Life

Ah, Mother's Day!  The day a plethora of women dread.  To some, it's getting unwanted attention, a stark reminding of how far down the Wonder Woman scale they measure.  To others, it's a memory of a lost child, or the inability to even have one.  Last, but not least, the dreaded reminder to those who have never even had the chance to find love, let alone have a child.  I know so many who would rather skip the day all together than have to face the awkward moments when someone insists on giving the attention that is not wanted.  Yes, that day has passed and gone (whew!).

With this love/hate holiday now passed, what now?  Father's Day is still a month away.  They don't get as much attention as the mothers do anyway, which is a bit sad thinking about it.  Personally, I think remembering the good men in our lives is a worthy celebration, but that's a subject for another time.

The month of May where I live is a beautiful time of the year.  Flowers have been blooming since March, but they come out in large numbers and in a wonderful variety of colors.  I've already enjoyed the blooming of our snowball bush, the bridal wreath, and the lilacs, but the roses are coming and the peonies will bloom soon.  It's just a beautiful time of year in the yard.  I was excited to find out after a place was cleared out that we might have a peony plant growing that we never knew about.  It's a beautiful time of year for remembering the beautiful things in life.  

Snowball bush in bloom

Most people when they ask you what their favorite color is, or time of year, most people just pick out a time they like.  I go a little bit deeper when I choose my favorite things.  What I choose as my favorite thing has to have a symbolic significance behind it, or a special meaning to me.  So when someone asks me my most favorite time of year, I always claim Spring.  As much as I like the temperatures, beauty, and often cool storms of both Fall and Spring, I choose Spring first, despite the associated allergies accompanying it, because what I see happening in the world around me far outnumber the misery of a little sinus issue.  Watching nature awaken from a sleepy winter has always been a thrilling thing for me to witness, and I especially love the feeling and rejuvenation of hope it brings along with it.  This year, I've watched trees regenerate after a hard freeze in April, growing new leaves in the place of the old ones that froze, and discovered, though not as many as the original count, some fruit blossoms survived well enough to begin growing fruit, and it didn't even phase the apple trees.  Those blossoms hardly even got touched, and as I looked at them today the little apples are beginning to grow from them.  Life is a beautiful thing to watch happen.  I'm certain that as I watch these happenings every day, I'm witnessing the miracle of life before me.

Life is a miracle, every aspect of it.  This fact is overlooked in so many ways.  It's sad to say that sometimes it takes a life-changing event to remind us of this.  It is a blessing to be alive!  Though some absolutely hard freezes may force us to re-adjust the things in our lives in order to survive, we will do it, and we will thrive for years to come, and perhaps in the future those blossoms will return with the most tasty amazing fruit that we have ever produced.

Every day is a blessing.  Keep going.