The Fountain

By Bob Cox

In the beginning, there was nothing but an unsightly landscape of rocks, weeds and four overgrown fruit trees. When we first moved into our tiny home over five years ago, the small backyard was a far cry from the tropical retreat I wanted to enjoy after a hard day of work. On the other hand, I looked forward to the challenge of transforming it into something my wife Diana and I could one day enjoy.

I foolishly thought that removing the rocks and replacing them with lush green grass would be the simplest and easiest task, so that’s where I began. As a long-time resident of Rancho Cordova, I should’ve known better because the soil near the American River is packed with rocks. With each plunge of the shovel, I encountered the rigid resistance of those unyielding adversaries. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months, but eventually our yard was transformed from a rock infested eyesore into a barren patch of dirt.

My next door neighbor was happy to take several tons of rocks off my dirt stained hands after I built a simple tool to separate the soil from the rocks. I used the finely sifted dirt and the largest stones to build a meandering rock wall planter that now lines all three fences. Diana and I planted several fruit trees and a variety of tropical plants in our new planter and finished off the project by laying new sod over the majority of the yard.

As beautiful as it was, I knew our yard wasn’t complete. The one thing I had dreamed about for years was having a beautiful rock lined waterfall cascading into a lovely pond in my backyard to create a tranquil environment. So I eagerly went back to work, armed with a shovel and a dream, unearthing a large assortment of stones, tree roots and the occasional clod of glorious dirt.

After the deep and expansive hole was dug, the job came to a sudden stop. For the next three years, the project stayed in limbo because I didn’t have the knowledge to safely run a source of electricity to the fountain. Each time I stepped out into our beautiful back yard, my attention was diverted to the empty hole that became a constant reminder of my inability to finish the task. Over time, I sunk into a hole where many dreams die, not the one in the earth but the one in my mind.

Lat summer, Diana and I finally agreed to hire a friend who was also a professional electrician and that was all the motivation I needed to fully recharge. Over the next four weekends, I built an attractive cascading rock walled fountain, which ended up with a leak that I tried and failed to fix for several months, causing me to fall back into the dreadful hole of self doubt.

I reached out to my friend who helped me with the electrical and he said he had a hard plastic waterfall form that would solve the leak, so I eagerly purchased it, tore out the old fountain and replaced it with an even more beautiful new fountain that now actually works! So now, every time I see or hear our fountain, it’s a reminder of what I accomplished because I refused to give up on myself.

If there’s something you really want to achieve in your life, no matter how grand it is, don’t be afraid to go for it. Whenever you encounter a formidable obstacle and you find yourself falling into a self pity pit, don’t stay stuck in the hole forever. Instead, get out as fast as you can by coming up with a new plan you can get excited about. Resolve to not be stressed out over how long it may take. Instead, savor the progress you make every step of the way while you give it your best effort. When you’re finished, you may actually amaze yourself!