes.

"Man - those are going to ruin the lawn!" I spoke without thinking. Her confusion shaped her eyes into glossy half-moons.

"You mean, those were bad wishes?" Oh my GOD now the lip started trembling.

"No, honey, those wishes were great. It is just that those seeds cause more weeds to grow."

"You mean we'll have MORE wish-flowers? Hooray!"

Hooray indeed. Whoopie. Woo.