March Magic

A long and rambling post......

This morning we awoke to yet another winter wonderland, one of this season's loveliest of snowfalls. Wet, gentle snow, laid down on every surface with no wind to muss it up.

It is a blessing, all this beauty, fresh and new fallen, because yesterday as I traveled around my little local towns, the muddy, grimy, sooty, trash laden, soggy, sodden, gritty, gosh awful ugliness of very old snow was everywhere. My daughter and I agreed that it was the worst part of the late winter thaw, the dirty snowmelt, and the mud behind it.

Like magic, our world transformed while we slept.

So yes. This morning was magically fresh and clean. In my bathrobe, I threw on boots and a scarf and stomped around with my camera as the sun rose slowly. The wind creaked and cracked in the trees, birds chirped nearby and far off, I could hear neighbors shoveling their walks. I let mine be, except for a quick sweep by the door, because this is just a few inches, and will likely be melted by tomorrow.

Life is too short to shovel snow when you could be crunching about in the magic of it, camera in hand.

See?

Here's what it sounded/looked like:



The wind is starting to pick up, so this fairy dusting will slowly blow away. March is a windy month around here, blowing in colder, warmer, colder, warmer air. It is a rollercoaster, but we are used to it. I just need the roads to stay clear, because tonight is one of my long treks to sand volleyball practice with my daughter, 90 miles each way on 4 different high traffic interstates. I'm getting pretty good at it, and am very careful, not to worry.

In unrelated news, today is March 12. Twelve is my favorite number and the day I'm sure I was supposed to be born on, not the 11th. I'd change it if I could, just so all the numbers in my birthday have a common denominator, which is 3 which is 1 + 2 which looks like 12, which makes me happy in a strange way. Odd, I know.  My whole family has odd little quirks, so I don't question it.

My dad counted things, everything, and he was very good with money and math in his head. And he did this thing with his fingers all the time, touching each one to his thumb up and down his hand, as though he was counting, but not, just doing that thing with his hand. He said it soothed him, and didn't hurt as much as banging his head against the wall like he did as a kid when he couldn't sleep. I'm glad that one skipped me, the head banging. The not sleeping thing I believe is a family curse. No one in my side of the family is well rested, that I know of. My kids, like my husband, are great sleepers and I'm grateful they got that gene. I'm so tired lately I marvel that I can make coherent sentences, or function without being mean or crying too much.

We get what we get, don't we? It's a mystery.

I was reminiscing through my past March posts, so I could confirm that I'm almost always looking at Spring wildflowers now, not snow, and I was right about that.  Sigh. Soon....

I forget half the stuff I post, so it's always a surprise diving into my archives. In March 2010, I wrote 9 blog posts, one of which included my baby picture and a 50 year old selfie. Here's my 54 year old self. A little grayer and wrinklier, but still me, mostly.

In March 2012, I only wrote two blog posts,  so I'm way ahead of schedule here. I wrote one about the unusually mild, warm weather, with pictures of my wildflowers, which I can hardly imagine, and one about having the guts to make change in my life, and about gratitude for all that is good.  I just rewatched the TED talk embedded in my guts and gratitude post and it was just what I needed today. Here is Louie's wonderful 10 minute video, one of my favorite TED talks if you need it today too.


)


Today will be a good day for me, because I have already opened my eyes and I am grateful.

I reserve the right to be cranky later, when weather and traffic and fatigue and the unbearable and unspeakable sadness my new friends are enduring grind me down, but I'm going to do my best to hang on to the gratitude and the beauty.

xo

ps Youtube is having a bad day, so if the video links don't work right now, it's not us, it's them. :)