march never lets you down

I got a new boss at work almost a year ago.  He's from Michigan originally, but he moved to Florida at some point and lived there for nearly 20 years before moving to our high mountain desert.

You would think that a former Michiganer--Michiganite--whatever the term is--you would think he would understand seasons, but apparently he's forgotten what seasons are all about.  He claims it takes him 15 minutes to get ready to go outside--boots, coat, hat, gloves, scarf...I don't get that and just look at him when he tells me that each morning.

But also, seasons do not mean you get up every morning and toss on a pair of flip flops before heading out to pick up the newspaper off the driveway.

Shortly after he arrived here last year, I had to explain to him that summer means warm, then warmer, then still warmer.  Extremely low humidity.  Until late summer when the humidity builds each afternoon and breaks out in majestic and awesome thunderstorms.

One morning he complained that he felt a chill in the air.  I told him that means autumn.  When the chill starts, it is followed by winds and leaves changing colors and falling from the trees.  There are cool mornings and warm afternoons that leave you puzzled about what to wear and help you begin to understand the value of layering when dressing.

And after days that become more chill and less warmth, fewer hours of light and more hours of dark, comes winter.  The wind howls, the skies become overcast in a dark way that differs from the ominousness of summer thunderstorms--and then snow falls.  Sometimes blizzardy driven snow that does sting the nose and bite the toes, but other times--other times, the snow falls lightly, huge sparkly flakes that don't disappear from your coat or hair instantly.  And if you ski, sometimes it snows glitter.  Really.  Snow that is so dry that it squeaks under your skis.  And it is beautiful, coating everything with frozen ice crystals.  And sometimes the cold lasts for days and days and feels bitterly cold deep inside and you wonder if you'll ever warm up or see blue skies again.

But one morning, it snows and the snow melts before you can shovel it from your driveway.  You see blue skies and glory of all glories--the sun.  It is still in the sky, shining so hard that it melts the snow.  And the temperature warms a bit so you might be tempted to think it is spring.  You might think that spring is the time when it is sunny and snow melts quickly and birds sing.  But don't be fooled.  Spring means quickly melting snow, but it also means warming days possibly followed by cloudy, drizzly, rainy days.  For days and days. Rain.

But March never lets you down.  It gives you snow and wind and sunny warmth and rain.  And green.  Growing green things.  And whether it's lion or lamb, March gives you hope.

That's how seasons are.  They are not all temperate, the same 40-degree spread with just a sprinkling of precipitation.  Seasons are all about change.  And the future.  And hope.