Time to Bloom

Originally I was working on a post about my failure to bloom. Every day last week the same bleak blue grey canvas greeted me when I left the house. Where was the cloudless blue sky I loved? When there was snow instead of rain, my heart broke. Would I ever feel warmth instead of a persistent chill? Now that I was finally able to sleep, when would I really wake up?

Ray Bradbury had the right idea about mood and weather when wrote his classic story, All Summer in a Day. It's about a little girl whose awful classmates lock her in the closet for the brief time that the sun shines on Venus, which is once every seven years! I couldn't go once every seven days. I live in an unusually sunny place on the prairies, so it's really noticeable when the sun is gone. Living at a higher altitude also means that our sunlight is more intense, making for wildly painted sunrises and sunsets. The kinds of things that makes the soul bloom and the spirit stretch (apparently my inner poet is also stirring). When it snowed about a week ago, part of my soul literally died. Snow? Noooooooo! It wasn't just me, the wildlife were affected too. There were some unhappy robins in my backyard and I spotted a ground squirrel that looked traumatized as he pipped and squeaked at me. Yeah, I would feel cheated too if I just came out of hibernation.

But the weatherman was finally right the past weekend - sun. Glorious, warm, life giving sun! It was so wonderful to be outside, with cool refreshing breezes too. It felt like autumn in reverse. Time to cast off the winter woollies and embrace the freedom of shoes, light jackets and cute hats. Spring is truly an act of faith sometimes!

Some day, this will be green!