THE WEATHER makes fools of the proud and self-satisfied.
Just two weeks ago in the space, spring was welcomed with trumpets and drums. Not satisfied with that, we thumbed our nose at the departing winter and gave it a loud raspberry to speed it on its way.
Only a fool talks sass to a bully until the bully is out of earshot. Winter heard, turned around and decked us with snow and cold — lots of bitter cold. Tulips were crowned with snow, withered and died. The young, pale green leaves we welcomed two weeks ago were left brown and limp in the trees. Spring will have to start all over again.
There are two lessons in this. The first is contained above: Never presume to tell the seasons how to do their jobs.
The second lesson is this: Life is tenacious.
Many pretty flowers died in the cold. The tulips and other pampered flowers could not live without more pampering than we could give. But some flowers survived. Pholx kept its head down in the icy wind each night and hoarded the nourishment of the sun during the day. Grape hyacinths, which learned their survival skills in the wild, were still blooming on their own.
In Emporia, Easter was celebrated with white hot-house lilies in the churches and hardy yellow dandelions wherever they have not been poisoned to extinction.
Thank heaven for the dandelions. Without them, it would have been a sterile Eastertide. With them, we had all the proof we needed of spring’s rebirth.
No more weather predictions — not this week anyway.
Just profound thanks for the redeeming lesson.