Renewal

Photo by Laura Bear

A true taste of spring this weekend. The fickle sun taunted the landscape for one glorious crystal day then disappeared like yesterday's prom date. Crocuses stretched toward the sky, fluttering their petals in shameless abandon. The pale masses thronged outside to soak up every last ray. Today, the silver rain washed away that golden dawn.

Perhaps there is a lesson here. How rude! I just want spring! Beautiful, verdant, clear blue spring! After the cold, dark winter, new life always emerges. Sometimes later than we like. The dormant ground erupts with emerald spears. Tiny color bunches push through the brown, half-frozen earth. The last clouds of winter shroud the sky in their battle with the sun.

Oh bother, said Winnie the Pooh.

What good is this constant cold bland nonsense? Would spring be less welcome if it were sunny all day long? Do people in the South disregard the constant sunshine? In summer, they hide from it inside air-cooled boxes.  Even those of us in the North start complaining about the humidity if the dog days last more than a week. I suppose we should be thankful the sun shines at all, but I do enjoy my melancholia. I love my cloudy, dramatic days--they make for moody photographs-- but enough is enough!

For now I am greedy for that fleeting warmth. Such a tease! The woodstove has lost its allure. Soon there will be bicycling outside instead of in the cellar on the monotonous trainer watching episodes of Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and Antiques Road Show. Readying the garden for planting instead of waiting for a peek at it as the snow melts. Okay, okay... there will be more rain. I live in Sinus Valley, after all. It's inevitable. But, a warm summer rain is so much more pleasant for writing, reading, meditating...or combing the cat. Spring rains coax those flowers to bloom. So, yes, I'll take the rain, but please, I'll have a side of solar power with that!

May the sun always shine away your dark days.

Thank you for reading.