Thank you, Mother Nature

I know, I know, the weather has been crap. Too much rain, not enough sunshine, flooding, wet basements, lawns and gardens too saturated to permit you to get your hands anything but muddy. I get it. Despite Mother Nature taking a piss on all of us here in the Northeast, I would like to take a moment to thank her for her recent display of thoughtfulness. As with most things, this relates to an experience I had in childhood which forever changed my perception of the transition from early spring to late spring. Let me tell you about the incident that caused me to become completely captivated by an annual rite of spring...

When I was in elementary school, perhaps second or third grade, I remember spending my Easter break (yep, that's what we called it then) with family friends in New York City. They lived in a complex of low, brick buildings arranged around a central courtyard. There weren't many trees, but I have a vague recollection of there being spring flowers in bloom in designated areas of the communal property. The week that I spent in the city was behavior alternating in numerous ways. I was forced to abandon my thumb-sucking ways after my thumb was repeatedly basted with copious amounts of some wretched tasting liquid. On the positive side, Barbara was a phenomenal cook and I'm sure my palate was expanded to include items much more desirable than the more than likely dirty thumb of my left hand. The biggest change, however, didn't come until the return drive back "upstate" to Greenwood Lake. As the car headed further north, I noticed a big change since just 7 days previous...something was very different. The branches of the trees had gone from wearing a suggestive hint of red to a now brilliant green. There were leaves on the trees and everything looked different. And I was pissed to have missed the transition.

Since then, I have tried to always be home in the Hudson Valley during the springtime. Because if you blink, you just might miss it. So, this public thanks to Mother Nature is for her indulgence of my recent trip west. I was concerned that I would miss the unfurling of the first leaves of the season, but, due to the lack of sun and the excess of rain, I was able to witness the busting out of Mother Nature's summer wardrobe. Now, if we could all only get a chance to do the same...