AAhhhhhh…I think I made it!

It is weeks like this past one that remind me why we live in and love northern Michigan.  Why we are able to put the long, dormant, cold and dark winter behind us so quickly.  Raking my yard yesterday where there was two feet of snow only days ago to find my tulips and daffodils, planted with such optimism last fall, three inches tall already!

 

 My first spring/summer experiences of Michigan in the mid 70’s astonished this six generation native Texas…everything grows so fast…you can literally watch it.  It is almost comical, especially to those who do not live here all the time, to see the first day when the thermometer tops 50 degrees.  The shirts come off, the shorts go on and flip flops replace the boots. Bikes, roller blades and Frisbees come out of the basement and everyone that can possibly be is outside.

 

 I am as guilty, or blessed, as the rest.  The top on the Miata went down, two days in a row, and those of you who are familiar with my summer rating system know the quality of the summer season is determined by how many top-down days we have…we are off to a great start! Quite often on a sunny, but cold, day in February/March I would position my car by the lake in way that the sun shown on my face; I would crank back my seat and “sun bathe”.  One of the great all-time feelings is that first day when the sun is on your face and it is really warm…for real this time

 

I have often equated the phenomenon to that of childbirth.  During the angst of the labor and delivery process, having more children is the last thing you would consider…shooting the person who assisted you in getting there would be higher on the list.  The moment it is over, however, and you make the first eye and skin contact with that brand new, so freshly created little miracle, you find yourself in awe and wonder and so ready to do it all over again.

 

As we suffer (I am speaking personally here…I know there those of you who love winter most) through the long and dark of it to immerge into those blissful days of sun and warmth, it is all forgotten, and of course we will do it all over again next year.  The contrast makes it all that much sweeter.

 

Experiencing life in a climate of severe winters is the ultimate contraction/expansion exercise.  Contracting during the winter is so very natural…just as the bears crawl into the cave and hibernate, it is my instinct to retreat, curl up, hunker down and go dormant.  The contrast then of the first week of warmth is the most blissful expansion from the hairs on my head to the nails of my toes and deep into every cell; I feel warm and joyful, blessed and exuberant.  I am as alive as it gets. Just as the release feels after the deep stretch, it is one of those Ah Hah moments that is so delicious and so precious. Ahhhh…I have made it!

 

Jacquie