Progressing toward Spring

As we work our way through the second month of 2008, my eye is on the first day of Spring, only a few weeks away; and even though it is cold and snowy outside, there are some signs it is on its way.The maple trees in my front yard, for instance, are beginning to drop sap on my car, which is parked under the one nearest the driveway. There also was a little bird doo on my car, which usually doesn't happen much in the winter. The sun, which made a much needed appearance earlier this week, was a welcome reminder that sping is coming, and its warmth felt wonderful on my Vitamin D starved skin as I went about my day. Spring fever can't be far behind, though right now it is more like cabin fever. Easter comes early this year, the end of March around my eldest son's birthday. He will be 31, and I can hardly believe it. I lived in sunny California when he was born in Marin General Hospital,San Rafael March 28, 1977. He was six weeks early in a time when preemies rarely survived. But thanks to the cutting edge neo-natal department there, he came home after only 9 days in the intensive care unit to help his underdeveloped lungs, and he started gaining a little weight. I will never forget sitting in the nursery of our home in Petaluma with my newborn son, looking at the lovely springtime bursting outside my window. Spring does come a little earlier out west. But it will come to the frozen northeast, and it usually comes suddenly. One day we will have a snowstorm, the next the temperatures will rise and the sun will melt it all away. Take heart, be patient and things will get better!