Nothing gets a Midwesterner going faster than the first hint of Spring.. In Illinois, we have experienced it for two weekends in a row. I for one will take it!
For those of you who don’t understand fake spring, let me take you along a walk that we shall call the “yahoo it’s Spring” You are watching the weather early one morning, and the meteorologist says “unseasonably warm” your ears perk up.. and you are now laser focused.. Hold the phone.. did he say 60 degrees? In the words of my 13 year old granddaughter, that’s lit.
And so it begins the ritual of pre or fake spring… In my house, the first part of the ritual, is OPEN THE WINDOWS… because we all know that simply opening the windows banishing all germs from your home. next.. shuck your coat.. come one it’s 60! nearly shorts and flip flops.. oh wait, I do live near a University and yes there are shorts ( but they are issued them aren’t they?) I am sorry I digress.
Step outside and begin your ritual, the neighbors emerge from their homes, smiling ( the sun does that) and the transformation begins. And it’s a wonderful thing to see.
This long weekend ( Thank you President’s Day) I have been deep in the throes of house renovations, and even that has been enjoyable. We put up insulation, broke out walls and prepared to drywall. Yes, I took time off work to work.. but that’s another blog.
Sure we jump the gun sometimes.. It’s not exactly planting weather, but you could clean up the leaves you didn’t get last fall. You hear the familiar command for winter weary parents “get outside ” It’s not an option more like a command, for the safety of your future life and my sanity you must go outdoors.. No negotiations.
And so the doors open and small humans pour into the streets, parents pack them up and off to the park they go, even if the parks aren’t quite prepared. Swings are still in storage, bathrooms, may or may not be unlocked and the pool definitely isn’t open. But we Midwesterners we make due, we climb the monkey bars, we slide, and we stroll through the park, without our coats, basking in the glorious fake spring.
Each day we are blessed with fabulous weather, we are more grateful than the day before, because we are reasonable and we know this can’t last. We hope inside it will and finally that groundhog will be wrong, maybe he is only right because there is a date for the end of winter and it’s March 20, 2017. But the mystery of his wise predictions, encourage us to hope for early spring just to one up a groundhog. Nothing as sweet as proving him fallible.
So unzip that coat, sit on your porch, and watch your tree bloom, they already have buds. Spring is peeking around the corner, teasing, promising all at once. Tonight, we are having a thunderstorm, I am getting out my galoshes.
Until next time,
LJ
Eclectic Energy 