March

Aw, March. I refer to it in casual conversation as the "month of hope". Why? Well, the bulk of winter is behind us, the Christmas decorations are tucked away, the sniffles and coughs are abating, and spring is on the horizon. Why do I mention Christmas? Because of Easter which is also not far away. And those two holidays (read Holy Days) define the year for me. And for others, too, I imagine.

But whereas Christmas shows us the new life in a manger so Easter shows us new life everywhere else. And the one makes the other possible. For I see that life, with a capital L, intertwined with another L word, love. Love and life – that’s what spring signals. And it begins in March.

The woods around us are beginning to rustle. Little critters are coming out of hiding. The other day as I waited for my coffee to finish brewing, I noticed movement in the trees. Little birds were flitting about in the bare branches of the tall bushes just outside the back door. They land on the ground, too, and shiver the leaves. They blend in so well and I had to look closely to see them, but they were there. And then a bright red flash bisected the scene when a cardinal landed, bouncing, on a low bush. It made me smile.

Last week, Carl, our youngest son, stood at the kitchen counter next to me. He gazed out the window and said, “Look, a possum.” I turned my head and sure enough, a fat possum was making its way slowly down the hill doing the possum waddle. I’m not fond of possums, but I watched as it sniffed the ground. Then I turned my attention back to my granddaughters. Did they want to see a possum?

“Wow!” Carl said suddenly. “It found something red on the ground, grabbed it and ran like crazy for the trees.”

I told him it was probably a bit of the leftover lobster from my Valentine’s dinner. I’d thrown the shells out for the crows. Now I know that possums like lobster, too.

As I write this the crows and squirrels are duking it out for the bread crumbs, stale crackers and bits of Granny Smith apples I cut up for them just after breakfast this morning. I tromped out there in hubby’s mud boots and tossed it all down. I’d just barely turned to go back into the house when I heard the first, “Caw!” They watch for me, those crows. The first one landed as I closed the back door, stepped out of the boots and put them away.

Yup, spring is on the way. The earth isn’t quite ready to feed us yet so we have to take care with our stores. But we have enough. Life and love have provided for us all these winter months. Soon green things will begin to pop out of the ground, a bright harbinger of what’s coming. Green, the color of life.

Like the Christmas tree, the holly, the soldier moss and the Easter grass. One beautiful unbroken circle of Life and Love.

What does March signal for you?   

Image: Free Digital Photos