I don’t mind winter in Minnesota. I honestly don’t. Aside from one or two absolutely brutal weeks, it’s entirely tolerable. Heck, if it’s not frostbite-within-thirty-seconds weather, I’m inclined not to wear a coat if I’m just running to the mailbox or from my warm car to a warm store. I’d rather not be over-bundled. Not that I’m in shorts and a tank top, mind you. After 20 years in this state I’ve learned to dress in sensible layers. Granted, there have been one or two occasions when the distance from my warm car into Jerry’s Foods seems to have grown to several miles and even I’m giving myself strange looks for not wearing a coat. But by and large, no problems.
All that being said, I must admit that when I took Brubeck out for a walk the other day I had a real yearning for spring. The sun was shining and the ice was slightly mushy and I got a mental whiff of those first days of April when it really is comfortable to be outside in just a sweatshirt. I started imagining long, brisk walks with the dog, Eiledon on her bicycle in the cul de sac, the muskrats and turtles reappearing in the pond (oh! Did I ever mention that we had a pair of foxes out there a month ago? I think they were scoping out the muskrat den for having their own kits! WAY COOL. But we haven’t seen them since.)
Digress much?
So the stupid groundhog saw his shadow. Has anyone bothered to point out to the folks in Punxsutawney that regardless of whether their portly rodent mascot sees his shadow, March 21st comes about six weeks after February 2nd?
In any case, it does my heart good to look out the window at 5:30 in the evening and see that it’s still light. I know it makes a difference to my husband to walk out of the office and know for certain that it’s not 10:30p.m. It’s amazing how just a few minutes more of sunlight each day can make such a dramatic difference in a person’s outlook.
It’s good timing, because my outlook needs a bit of elevating these days. Things aren’t going so well for my son at school or at home. We finally did get the official Aspergers Syndrome diagnosis, along with ADHD of the combined type and extreme anxiety. So there’s work to be done. The good news is that we’ve already been doing a lot of it. He’s had an IEP since kindergarten for social/emotional issues and it’s mostly the same stuff they do for kids with AS. Still, it won’t be an easy road ahead.
But in the mean time, even when there’s snow and cold, there are these glimmers of the coming spring. Eiledon had her first band concert today and it was wonderful to see how far these children have come in just seven rehearsals. Dan even snuck out of work for an hour to be there to show his support. Ledon was front row, first chair (probably courtesy of being so tiny) so we could see her clearly as she played her flute. It was good to end her school day on a high note (ba-dump-bum: tssss!)
And I didn’t have to wear a coat out to my car.
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